{"id":236,"date":"2014-10-21T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-10-21T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/10\/daydreaming-a-little-the-steven-sandell-grant-program.html"},"modified":"2014-10-21T23:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-10-21T23:00:00","slug":"daydreaming-a-little-the-steven-sandell-grant-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/10\/daydreaming-a-little-the-steven-sandell-grant-program.html","title":{"rendered":"Daydreaming a little . . . the Steven Sandell Grant Program"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

So the Center for Retirement Research<\/a> tweeted about this<\/a> yesterday: \u00a0$45,000 grants available to researchers to support a year\u2019s worth of research. \u00a0And I thought: \u00a0\u201cjust on a lark, it would be fun to write up a proposal and try to talk my way into a year\u2019s sabbatical from work!\u201d \u2014 but then I read the fine print: \u00a0this is only for academics. \u00a0Bleh.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019ve been playing around in my head with the question of, \u201cif I were able to submit a proposal, what would I propose researching?\u201d today. \u00a0My \u201cthing\u201d has always been a comparative view of retirement, and what works and doesn\u2019t work about retirement systems abroad, and whether we can learn from them. \u00a0On a personal level, though, I have a different question in my head: \u00a0\u201cwhat set of factors enable a person to have a successful retirement?\u201d<\/p>\n

Because, look, I work at home, and I live on a street that, while it\u2019s still a residential street, is a direct route that\u2019s designated a bike route, and periodically some retired men\u2019s bicycle group bikes past our house. \u00a0And one of the riders, on a semi-recumbent-three-wheeler, passes by with his walker hooked onto the back of the bike. \u00a0And I think, \u201cwhen I\u2019m old, I want to be him!\u201d <\/p>\n

And then, well, there\u2019s my dad \u2014 who, in my mom\u2019s telling, doesn\u2019t use his walker for much more than the walk from the house to the car, and from the car to wherever the daily errand is, and back again. \u00a0And often enough, there isn\u2019t even a daily errand. \u00a0(Remember, I\u2019m blogging anonymously, and they don\u2019t know I blog, and don\u2019t read blogs in general anyway, so I can say this.)<\/p>\n

And, yes, some of this is common sense. \u00a0It\u2019s not hard to find advice along the lines of \u201chave a plan when you retire\u201d (Dad\u2019s plan was, basically, to work at a contract house after retiring from GM, but then the contract house work dried up), and \u201cdevelop hobbies\u201d (Dad\u2019s hobbies were boating and skeet shooting, neither of which he can do any longer, plus options trading, which worries us \u2013 though thankfully they\u2019ve got a very good pension in any case). \u00a0I\u2019m sure he never set out to have day after day with nothing but watching TV and logging onto e-trade, and my mom never planned on spending her days watching videos of animal shelters and rescue dogs on the internet (when she isn\u2019t taking my dad to an appointment). <\/p>\n

But \u2014 as I said, they\u2019ve got a good pension and a healthy IRA balance (the last couple years, the stock market has treated them well). \u00a0That\u2019s not going to be the case for the next generation, for my generation when we retire. \u00a0(I said \u201cmy generation,\u201d not \u201cme\u201d \u2014 we don\u2019t have a DB pension, but we save very aggressively, and our standard of living is much lower than our income would allow for.) \u00a0And there are no signs of any reform of our retirement system, so, unless Andrew Biggs is right (from the AEI \u2014 last time I saw something from him, his schtick was saying that there is nothing to worry about and Americans are really doing just fine, retirement savings-wise), we have to move on to Plan B: \u00a0enabling Generation X to have a decent quality of life in retirement, even if they don\u2019t have a lot of cash on hand.<\/p>\n

What does that mean? \u00a0Longtime readers know I\u2019m not a big fan of \u201cstay in your house until you die.\u201d \u00a0(\u201cI\u2019m sorry, but \u201caging in place\u201d is a piece of *@!%<\/a>\u201d from April.) \u00a0Based on a sample size of two \u2014 my parents and my in-laws \u2014 I can conclusively state that you\u2019re better off moving to a condo, with no outside maintenance, no stairs, and ready access to mass transit, before you need to, rather than getting released from the hospital and finding out you won\u2019t be medically cleared to drive for half a year, and having nothing within walking distance. <\/p>\n

I also think that continuing to work, with (perhaps substantially) reduced hours and in a low-stress role, is something that can not only supplement Social Security but keep your health up, again based on a sample size of two (long after Dad\u2019s involuntary retirement, Mom continued to work limited hours at Macy\u2019s, until just this past year, when Dad had his fall, and her health is much better than his). <\/p>\n

And besides this question is the further, broader question of, how much money do retirees actually need at different stages in their lives? \u00a0No, I\u2019m not talking about pay-replacement models which calculate decreases in expenses while still maintaining the same standard of living (no 401k contribution, lower taxes, no commuting costs, and \u2014 models vary here \u2014 no need to support children, save for their college funds, and perhaps no more house payments). \u00a0I\u2019m talking about a more absolute sense. \u00a0(Sample size of \u2014 well, I don\u2019t know. \u00a0My in-laws, as is common in Germany, live off their Social Security benefits; as for my own parents, someday we\u2019ll have to scrutinize their spending to ensure it\u2019s appropriate, but not yet.)<\/p>\n

And maybe all of this knowledge is out there, already, and what I really need is just the time to leisurely read through the articles and monographs already written, combined with access to a research library and a subscription to all those articles behind a paywall.<\/p>\n

So, what would you <\/i>research?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So the Center for Retirement Research tweeted about this yesterday: \u00a0$45,000 grants available to researchers to support a year\u2019s worth of research. \u00a0And I thought: \u00a0\u201cjust on a lark, it would be fun to write up a proposal and try to talk my way into a year\u2019s sabbatical from work!\u201d \u2014 but then I read […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nDaydreaming a little . . . the Steven Sandell Grant Program<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So the Center for Retirement Research tweeted about this yesterday:  $45,000 grants available to researchers to support a year's worth of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/10\/daydreaming-a-little-the-steven-sandell-grant-program.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Daydreaming a little . . . the Steven Sandell Grant Program\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So the Center for Retirement Research tweeted about this yesterday:  $45,000 grants available to researchers to support a year's worth of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/10\/daydreaming-a-little-the-steven-sandell-grant-program.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-10-21T23:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/10\/daydreaming-a-little-the-steven-sandell-grant-program.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/10\/daydreaming-a-little-the-steven-sandell-grant-program.html\",\"name\":\"Daydreaming a little . . . the Steven Sandell Grant Program\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-10-21T23:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-10-21T23:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\"},\"description\":\"So the Center for Retirement Research tweeted about this yesterday:  $45,000 grants available to researchers to support a year's worth of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/10\/daydreaming-a-little-the-steven-sandell-grant-program.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/10\/daydreaming-a-little-the-steven-sandell-grant-program.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/10\/daydreaming-a-little-the-steven-sandell-grant-program.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Daydreaming a little . . . the Steven Sandell Grant Program\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\",\"name\":\"Jane the Actuary\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jane the Actuary\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Daydreaming a little . . . the Steven Sandell Grant Program","description":"So the Center for Retirement Research tweeted about this yesterday:  $45,000 grants available to researchers to support a year's worth of","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/10\/daydreaming-a-little-the-steven-sandell-grant-program.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Daydreaming a little . . . the Steven Sandell Grant Program","og_description":"So the Center for Retirement Research tweeted about this yesterday:  $45,000 grants available to researchers to support a year's worth of","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/10\/daydreaming-a-little-the-steven-sandell-grant-program.html","og_site_name":"Jane the Actuary","article_published_time":"2014-10-21T23:00:00+00:00","author":"Jane the Actuary","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jane the Actuary","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/10\/daydreaming-a-little-the-steven-sandell-grant-program.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/10\/daydreaming-a-little-the-steven-sandell-grant-program.html","name":"Daydreaming a little . . . the Steven Sandell Grant Program","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-10-21T23:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2014-10-21T23:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a"},"description":"So the Center for Retirement Research tweeted about this yesterday:  $45,000 grants available to researchers to support a year's worth of","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/10\/daydreaming-a-little-the-steven-sandell-grant-program.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/10\/daydreaming-a-little-the-steven-sandell-grant-program.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/10\/daydreaming-a-little-the-steven-sandell-grant-program.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Daydreaming a little . . . the Steven Sandell Grant Program"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/","name":"Jane the Actuary","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a","name":"Jane the Actuary","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d6a493d380e87d49599d5487691c9fc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jane the Actuary"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/author\/actuaryjane"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}