Retiring like Bob Barker or Alex Trebek

From Retirement Now Newsletter August 26th 2021

As of writing this the search for Alex Trebek’s Jeopardy replacement is still underway.

The guy that was chosen as the replacement, Mike Richards, has stepped aside. Not wholesome enough. One thing… he had some edgy comments surface from an old podcast he did, edgy in the category of diet-lite un-caffeinated Howard Stern type edgy.

But if any job requires a wholesome host with a squeeky clean past, I’d say it’s Jeopardy. This means LeVar Burton is back in the running. Who I’m rooting for and have been from the beginning.

[The most controversial thing I know of Trebek ever saying was that he liked hockey.]

As a kid I grew up watching LeVar host The Reading Rainbow on PBS. And when he played Geordi on Star Trek’s The Next Generation, every time he’d tell the captain about a threat to the Enterprise, I’d always insert his old Reading Rainbow catchphrase after it, “But you don’t have to take my word for it.”

The replacement host saga got me thinking about two different ways to retire.

I believe Alex Trebek would not have retired when he did. He was forced about by the hand of God when he was diagnosed with the pancreatic cancer that took his life.

Who knows, he may have kept going and never retired were it not for health issues.

Bob Barker, however, quit The Price Is Right because he was ready to be retired. He retired at 84 and it wasn’t health related. He wanted to quit while he was still relatively young.

[If Bob were a younger man he also would not be allowed to host Jeopardy today with some stuff from his past too.]

Trebek must have enjoyed his job a lot to continue doing it.

When you enjoy what you do, everyday is a retirement.

But I think most people identify more with Bob Barker. They want to stop work while they are still relatively young. And most people’s definition of “relatively young” is many years before 84.

Few people have as glamorous (and well compensated) a job as a gameshow host… making it much more appealing to retire earlier, like in their 60’s.

It’s easy to focus on the financial side of being prepared for retirement.

-What’s the savings goal I need to reach?

-How much income can I get my portfolio to generate for me?

-How do I make sure I’m not withdrawing too much each year from my portfolio… I don’t want to overspend it and years later not have enough left.”

What needs to be thought of in addition to the financial side is the lifestyle side. What will you do in retirement?

In fact, that question will often impact the financial side of things because any lifestyle will require money to pay for it.

Some lifestyles are more expensive than others.

Bob Barker could afford an expensive lifestyle. Not only did (actually still does) he receive royalty checks from The Price is Right, he also had the luxury of doing cameos and getting paid for it.

[I doubt he could health-wise now that he’s in his 90’s]

His meaning in retirement was a continuation of what was important to him during his working years:

Animal rights.

Remember how he ended every episode of The Price is Right?

“This is Bob Barker reminding you to help control the pet population — have your pets spayed or neutered.”

He would donate his money to animal rights causes. It was claimed he donated $5M to an anti-whaling group to purchase a ship to stop Japanese whalers. He gave $2.5M to PETA.

Both of which were done after he retired.

I’m not saying animal rights has to be your purpose in retirement, goodness knows that wouldn’t be mine [I’m definitely not a vegetarian like Barker is], but you can definitely learn from his example of finding meaning in retirement.

Or just something to keep you busy.

Two of the biggest negatives retirees can face if they don’t figure this out for their retirement is boredom and loss of meaning.

Neither of which is something I want you to ever experience in your retirement.

But if you do get this figured out, I believe you will have a much more fulfilled retirement than your peers who haven’t thought this through.

Conclusion: I can’t tell you what your meaning in life will be, now or in retirement, but I can help you to financially plan for your retirement, help you reach the goals that are most important to you, and help you get a good idea of what you can reasonably expect your portfolio to generate in income for you in retirement.

If you want to learn more about how I could possibly help you in your retirement, click here to hop on my calendar for a 20-minute phone chat where we discuss what challenges you’re facing and you get a chance to ask me questions. No obligation.