Ready for retirement?

I have and have had a number of colleagues that are considering retirement. I always ask them, “are you ready for the next 20 to 30 years of your life?” I have an Excel assignment in my class related to retirement, which to some, might seem strange to teach to college freshmen and sophomores. Joe starts saving $250 per month for retirement at age 24 and saves for 13 years. He then stops saving but leaves the money in his retirement account. Harry starts saving for retirement at age 35 and also saves $250 per month. Both get 7% interest over their lifetimes. Who has the most money at age 65? It is for several lessons. First is the power of compound interest. Second is the need to start saving for retirement early. I talk about the value of an employer 401K. The third is about the idea that we will have many careers in our lifetimes. This leads back to the first question I asked, “what are you going to do with the next 20 to 30 years of your life?” I would like to hear your comments, especially if you are retired or getting close to retirement. I will post more thoughts about this in later posts.