At the age of 60, 80% of his assets are in stocks, “I am confident that I can live another 40 years.” One incident made him realize the truth and reassess his retirement goals – Hong Kong Economic Daily – Financial Management – Retirement Planning

The old man is brave and ambitious, and his desire is thousands of miles. 60-year-old financial writer Jeffrey K. Actor never feels “old.” Even though he has suffered from several serious diseases, he still strongly believes that he can live to be 100 years old, and 80% of his assets are still in stocks. He joked: “If I don’t live to be 100 years old, I’ll be happy to leave the estate to his heirs or charities.

When planning for retirement, should we consider objective health status, or should we focus on personal “desires”? However, a serious illness forced the actor to realize the truth.

• Young and high-spirited, one understands that age never comes

When Jeffrey K. was a young actor, he never felt that he would age “Perhaps we have all been like this,” he wrote on his blog. This attitude has been inherent in almost everyone, and the idea that they do not “get old” encourages people to take the necessary risks to succeed.

“I will not age”, this has also become a major theme in the Actor’s retirement planning. “I consider myself to be in good health. I eat well, I’m not overweight, I’m still flexible, I have a close circle of friends and an active social circle – I can do 25 push-ups to do in a row without breaking a sweat.”

The high energy of your youth can make you pay attention to potential health problems.

• Time passes and a family disease appears

Unfortunately, most people in the Actor’s family have immune diseases as well as neurological disorders. The actor’s parents suffered from Alzheimer’s disease shortly after their birth in the 1980s. My father died of a heart problem at the age of 83, so there was no chance that the Alzheimer’s disease would progress to the point where he lost most of his consciousness.

As time passed, the actor’s health problems gradually became apparent. He now has a series of diseases such as high blood pressure and Barrett’s esophagus. He suffered two heart attacks and required stents. In addition, there are allergies and gum problems.

• Confident I can live to be 100 years old and 8 of my assets will be stocks

The confident actor has set a retirement timetable based on his own level of “not getting old” – he believes he and his wife can live to be 100 age, which means they still have 40 years to live. For decades, nearly 90% of the actors’ asset allocation has been in stocks.When the Actor turns 59, his asset allocation is still 80% stocks and 20% bonds and cash.

This asset allocation reflects the belief that we can live for a few more decades I will make some changes to the asset allocation every six months based on investment objectives.

The couple even deferred Social Security benefits until age 70. In addition to the main retirement package, they also set aside three years of utilities, entertainment, miscellaneous expenses and other expenses. The actor used predictive wear models to convince himself that sticking to his wallet would help him live his entire 40-year life.

They are very optimistic about their future prospects.

• A serious illness will make you realize the truth

Finally, the actor’s confidence that he “doesn’t age” was shaken a year ago. In 2023, Actor was diagnosed with a brain tumor and urgently needed transplant surgery.

The attending doctor told the actor: “If you have to get a brain tumor, this brain tumor is one of the best. If left untreated, tumor progression may lead to stroke and cerebral hemorrhage, further causing hemiplegia of the right half of the body, and even endangering life.

Fortunately, Actor’s brain tumor is benign. “I can and should live a healthy, normal life.”

Talking about this experience, the actor is still afraid. He admitted that he was very, very, very lucky. He no longer blindly believes that he “will not grow old,” and he no longer uses retirement plans as a channel to express his opinion.

The actor re-evaluated the so-called goal “to live to be 100 years old.” He plans to reduce his life expectancy to a more reasonable 25 or 30 years, and will begin to adjust his future expenses and plan more travel, rather than waiting until he is ” live to be 100”.

I don’t want my positive outlook on life to change. I am committed to living each day to the fullest. I still hope I don’t age. Only now, the little voice in my head suggests that my statistical life expectancy should be shortened for the sake of financial planning.

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