What a 24-year-old learned about the ‘golden years’ after talking to 200 retirees
By Noah Sheidlower
Most 24-year-olds aren’t thinking too deeply about retirement. With decades of work ahead of them, most are focused on getting their footing in the workplace — not on the financial needs and life goals of their 65-year-old selves.
The same was true for me. Sure, I enrolled in a 401(k) and started to build an emergency fund, but I hadn’t really sat down and mapped out what my future would look like 40-some-odd years down the road. That all changed recently.
Over the past several months, including as part of Business Insider’s “Retirement Regrets” series, I spoke directly with over 200 older Americans, and another 4,500 retirees shared their stories via online forms. People generously recounted the pitfalls and successes of their own journeys to the golden years. Some painted a rosy picture of what the future may hold — traveling the world, volunteering for causes they admire, or spending more time with family. Others expressed regrets and struggles — working two jobs late into their 70s or 80s, caring for aging parents, or living in unstable housing situations.
At first, I wasn’t thinking much about my own retirement, but as I heard more stories, I began to wonder if I was already making mistakes I might one day regret.
After one woman told me she was too safe with her investments, I took most of my money from savings accounts and decided to plow it into the market — albeit via still-fairly-safe index and mutual funds. After a man said he regretted not maxing out his 401(k), I increased my contribution. But beyond the standard financial advice, the part of the stories that struck me most was how much time people spent talking about the psychological, social, and emotional side of retirement. Some told me they spent their whole lives working to spend their later years relaxing, only to realize they missed the self-fulfillment they got from their jobs. Others said they sacrificed travel or family to achieve wealth, only to get sick after retiring. A few said they’ve loved retirement even with little in the bank. These weren’t aberrations: Hundreds of respondents said the nonfinancial elements of retirement were the most important.
After talking with all these retirees, I realized there isn’t an ideal form of retirement. I can’t predict how my career will look, how long I’ll live, or what life has in store. I may screw up along the way, as many people told me they had, but there are ways to recover. My priorities between now and my 60s may change, or there may be a huge life event I don’t see coming. But from these interviews, including a dozen for this story, I actually feel significantly less anxious about my retirement planning than when I began. I better understand what I and my fellow Gen Zers should do to prepare for retirement — even if I don’t plan on playing golf.
While my conversations eventually reinforced the age-old canard that money can’t buy happiness, the hundreds of retirees I spoke to made it clear that there is a lot of value in financial stability. People stressed some basic tenets: save intently, live frugally, and plan for the long term. Admittedly, many Gen Zers who are on the lower rungs of the career ladder have little to invest because of meager starting salaries and high living costs. But even so, those further along in their journeys told me that learning the fundamentals of finance — whether through YouTube videos, books, or conversations with family and friends — is immensely helpful as the paychecks start to grow.
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Credit: Business Insider
