![]() ![]() My wife wants us to spend $5,000 to attend her cousin’s destination wedding. ‘He’s content living paycheck to paycheck’: My husband won’t work or get a driver’s license. The Moneyist regrets he cannot reply to questions individually. ![]() Post your questions, tell me what you want to know more about, or weigh in on the latest Moneyist columns. Readers write to me with all sorts of dilemmas. By submitting your story to Dow Jones & Co., the publisher of MarketWatch, you understand and agree that we may use your story, or versions of it, in all media and platforms, including via third parties.Ĭheck out the Moneyist private Facebook group, where we look for answers to life’s thorniest money issues. You can email The Moneyist with any financial and ethical questions related to coronavirus at and follow Quentin Fottrell on Twitter.īy emailing your questions, you agree to have them published anonymously on MarketWatch. ![]() “You are in a good position to seek the help of a financial adviser and a cognitive therapist to deal with the health of your money and your mind.” All of this hard work and retirement planning will be worth it if/when you put your mental health first. Look after yourself, eat well, exercise regularly, and get plenty of sleep. You are in a good position to seek the help of a financial adviser and a cognitive therapist to deal with the health of your money and your mind. I’m assuming that you did not take out your mortgage at a record-low interest rate. There are pros and cons to paying off your mortgage, particularly if you are planning to change jobs at some point in the near future, or even move to a part-time role. You should, if at all possible, limit your mortgage repayments to 30% or less of your monthly income. You may wish to start with a “ side hustle” (I hate that term, but they are increasingly useful for people to explore their more creative side and, all going well, make extra money). Starting a business at 63, even in a field that you enjoy, would be a highly risky proposition, and would likely involve more capital than you are prepared to invest and/or would expect to invest. “To generate the returns needed to beat the benefit of delaying Social Security, there would need to be a high tolerance for risk and an aggressive asset allocation, not to mention plenty of discretionary wealth,” they concluded. The authors found that if you invested your savings at this point in your life and claimed Social Security early, you would be unlikely to beat the market. The report, written by Wade Pfau and Steve Parrish, co-directors of the Center for Retirement Income at The American College of Financial Services, actually advises waiting until 70. If you don’t have to plunder your retirement fund and still have enough money left over for a health emergency fund (6 to 12 months) and you want to save yourself that $1,255 monthly mortgage repayment, it may help ease some of the financial burdens you feel and provide you with a substantial reward - zero mortgage - after all of your hard work.Īs to your question about what age you should start withdrawing your Social Security benefits: a recent study in the Journal of Financial Planning advocated delaying Social Security benefits. Sometimes, it helps to focus on today, and set short-term goals and rewards to ease the pain of a seemingly endless “futurama” - a preview of something that is not yet a reality (per Merriam-Webster). Honestly, if we all thought about today or our most stressful day multiplied by X number of years, we would likely feel the same way as you do now. Your perception of your life may be altered, and your ability to manage stress and your expectations for the future. Take care of yourself first, and make sure you are not taking action - irreversible actions - from a place of fear, anxiety and/or depression. At the same time, I’m seeking mental-health care because I feel like my issues with depression are starting to mount.ĭon’t make any life-changing decisions when you are in the midst of a mental-health crisis or a mental-health recalibration. I’d like to start over, maybe start a business and live out my days doing something I like. However, part of me just wants to cash out some investments now, and pay off the mortgage. ![]() I’m still too young to take full Social Security. ![]()
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