When Ronald Migliaro retired in 2009, he didn’t owe a soul.
“You know Dave Ramsey?” he asked. “Well, I was Dave Ramsey before there was a Dave Ramsey. I have no debt.”
If only more seniors could say likewise.
Last month, a Wells Fargo survey of middle-class Americans revealed that 80 is the new 65 when it comes to retirement. Of the respondents, 74 percent said they expect to work in their retirement years; 25 percent say they will need to work until at least age 80 to live comfortably.
Not Migliaro, a 64-year-old Connecticut native who heeded his mom’s advice (“Ronnie, save your money.”) He beat down the urge to buy a bigger house, drive luxury cars and covet other material goods. He and Mary, his wife, live in the same split-level home in Cherokee County that they purchased in 1976.
In retirement, he lives a life that’s financially stress-free.
Migliaro graduated as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps and went directly to flight school in Pensacola. He was a fighter pilot for five years before he left the military. He was unable to fly for an airline because his eyesight went bad, and he lacked the flight hours to qualify.
So he joined Allstate Insurance Co. as a field commercial underwriter and spent 35 years there.
“I thought insurance was the best way to go,” he said, “though I wasn’t in sales.”
Migliaro amassed a pension, contributed religiously to his 401(k) and dabbled in a few private investments. His employer-provided 401(k) felt the sting of the 2008 stock market meltdown, but he was able to recoup all the money lost by investing the remaining million-plus in an annuity. He and his wife’s Social Security checks pay practically all their living expenses. For “play money,” they use some of the interest off the annuity. They never touch the annuity’s principal, which he said will go to his heirs.
Migliaro chose not to be completely beholden to the wild rides, surges and dips of the stock market. And for that, he’s thankful.
“With the stock market, you could lose it all,” he told me. “With the annuity, if its value goes up 10 percent, my million goes up $100,000. If it drops 20 percent, I don’t lose any money. I’m locked in. When we had the down markets, I lost money, and it takes you much longer to make it up. With the way the financial world is today ...”
Questions raised: How many of Migliaro’s colleagues and friends have financial freedom in retirement? How many weathered the sharp declines in house values, wild swings in stock prices and the desire to keep up with the Joneses?
“A lot of them are flat broke,” Migliaro said. “People are scared.”
And that’s no fun. Especially in one’s golden years.
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