I happened upon a story published by a local news outlet here in the Phoenix, Arizona area recently, and needless to say, the headline caught my attention. The headline read: “Woman, 91, Raises $60,000 for Retirement on GoFundMe.”
I want to make it very clear that I am in no way being critical of the woman featured in the article for raising funds for her retirement in this manner. There is absolutely no way to know exactly what circumstances led to her pursuing this retirement option.
This is also not the first time I have seen an article like this, and unfortunately likely will not be the last. If nothing else, I would want my message in this article to be that it is vital to take the steps that you can, to avoid having to rely on the generosity of strangers to fund your retirement.
It is also important to note that the article goes on to quote the woman, Betty Glover, as saying, “I’ve worked all my life, but I never even thought about being in my 90s, much less that I would still be working,” she told an Oregon news outlet. “I’ve just never known anything different than working.”
According to the article, Betty Glover acknowledged spending less time with her kids due to working while they were growing up, and that she was looking forward to spending more time with her six great-grandkids, and two great-great-grandkids.
I hope that she has plenty of quality time to spend with them.
The takeaway lesson from Betty’s experience for all of us: Are you on track with your plans for retirement? If not, now is the time to start taking steps to become so. Not “tomorrow”.
