Squirrely.

• Author: Rundles, Jeff
• Position: RUNDLES WRAP UP

Retirement has been on my mind a lot lately, mostly because, as I write, I'm on the eve of my 65th birthday, have my Medicare card and coverage in place, am trying to delay taking Social Security until I qualify for a higher monthly payout, am finding job applications rejected due to my age (obliquely), and I'm constantly being asked why I don't just retire by well-meaning but obviously ignorant people, mostly younger, who just assume that retirement is a piece of cake. Oh, and I misspent my earning years over the last 40 years--apparently like most Americans--and I am, generally speaking, unprepared for retirement, at least a comfortable one.

And, of course, I am receiving a ton of mail from financial advisers and firms who want to manage my retirement funds. These solicitations--and much of the plethora of advertisements I see on television for managing retirement funds--strike me as too little, too late. Most of the people featured in them are 50+ or even 60+, and it just seems to me that the people who should be the subject of retirement management solicitations are those in their 20s, 30s and 40s. We older folks have made our beds, as they say; it's the younger people whose covers are awry.

The sad truth is that Americans in general, and young people (millennials) in particular, are not saving nearly enough for retirement, if at all, and this comes at a time when life expectancy is on the rise, so retirement will undoubtedly be long. I understand this--I was young once, and it seemed as if retirement was something that would take care of itself, someday. Besides, I had all the usual immediate needs: buying a house, having fun, taking trips, eating out, driving nice cars, saving for my children's college, etc. There was every reason to live in the now.

What I didn't expect was that one day I was footloose and 30, and in the blink of an eye I am 65. I remember thinking throughout my 30s and 40s, even 50s, that I had plenty of time. What an idiot! The last 35 years went by faster than my 11th grade calculus class.

Ah, but yes I was young once, so I know a little about deaf ears, or at least the speed of sound rushing through them. There were my elders offering sage advice, as I am now, and it went in one ear and out the other. I understand not listening. But I am going to offer some pearls of wisdom nonetheless in the hope that my juniors, or...