[SSLance]

My FIL worked hard his whole life, Electrical Engineer by day that worked up to being President of a firm with over 500 employees...and ran a large retail store by night with his wife. Worked 70-80 hours every week...lived well also, but his main activity was always work of some sort. Two months before he was to retire from his day job at 69 years of age, he was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma and was gone about 6 weeks later.

My Dad also worked hard his whole life, made it and lost it all at least 3 different times, but spent his last 20 years of his working life as a consultant and was able to stash away about 150k in his IRA before retiring in 2003 at age 65. For about 10 years after, he lived large...in his own way. Did what he wanted too...when he wanted too...and by 2012 his IRA was gone and he was down to living on $2,000 a month SS check. He was also in poor health, was diagnosed with COPD around 2005 and steadily declined in health over the years, basically spent the last 5 years of his life as a hermit, the last 3 living in an apartment I built for him in the back of my outbuilding. He passed away Feb 22 with just enough money in his checking account to take care of his arrangements.

Two stark contrasts...My FIL earned and saved a ton and never got to really enjoy the retirement he worked so hard for. He had just turned 69 when he passed. My Father earned okay, spent and lived as he pleased...and ran out of money 3-4 years before he passed basically because he ended up living longer than he really thought he would. He was 76 years old when he passed away. Both were what you might call in pretty good health when they turned 65 other than my Dad had smoked cigarettes his whole life.

You just don't know... 3 weeks before my FIL died, my wife lost both of her Grandmothers 5 days apart, they were 87 and 97 years old. That little stretch of time really had an affect on us...we scaled way back and started to do what WE wanted to do instead of busting our tail to make every dollar we could. Everyone is different and things you encounter along the way shape your view of the world. How you invest whatever you have saved up is just part of the whole picture. It is an important part for sure...but one has to look at the rest of the picture as well and just make the best decisions you can for yourself.