A middle-class retiree in an enviable situation
When I'm home on a Sunday afternoon, I like to make sure some simple household task coincides with On the Media so I can listen to it. Inevitably the task takes more than an hour and I end up also hearing Marketplace Money. Nothing against the personal-finance show, but my low tolerance for hearing other people's awkward conversations makes me kind of hate call-in shows generally. (See also: why I can't handle a lot of what passes for comedy anymore.)
Anyway, this past week I was doing the dishes and half-listening when a caller suddenly brought me almost to tears. Host Lizzie O'Leary and personal-finance expert Louis Barajas did a segment on people who manage to retire comfortably and then turn their attention to philanthropy. They had a caller at the ready—Jamie in Tuscaloosa—and O'Leary kicked things off by saying, "You are in an enviable financial situation."
Jamie in Tuscaloosa couldn't agree more. He worked production for GM for 30 years, saving and planning for retirement the whole time. Here's what he's thinking now:
