Your Biggest In-Retirement Surprises

"Surprises are foolish things. The pleasure is not enhanced, and the inconvenience is often considerable." Jane Austen

"Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us." Boris Pasternak

Life has a way of dealing both happy and unhappy surprises, and that doesn’t change during retirement, even with seemingly well-laid plans. In a recent thread in the Investing During Retirement forum in Morningstar.com Discuss, retired posters shared how they'd been surprised by the challenging market environments, low interest rates, and health problems during their retirement years. But they also told tales of welcome developments they hadn’t necessarily anticipated, including financial peace of mind, grandchildren, and enjoying what each new day has to offer. To read the complete thread and share your own in-retirement surprise, click here.

"Surprises have Been Few"
Several posters noted that careful planning--and conservative return expectations--helped their financial lives in retirement play out exactly as they had hoped.

WOODJ wrote, "After retiring in October 1998, surprises have been few. I believed I had calculated how much I needed to support my lifestyle, and it has worked. I guess I could call that a happy surprise, though, because I could not be sure that it would."

Ditto for tmartin2: "[O]ur biggest surprise is that there have been no big surprises. I truly appreciate how lucky I was to have been born in the exact right year to have a good shot at decent life-long financial success and am thankful for that."

Flakey ascribes financial success in retirement to careful planning as well as diversifying across multiple income sources. "I taught myself how to invest wisely and very profitably and planned for a comfortable retirement funded by a CD ladder, immediate income annuity, reverse mortgage, and Social Security, all of which provide me with a monthly income twice what my expenses are. If anything has surprised me it is how well my plans have worked out."

DennyF has also watched as his early-retirement plans unfolded exactly as he envisioned. "I suspect many of us worried about retiring too early. I pulled the plug at age 63 after 44 years of full-time employment. I remained anxious for about 60 days following my retirement. I was very familiar with my retirement benefit projections, but I couldn't exhale until I saw the monthly deposits in my bank. Along with a good Medicare supplement and long-term care insurance, we're confident of being able to take care of ourselves."

An Unhappy Convergence
Not surprisingly, however, several posters also noted that inhospitable market conditions--namely, a weak economy, low interest rates, and a shaky stock market--have been negative surprises since they retired.

Bomo33, who retired five and a half years ago, spoke for many with this post: "My biggest surprise in retirement has been the onslaught of negative financial events that have left my master plan severely tattered." In addition to seeing his former employer file for bankruptcy, thereby reducing his in-retirement benefits, this poster has also been surprised by the many market shocks that have occurred. "[W]e are presently in the 3rd significant down market in that same 5-1/2 years (I thought the bear only came about every 6-7 years!), [and] things have financially tightened considerably. Not in my wildest imagination could (or would) I have ever imagined this chain of events happening (much less so quickly) and it clearly qualifies for my most unpleasant surprise!"

LFremont is another retiree who has been disheartened by the economy and market conditions, especially ultra-low yields. "I retired in 2010, and my biggest surprise has been the really bad economy, including the extremely low interest rates. I have a moderate/conservative portfolio and expected a much larger flow of interest from my holdings."

Reeindy, meanwhile, has found an unhappy surprise in his own shortcomings as an investor, "On a disappointing basis I must admit to being, at best, an average investor. I do my own planning, research, buying and selling, tax returns, etc. While I have picked winners (heavy in utilities last five years) and kept good diversity, I have made some awful choices (dry bulk shipping). I now recognize the need to find a 'sounding board' where people can talk me down off the ledge of some of these 'hunches' that haunt me!"

As challenging as the interest-rate environment has been for many retirees, a few posters noted that purchasing I-bonds several years ago--and watching them trump other low-risk investments in the ensuing years--has been a rare happy financial surprise.

WOODJ wrote, "I-Bonds were not invented yet in 1998 [when I retired], but when they were the next year, I would not have thought they would be among the best safe investments that they are today. They are a happy surprise. I purchased quite a bit in 2000 to 2002. Their growth has been remarkable compared to the stock and bond markets since those purchased in 2000 have now doubled in value.

Reeindy concurred, "Amen to the I Bonds!... I only wish I had bought more."

For capecod, the happiest in-retirement financial surprise has been that the real cost of living has been nowhere near as high as some planners had forecasted. "[We b]oth retired three years ago and the biggest surprise was that our real cost of living as we see fit on Cape Cod was not only less than 40% of the financial advisor hair-on-fire-scare-sales-hype estimates--but also less than MY already skeptically-lower-than-advisor-sales-hype estimates!"

But capecod's experience isn't universal. Alpha28 wrote, "My biggest retirement surprise is how little I miss work. My second biggest one is that I spend more money retired than I did when I was working." 

Health Woes Upset Well-Laid Plans
Several posters also noted that encountering health problems--in some cases fairly early in their retirements--had been the greatest unwelcome development in retirement.

Snray03 wrote, "I retired in 2004 at full retirement age. [My b]iggest negative surprise is how fast your health can go south after age 70. I have had five major cancers since I turned 70 three years ago. Still fighting lung cancer and multiple myeloma. I guess the positive surprise is I am still alive." His advice? "Those waiting to take Social Security till age 70 might want to rethink that strategy. Take SS at full retirement age and enjoy it."

OlderThanMost has watched his spouse struggle with health issues and knows the financial toll they can take. "Our biggest surprise was in 2005 when my wife suffered a major stroke, leaving her paralyzed on one side and unable to speak. We were 68 at the time. For two years I kept her at home 24/7 and then I had triple bypass surgery and could no longer care for her at home. Since then she has been in a nursing home and I go see her twice daily. She is amazingly cheerful and her mind is keen, despite her handicaps. Naturally, we pretty much liquidated our entire life savings...at $6,000 a month it does not take long."

Normcee had to alter his investment plan following his spouse's untimely passing. "All of my investing was done based on my wife's age (nine years younger than myself) but she contracted and died of cancer 1-1/2 years ago so I had to rethink my asset allocation and goals. I reduced my equity funds and put the money into CDs, bonds and bond funds."

For Hohum47, the biggest negative surprise has been the high cost of health-care insurance coverage once his former employer discontinued coverage for retirees. "I took early retirement in 2007 at 60. The company, for years, had allowed retirees to keep their health insurance to 65 at the employee rate. Took a deep cut in the pension, knew this going in. After 19 months, the company canceled the insurance, froze the pension and sent all the jobs to Juarez. Finding health insurance was the biggest surprise of all. I was almost uninsurable, and no one would insure my wife...for things that we considered minor because we hardly ever met the $750 deductable we had with the company insurance. My wife had to go through the state [health insurance] plan and it costs us $800 a month for $5,200 deductible policies."

Jatwice, meanwhile, has been happily surprised that health-care costs in retirement are actually more affordable than what he expected. "My biggest surprise is the quality of health care I receive with Medicare Advantage. [It's] as good as, if not better than, the coverage I was getting before retirement, and for less money.

'How Fast the Time Goes!'
For other posters, their biggest happy surprises have come in the realm of quality-of-life matters.

Hondo wrote, "Before retiring in 2003, I was concerned that I would become bored, after a while, in retirement. I suppose my happiest surprise is that I have never become bored. In fact, I have so much to do now, and the time flies by so fast, that I don't know how I found time to work in the past."

Reuben is also having the time of his life: "While some of my retired pals fret over each hiccup in the market, my biggest concerns are exercising every day, enjoying the company of my family and friends, and hobbies. So what's the biggest surprise? How fast the time goes!"

DennyF is another busy retiree. "For me, my days are full with volunteering, hobbies, reunions and dates with my wife. Life is good! And retirement is great!"

RetiredinFL's post-work life has included "[m]any happy family and travel surprises. Stints at the Air and Space Museum as a docent and as a hospice volunteer have been very rewarding."

But not every retiree is happy to hang up the workaday life altogether. Reeindy is one such poster, writing, "My 'hobby job' since 2002 has been a very satisfying, positive surprise lasting these past 10 years. The nearly six-figure consulting income from that role has both kept me busy and kept me from tapping my investments. I think those extra 10 years will make all the difference in our retirement lifestyle."

Blackrose, meanwhile,noted that while retirement affords time to spend with loved ones, it can also be bittersweet. "Dear friends and relatives have become more cherished and appreciated, but they've also become so much fewer...."

For other posters, their retirement years have brought happy developments on the family front. Clwatt1950 shared, "[O]ur First Grandson was born three months premature and weighed 2.5 lbs. We were at the ward every day for three months and today he is 11 years old and you would never know."

BobVermont, too, has relished his "surprise" role as a grandparent. "When I retired five years ago, we thought we would never be grandparents, because our adult children all said they were not going to have children. Well, today we have a 4-year-old grandson and a 1-year-old grandson. Two big and very happy surprises."

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