Summary: Do you remember your high school sweetheart? I remember…..all of them. Young “love” is exciting, but how often does it turn into true love that lasts into retirement? I found my true love, Shauna, in college. This year we’ll celebrate our 25th anniversary. When did you meet your true love?<br> In this week’s journey to retirement story, we hear from true high school sweethearts, John and Patti.<br> <a style="" href="https://rogerwhitney.leadpages.net/leadbox/144249073f72a2%3A14add4d53b46dc/5646748928180224/" target="_blank">Free Report: Financial issues as Retirement Draws Near</a><br> Lessons Learned<br> <br> * Your story matters. It’s great to hear couples have conversations based on the stories you share on this podcast.<br> * Retirement is more about having flexibility in what you do than simply not working.<br> * Fixing things yourself can save a lot of money and keep you engaged.<br> * Not knowing when retirement is possible and what it could look like are central issues people struggle with.<br> * You and your retirement goals will evolve over time. It’s important you have a nimble process to help you make good retirement decisions along the way.<br> <br> John and Patti<br> <br> * Patti is in her early 50s and has worked for the same company for 28 years.<br> * John works in the technical field.<br> * They’ve dated since age 17 (how sweet is that??).<br> * Two grown daughters.<br> * Gearing up for retirement.<br> <br> What Does Retirement mean to you?<br> <br> * Patti: Retirement means doing a lot more things, doing the things I want to do. I don’t think I could not do something. It’s flexibility at an age when you can still enjoy it.<br> * John: I’m kind of a do it your-selfer. There’s really a lot of money to be saved by fixing things yourself. Retirement for me is going to be doing the things I want to do, on my terms. That in a nutshell is what I’m hoping for. I’ve got a laundry list of things I want to do.<br> <br> What are you most excited about?<br> <br> * John: Right now I commute an hour each way. I’ll have 2 hours of my day back just like that. There are some things I’ll probably be doing in my 70s that I could never think I would do.<br> * Patti: Moving to a warmer climate in the winter. Maybe downsizing our main home.<br> <br> What are you most worried about?<br> John: Do I have enough money? Am I going to run out of money? That kind of thing. I have a lot of things I’m planning on doing. Am I going to be able to do them? Is my health going to be okay?<br> Patti: The worry for me would be managing the money properly so we have enough. We always worry about the health care costs. I think that will be a major cost that’s hard to predict.<br> How do you think your doing?<br> Based on the calculators we’ve run, I guess, we’re not panicking. We’re doing the best we can. If it means working longer, that’s what we’ll do. If it means retiring earlier, that’s what we’ll do.<br> Do You Use a Financial Planner?<br> <br> * We do a lot ourselves.<br> * What I’m looking for is someone to help me with a plan to move forward, give us recommendations and Patti and I execute them.<br> * A lot of the places say we need to transfer all our money to this financial institution in order for them to manage it.<br> <br>
