My 4 Biggest Retirement Fears — And How I Plan to Overcome Them

Fear can be a motivator to prepare

TL;DR

My biggest retirement fears are:

1. Outliving my money.
2. Debilitating health issues.
3. Being alone (or leaving my partner alone).
4. Boredom.

But I’m using these fears to better prepare.

Fearing the future is natural.

It’s unknown and largely out of our control, but there are ways to reduce and possibly eliminate those fears with enough planning, ideas, and action.

Here are my 4 biggest retirement fears and how I plan to overcome them.

#1 — Outliving my money

I’m afraid of running out of money.

I cannot perfectly predict inflation, tax rate changes, and unexpected costs, so outliving my money is a real possibility.

But I can do the best planning possible with the historical data available to me.

I’m not so afraid that I won’t live an alternative lifestyle, but afraid enough that I want to be smart with my dollars and investments.

My Coast FIRE plan and retirement numbers include historical averages (the good and the bad years) for inflation, investment returns, and rounding up or down conservatively for the unexpected.

Combined I used a more conservative-than-many formula to calculate my target numbers and full retirement goals.

This allows me a cushion for the unpredictability of the future.

And give me comfort that my plan won’t run out of money.

The downside of being more conservative with my estimates is I may be able to reach Coast FIRE earlier (and enjoy the benefits earlier) with the actual numbers, but the fear of outliving my money is too great to ignore.

And if I have extra money in my old age, then I can leave it to good causes.

#2 — Debilitating health issues

I’ve struggled with aging since my 20s.

Multiple quarter-life crises, not reaching my goals by each milestone age (20, 30, 40), and the feeling that time (and life) is slipping by.

But luckily I’ve had my health through it all — thanks to some medication and therapy.

But I have a very real fear of having a debilitating medical issue near (or immediately after) retirement.

I plan to be very active in retirement:

• Travel
• Passion projects
• Hobbies
• Writing

A health issue that hinders these activities would be soul-crushing to me.

While I can never completely remove the possibility of something happening to my health, I can try to take care of my body, mental health, and soul as I age.

And I’m not the best at going to the doctor, but I’ve recently started trying a bit harder…after realizing how much something “small” now may become “big” later and impact my plans.

#3 — Being alone (or leaving my partner alone)

I don’t want to spend 40 years alone.

Another area where my fear will always be present — I cannot eliminate the possibility that I or my partner may pass away unexpectedly but I can take advantage of the time we have together now.

I remind myself:

• Don’t waste the evening watching TV by yourself. Instead, find a show you both enjoy so you can cuddle and look forward to time together.
• Don’t waste the weekend getting drunk or high to avoid life. Instead, plan a day trip to the mountains or coast — find exciting environments to enjoy life together.
• Don’t waste personal time off by never using it. Instead, use all of your PTO together (even if it’s not on an island beach) because you earned these days together.

I’ve been reflecting on how precious time is.

Especially the time with my partner (to be found somewhere between work, chores, have-to-do lists, and noise).

My plan to overcome my fear of being alone later in life is to live the most enjoyable, fulfilling, and fun life now…with my partner.

And when we’re old and one of us passes away, we’ll have wonderful memories and experiences to relive in our lonely remaining years.

#4 — Boredom

I do not want to be bored in retirement.

I look at retirees (parents, grandparents, ex-coworkers, folks at IHOP) and get scared…they appear to be waiting to die!

I don’t want that for my old age.

I want to go out sprinting up a mountain, skydiving over the ocean, or while I write my novel sipping espresso at a cafe in Portugal.

I’ve noticed there two main reasons retirees are bored:

1. They didn’t have any hobbies before retiring. And have now lost the curiosity to try new things.
2. They don’t have the money in retirement to do the hobbies they did have planned. Like traveling.

I plan to tackle both of these reasons now, so I don’t have a similar experience.

Hobbies and curiosity

When work (and children) are your only activities for 40+ years, it’s hard to transition to retirement where you have nothing but time (and no purpose unless you create it yourself).

If you don’t already have hobbies, passion projects, or interests to keep you busy, then you start to drift aimlessly…and it gets harder to stay curious and know where to start with new hobbies.

So I need to build my curiosity and experimental habits now.

Here’s my current list of interests:

1. Writing
2. Technology
3. Gardening
4. Martial arts
5. Travel
6. Cooking
7. Side hustles

Being curious for the next 20 years will help prepare me with ideas to fill my time in retirement.

Maybe I’ll just want to just hang out and have coffee at IHOP all day…but I doubt it.

Money for experiments.

Social Security payments and a meager investment portfolio does not allow for a lot of excess spending on hobbies in retirement.

To make sure I’m set up for opportunities, travel, and new interests, I’ve based my Coast FIRE number on a lifestyle that flexes.

Whether I want to live overseas for a few years, take up woodworking, or tackle the Pacific Coast Trail, nothing but the limits of my imagination (and the aches in my knees) will hold me back.

I’ll never be able to eliminate these 4 fears for retirement, some things are just out of my control and left to the universe, regardless of how much planning I do.

But with a bit more intention and planning, I’ll do my best to overcome my fears and be prepared to have the best retirement I can imagine.

What’s your biggest retirement fear?

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