There’s no single perfect formula for managing your retirement
Financing our latter years on the “volatile” boulevard called Wall Street is a challenge that former Dean Witter portfolio manager Paula LaCosta was forced to do after her layoff months before Sept. 11, 2001 – a day that she would have ridden the elevators to her 72nd floor of the World Trade Center.
The aftermath of 9/11 was not the opportune time to float one’s resume, and as a result, LaCosta turned into her own “broker.”
Shifting gears from managing hundreds of millions in bonds and annuities, LaCosta had to transition into overseeing her own portfolio – one that she has somehow managed to stretch over two decades so far.
To make matters more interesting, she had to do this while living in one of the highest cost-of-living cities in the world.
“Retirement-financing is a tricky challenge because most people are afraid they’ll run out of money,” said LaCosta.
She ought to know. As one of the thousands whose career spanned decades in New York’s’ financial district, you might think she’d have a magic formula for having the picture-perfect retirement.
LaCosta says it just isn’t so. You have ups and downs.
“One year there was a great increase in my high-return account from investing,” she recalls. “But there was another year I took a bad loss.”
Despite Wall Street’s rollercoaster rides, she vigilantly worked the market while making some lifestyle changes.
“You downsize,” she said. “I went to a one bedroom apartment instead of a two-bedroom. I cut back on the opera and subscribed to money-saving discounts for plays and performances. I take advantage of free concerts.”
While LaCosta admirably and cleverly commandeered her retirement, life has its sudden turn of events, and that’s something that no one can plan for or predict. For example, while watching television during a trip to the Capital District, she was shocked to see that her apartment building was engulfed in flames. Two hundred New York fireman worked to finally put out the blaze.
Returning to New York City, she discovered that her quarters were severely damaged and she’d have to live elsewhere while fighting a losing battle with the insurance company to adequately take care of the losses.
Even with all of the highs and lows, LaCosta has somehow been able to maintain a very active life that includes regular visits to siblings and her nieces and nephews, where she attends baptisms, communions, ballet recitals, school plays and participates in holiday meals and celebrations and vacations while being the primary caregiver for a disabled sister.
She manages to travel with friends and relatives as a result of wise stewardship – all the time being generous with her finances and time.
While she acknowledges that there is no picture-perfect financing and planning for retirement, LaCosta has sagely reaped great internal dividends by keeping faith, family and friends as her top priority over a remarkable 20-year period.
Robert J. LaCosta’s “Age Sage” podcast is free on most platforms on smartphones and computers. To book him to speak to your organization, contact Vincenzina Cavaleri at (844) 434-3277.
