A year ago last April, I moved from working four days a week to working less than one day a week at the office. While I still put in many hours at the family property in addition to my charitable efforts, the time I spend managing portfolios and following the markets has shrunk quite a bit. Retirement is different from vacations in that there is no pile of work awaiting your return. That work is now handled by my able successors, in accordance with a succession plan I implemented nearly 20 years ago. Overall, things are going according to plan.
Investment advisory used to be an overwhelming concern but now that has shifted to spending more time taking care of my body. The bad habits I developed while working have caught up with me. I found out I had high blood sugar, high cholesterol and of course triglycerides. So my routine now includes measuring blood sugar, weight and periodic trips to the doctor’s office and the lab to get blood drawn and various other readings to see how healthy I really am. All things considered, it is going well. Rather than dieting, I am focused on getting to a lower weight with attendant good readings for blood sugars, cholesterol and the myriad other things the medical profession believes are important.
My investment process has shifted somewhat as I now find cash in my portfolio comforting. There is less need to worry about the swings in the markets and my positions when cash is a large part of my holdings. I still take an occasional plunge into one stock or another and watch it carefully to make sure I don’t develop a large loss. With my income smaller than when I was working, I am less able to make up losses in my portfolio. I seek more assured gains and dividends and lower risk of loss.
My overall portfolio is still heavy in real estate. I have a partner, in a commercial property and we are looking to sell and move into cash. Did I mention that I like cash? With inflation very low in general, interest rates that are low and property priced high, it seems like the right time to let someone else develop our real estate for the long term. My long term is shorter than it used to be. While real estate has been good to me and provided portfolio diversification, the lack of quick marketability makes it less desirable for me now. So in retirement I am cutting back on the real estate and building cash reserves.
I have several sources of income. Some fixed like social security, while others vary quite a bit. The sale of natural gas has plunged 95 percent in monthly checks since it started four years ago. Yet my driller/developer has slowed the flow of gas to a trickle, waiting on higher prices for natural gas. In time that will probably come, but I believe that energy prices will never (in my lifetime) reach previous levels when the national conversation was about “peak” oil or energy. My book is selling very slowly and was never a source of income, although I had hopes. Maybe I will win the lottery? My son always gives me lottery tickets for various holidays. I told him not to waste is money on losing tickets and just send me winners so I could share the loot with him. Alas, he has not yet found a way to just buy winners. Note: lottery tickets are NOT a good way to invest your money. Likewise, I don’t spend any time in the casinos.
The kids and grandkids are more important these days. My granddaughter is a senior in high school and next year she’ll be off to college. There is a small parade of others following along, as well as quite a passel of nephews and nieces who are finishing school and starting families. Our family now spans the continent as well as residing in Great Britain. Who would have thought that would happen?
Retirement shifts one’s focus – be it regarding their portfolio or their health or how their time is spent in general. It is still important to me to do things that make a difference in my community, like being treasurer of the local fire company and the Pine Creek Preservation Association. So as long as I am able, physically and mentally, I will work on contributing to the community and planting trees, for the very long run. Hopefully, someone will come along after me to carry on the work.
