Was up and about early again this morning, although not as early as yesterday. I had registered for a Quarterly Market Update Seminar at Fidelity Investments in Lynnwood. As the presenter said at the seminar, when you are working and bringing home a paycheck regularly, most people don't pay too much attention to how their investments are doing. But, once that regular paycheck is gone, most people tend to check their accounts every day and worry about how the DOW or the S&P 500 are doing on a daily basis. He used his mother as an example...once she retired, she called him every single day.


As an ex-hippie and person who couldn't imagine being alive come the year 2000, I didn't really give retirement a lot of thought until 1984. I went to work then for the City of Seattle in a permanent part-time position that gave me benefits...health and dental, retirement, sick and vacation leave. I hadn't had a job with benefits since 1969 and actually didn't realize the job came with benefits until payroll had me fill out all this paperwork. Anyway, the majority of the people I worked with were around my age or up to ten years older. Many of them were talking about retirement, i.e., how many years left, how many years paid in, what to expect at 25 years or 30 years, etc. I was, to put it simply, shocked and amazed to listen to them talk about a topic I had never considered, even in my dreams.


I was even further shocked (and just a bit pissed off) at my husband's response to my griping about my job one day. In the past, he'd always said, "You don't need to put up with that shit, quit."  This time, his response was, "Well, you'd better find another city job to transfer to so you keep our medical benefits." You see, his company had paid for our medical all the years I didn't have benefits and it was a great boon to him to be able to stop.


Another surprise came in 2002 when Woodland Park Zoological Society assumed responsibility for the management and operations of the zoo. By then I was working full time and thought I'd have enough time in to retire from the City and become a Zoo Society employee. My math:  1984-2002 equals 18 years. But, time isn't clocked by years, but by hours worked, so my total time with the City was roughly 13 years. In any case, I elected to bring my retirement fund (including the City's match) over to the Zoo Society's 403(b) account. This was a smart move even though I was really just flying by the seat of my pants rather than knowing I was making a sound financial decision.


It was another eight years before I began to think seriously about retirement. This led me to wonder whether or not I'd actually be able afford to do so. Over those eight years, I'd read various articles about how much money a person/couple would need in retirement. The figures quoted scared the begeezus out of me...$1-2 million; $1 million if I wanted to keep my standard of living. Sheesh, I figured I'd be working until I dropped.


So, I purchased and read a few books about retirement, checked my social security account, talked to the 403(b) representative, looked into various firms like Fidelity, figured out medical insurance costs, etc., did my own math and came to the conclusion I wouldn't have to work until I dropped. True, I wouldn't take multiple expensive trips each year, but I'd certainly be able to continue to live in the style to which I was accustomed.


Today at the seminar, when consumer discretionary spending was brought up, I asked whether or not the fact that so many baby boomers were retiring was taken into consideration. I indicated my discretionary spending had decreased, i.e., purchase less gas, clothes, eat out less often, etc., and to my surprise, was told about a study that had been done. The results of that study indicated that retired people don't spend less, but spend more...like 15% more than they spent before retirement. Well, that study must have included all those retirees who did manage to retire with millions because it certainly doesn't represent me.


The seminar provided a little positive reinforcement as to how my investments are/will be doing, but when I checked my account before writing this, it once again had lost money. I really don't like it on the days I see those red numbers, but I think as long as I don't move into spending that additional 15%, I should be just fine.


How about you? Do you follow the DOW, S&P 500? Do you check your retirement account every day? Are you, like me, spending less in retirement than you did while working? Interesting stuff this.