Every few years i have to go in for a checkup. I'm not talking about a routine physical which is a waste of time and money, but a meeting with our Financial Planner. We sat down and looked at all our spread sheets and graphs and came to the conclusion that we are only 10% short of our goal of retirement.Now I'm not talking about buying a vineyard in Napa Valley, but just being comfortable in a shack in the desert. I sure don't want to retire like my neighbors and spent my life clipping coupons and eating mac-n-cheese.
My adviser reminds me that this assessment is only valid for July 7th, 2011 at 4 pm EST. Of course, four more years of Obama may reduce my investments to petty cash. There is one glaring deficiency: a lack of Long Term Care Insurance. I really don't need the life insurance and disability insurance as much as I need to protect my assets in case I spend the last twenty years in a nursing home drooling and trying to eat my own face. It's just one of those things that sneaks up on you.
Hopefully, I have a few years before I fall off my perch or join the fog-walkers (a group of seniors from an assisted living center that walk around the hospital grounds holding walking sticks and wrapped in reflective tape).
Hopefully, the government won't seize my 401K, 403B or SEP accounts in their quest for shared responsibility (shared irresponsibility seems more accurate). If the government decides to steal my retirement I'll just have to repatriate to Italy; maybe then I'll buy a vineyard. Sitting in my vineyard in Atri, under the Abruzzo sun sounds much better than sitting in the day-room watching the QVC channel.
1 comment:
Dad, you crack me up every time. Fog Walker seems like your calling.
Hey, Europe crashed too, and I hear vineyards are going cheap :-)
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