The Union Maid

This is a post for my daughter who is carrying on a fine family tradition. She has been voted by her co-workers to negotiate with the employers for the new union contract. Her grandfather, my dad (Joe) was a union organizer in the early '50s her great-grandfather (Leo) was also involved with unions in the '40s and her grandmother (Verna) was a pioneer for women's rights in the union movement in BC in the 60's to the '90s.  My wife and I were both union reps in the 70s and strike captains when we were forced to walk the picket line. My daughter will do us proud.  

The song is sung by Pete Seeger, in Australia, you can hear it here.

There once was a union maid, she never was afraid

Of goons and ginks and company finks and the deputy sheriffs who made the raid.

She went to the union hall when a meeting was called,

And when the Legion boys come 'round

She always stood her ground.

Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,

I'm sticking to the union; I'm sticking to the union.

Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,

I'm sticking to the union 'til the day I die.

This union maid was wise to the tricks of company spies,

She couldn't be fooled by a company stool; she'd always organize the guys.

She always got her way when she struck for better pay.

She'd show her card to the National Guard

And this is what she'd say

Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,

I'm sticking to the union; I'm sticking to the union.

Oh, you can't scare me, I'm sticking to the union,

I'm sticking to the union 'til the day I die.

You gals who want to be free, just take a tip from me;

Get you a man who's a union man and share his union card.

Married life ain't hard if you got a union card,

A union man has a happy life when he's got a union wife.

Lubricate your car engine with oil

I used to when I was working find the time to change the oil on my car on a regular basis. It was a pain as a how-to article by Car and Driver says you need your own car jack, the right kind of oil for your car, and a safe space to be able to get under your car and work. Since I retired I don't. There are so many Lube and Oil places where you can go without an appointment, drive in and 15 to 20 minutes later drive out with your oil checked. In fact, many of these companies do safety checks as well and they do them for free. Do it yourself and you have a two or three-hour job and you do not have a safety check done.

There’s also the worry that you might do something wrong, such as not tightening the plug which could hurt your vehicle, costing you more in the long run.

The McNally Institute reports that 74% of men have changed the oil in their car themselves as opposed to 30% of women, although both genders reported regularly checking their levels.

Oil helps keep your engine from overheating, and experts at AAA recommend that, depending on what type of oil you use (synthetic or real) and the kind of car you drive, you change your oil every 5,000 to 7,500 miles.

While it is undoubtedly useful to know how to check when your oil is getting low and perform proper maintenance so your car never runs dry, I think it's worth getting a professional to do it in order to free up some time and anxiety.

Going back home

Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving. Terry Pratchett

I love the writings of Terry Pratchett, if you get a chance visit his website and read some great fantasy, but I wander from my theme today. 

My best friend grew up in a small town and then moved away for a few years and returned. His perspective changed his view of this community. I am sure this happens to many of us. I also grew up in a small community, outside of a small town. The worldview of the people I knew was very limited. My family was seen as outsiders for years because we were not from the area. My friends thought it was amazing that my mom and dad would drive to the big city (three hours away) every weekend to visit our cousins.

My grandson in Australia is growing up in a small community, many of his friends and classmates have not left their small rural area. My grandson has travelled to Canada, Japan, and the United States and has done so ever since he was born. As he is now older, he is starting to hang out with friends who have travelled and who have a broader worldview. 

It will take him a while to understand that when he leaves a place he has known forever and experiences something new, it changes both him and that place. He returns to something familiar, but it looks different because his perspective has changed. Leaving and coming home again expands his worldview, much more than staying put ever would. I knew this when I was about his age, but I did not come to appreciate that understanding until I was in my early 20s. I hope that he learns that lesson faster than I did, because my not understanding this simple concept, kept me from really appreciating the people and the place I left behind.

Four big retirement risks

My brother did not have a pension plan when he was working. He was self-employed so he created his own plan. When he was developing his plan, he realized that there were five major risks in planning for retirement:

Longevity risk — the risk he will outlive his money

Market risk — the risk of volatility in the stock market and housing market

Health risk — the risk of unexpected medical expenses and long-term care

Family risk — the risk of things like the death of a spouse or partner and adult children becoming ill or unemployed

My brother was a lawyer and so when he planned his retirement, he hired an expert financial planner to help him understand and plan for the risks.

We normally predict longevity based on the age their parents died, but in my case and my brothers case, which is not realistic. Our father died in an accident before he was fifty and our mother died of a rare cancer when she was 58. So we have to rely or other sources to predict our longevity.

The actual mortality statistics say that today’s 65-year-old male in Canada  can expect to live, on average, to about 88; a 65-year-old female to about 90.

In the United States partly because of their approach to the pandemic, life expectancy is dropping while in Canada it is going up. Averages being averages, it’s possible you’ll live into your 90s or 100s — or not. Of course, it’s impossible to know exactly how long you’ll live. Your genes play a role. So does your current health, your future health, your health history, the possibility of an accident or becoming a crime victim and simply the unexpected.

I’m 76 and the rudimentary (and all right, slightly morbid) Actuaries Longevity Calculator computes that I have a 86% chance of living to 80, a 63% chance of living to 85 and a 36% chance of living to 90. I’m factoring those numbers into my retirement planning.

My brother is two years younger and in better shape than I am and the Actuaries Longevity Calculator computes that he has an 86% chance of living to 80, a 68% chance of living to 85 and a 44% chance of living to 90. I’m sure he or his financial advisor is also factoring those numbers into his retirement planning.

The second risk in retirement is market volatility. We tend to be pessimistic when it comes to our expectations about the stock market. I was talking to my advisor, and she asked if I was concerned about the recent drop in the market. I said I was, but she said the markets are slowly coming back, so be patient.

Here’s the problem, when we were young, we could take a long-horizon perspective with our investments. However, as we get older, we shift our horizons from the long term to the shorter term. This is because we are so nervous about the volatility of the stock market shrinking our retirement savings. If you have good health and realize that your expectations about your life expectancy is wrong, you understand that you also wind up reducing the negative effect of any one year’s stock market volatility on your retirement. As my advisor said, stay patient.

The third risk to consider is health. I and my brothers are very lucky in that we have our health. The researcher in Canada shows that 93% of Canadians age in place, and of the other 7% who don’t 3% go into care (and in BC where I live the care is subsidized and the maximum the government charges for the care is about 85% of a person ‘s current income), and 4% go into independent living. In the United States it is a different story.

According to Fidelity Investments’ annual projection, an average 65-year-old retired couple in the United States, may need about $315,000 to cover their healthcare expenses in retirement. And that doesn’t include the possibility of long-term care costs, which can be exorbitant. The median cost of a private room in a nursing home in 2022 is $108,405, according to the Genworth Cost of Care Study. In assisted living, it’s $54,000. A home health aide runs $61,776.

Long-term care is a significant risk faced by retirees, but better-designed public programs and private products could help protect retirees from these potentially catastrophic risks.

The last risk is family related and there is no advice or planning that can take the place of talking and helping when and if you can.