I’m 88 and Work With No Savings, Used to Have Half a Million Saved

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Barbara Ann Patton, 88, who works as a notary in Florida. Patton said she works to pay her bills, as she has minimal savings and relies on her stepdaughter to help stay afloat. She said she’s considering finding someone else to live with her so she can more comfortably make ends meet. Her words have been edited for length and clarity.

I work now because I need to, partly due to some poor decisions I’ve made. I’ve always thought that at this time in my life, I’d be getting my Social Security, have a very nice pension from my corporate management years, and help some people financially. I can’t do that, and that’s a disappointment.

My first retirement was when I was 53 years old from my middle management job at Ameritech in Chicago. Because of my husband’s health problems, the doctors advised me to get him out of the cold winters and get him someplace where it was warm, so we moved to Florida. I took an early retirement because I had 35 years with the Bell System.

My husband could no longer work, and I was concerned that if I took the full pension, if something happened to me, then that would leave him with no income. If I took the survivor’s option, where I got 50% of my pension, that really wasn’t enough for me to be confident that we could get ourselves established in Florida.

I took the buyout option. At 53, they figured I probably had another 20 years, so they gave me the cash that would have represented my pension through age 73. I invested a lot of it, and the return was 10-12% annually. We were comfortable financially.

This ended up being a major mistake. If I’d taken the pension, I would now be getting somewhere between $3,500 and $4,000 a month, in addition to Social Security. I was trying to protect my husband. However, the company still provides me with excellent insurance benefits.

I was retired for about 10 years. I played golf, tennis, and pickleball, and I acted. It was a great time.

But your life needs a purpose. When you retire and decide you’re going to play and enjoy yourself, that’s good too, but it only lasts for a certain amount of time. I found myself really not enjoying things.

In 2004, I wrote my book, “Warm Tears and Cold Rutabaga Don’t Mix.” It felt like a second freedom. It didn’t make me much money, but I sure felt better after I wrote it.

I went back to work for another 11 years as a manager for the National Cremation Society. I only left it because there was a change in management. I retired again.

I ended up serving as a worship director for another nine years at a community church. When you feel like you’re helping a company reach its goals, or helping people reach theirs, that’s important.

A series of misfortunes set me back

While working, we were living in a gated community on leased land but decided it was best we owned our property. Our lease was about $300 a month at that time, subject to annual inflation increases. There was a home that became available by a pond and a golf course, which was in a section where residents owned their property. The maintenance fee was $75 a month.

We had a plan to pay for the house over three years, with a $50,000 down payment, then $50,000 the next year, then $30,000 after.

I looked at how my mutual funds were doing on a Thursday, and they were going up. On Friday, I called and asked for a check for $50,000 from our science and technology mutual funds. Unlike stock, if you take a withdrawal, it’ll be based on what the market is at 5 p.m. the following day, which was a Monday. That was when the market crashed. $300,000 went just like that, and it never came back.

I am still in the house with a reverse mortgage. I lost the money from my IRA. We planned to pay the house off in three annual payments.

We lived in Florida for 20 years and never had a hurricane until recently. In the last three hurricanes, I have experienced damage, which wiped out anything that I could call a savings account. House insurance was around $120 for the year. Today, it would be $140, except I need hurricane protection, so that jumps to $184, with me having to pay the first $3,680 before the insurance kicks in.

I still have a little over $20,000 in bills that need to be paid, and Social Security hasn’t quite cut it. I get $1,943 a month after the $185 Medicare deduction.

Each year, I’m almost $6,000 short. My stepdaughter lives with me, and she pays for the maintenance fee, which is $1,780 every six months, and the insurance, which is about $2,200.

A failed business venture flipping houses with my husband left me thousands more in debt, which is now paid off. He had an $800 Social Security check, which I lost when he died, but I inherited his debt.

I no longer have over half a million dollars in the bank. I don’t even have a savings account.

I cannot buy anything I really don’t need. Outside of major expenses, such as my car, I’m very frugal. Groceries are getting unbelievable. I thought when I carried a bag that just cost me $100, it would say Gucci on the side, not Publix. I spend close to $400 a month on cleaning supplies, whereas I used to spend $150.

I’m fortunate I can work, but the money isn’t enough

Since 2021, I have been a remote mobile notary public, and I often work more than 20 hours a week. I don’t resent the work at all.

I get companies all over the US who usually come through a notary agent. What I do is I download the documents, print them out, tag them for every place that needs a signature or some information, and sometimes schedule appointments. I meet very nice people doing refinancing, loans, and real estate sales.

The problem is, the payment doesn’t come most times for 45 days. In early May, I did three jobs, which were $360 total, but I won’t see that for over a month. I still have printers, scanners, paper, gas — my expenses don’t go away. I may go a week without any jobs, but some weeks I’ll have four or five. I’ll sometimes do some notary work for the community for $20 a few times a week.

When the snowbirds go home, things back off. There’s not a lot of business in the summertime, and it’s a competitive business.

I’m looking at doing some other work to increase my income, such as online sales. I’m exploring some opportunities for private broker roles. But when you apply for something and say your date of birth is 1937, that’s a job eliminator.

I’m fortunate that I’m upright, my eyesight is good, my hearing is good, and I’m mentally alert. I still use the electric shed trimmers. I just painted my courtyard. I can solve the daily crossword puzzle without a problem. I watch many of my peers not enjoy that. Most of my peers have died or are in an Alzheimer’s facility or assisted living.

If my stepdaughter decided that she’s not going to live here and go to the other side of the state where her new grandchild was just born, then I’ve got to try to find someone to come live with me who can pay that extra $5,000 or $6,000 a year I’m coming up short with. I’ve got to try to generate some passive income so I can continue to remain in my house. I’m concerned about my future, but it’s up to me to do something about it.