Fiscal checkup

Ron, our VALIC representative, called it a Retirement Income Strategies Plan but I prefer to call it a fiscal checkup, similar to the physical checkup you're supposed to get from your doctor every few years. Like the physical checkup, a fiscal checkup is better if you do it before a crisis arives so that you can do some meaning planning and/or change of lifestyle before it becomes critical.

Part of the fiscal checkup required us to look at our current spending patterns and assets as well as give some thought about what we see ourselves doing in the next 20 to 30 years. We certainly don't see ourselves as no longer traveling and visiting family or vacation sites. We also don't expect to take up any expensive hobbies but we might be faced with expensive long-term health needs that could eliminate our savings quickly.

Ron input all this data into his computer and with the speed of a computer tax calculation program, he had our Plan. The good news is that we have met our retirement savings plan goals sufficiently that there's a 99% chance that we should be able to live comfortably, if modestly, for the next 30 years without depending on the government or our kids to keep us fed or clothed. In fact, it appears that we won't have to significantly change our lifestyle at all.

Carolyn really enjoys her job and plans to continue working another 10 years if her health holds out. I'm seriously considering retiring this fall. I've already got a long list of things I'd like to work on so I won't be sitting around wondering what to do with myself. I might even spend some time back at the regional center if they can use my expertise. The idea of having a little more flexibility in which days I work and which projects I work on, is very exciting to me.

Carolyn and I spent another 2 hours with Ron yesterday, working on the necessary paperwork to consolidate our various retirement accounts so that they will be a little easier to manage. Some of the consolidation will also result in some short time increases in earnings but probably not enough to pay for the usual costs involved with transferring funds. The paperwork was similar to that required for buying a house with form after form requiring our signatures and initials.

About half of our retirement savings dates back to my time at Long Beach Community Hospital. I thought it interesting that for the past five years no one from Lincoln has bothered to call or ask if they can be of any assistance but as soon as we request withdrawal, they're all over us about how they can offer the same services. One would have expected them to be concerned a little earlier.