Staying Debt-Free in Your 70s

In our 20s, the biggest threat to our wealth was striking out into the world. Conversely, in our 70s, the most significant threat to our fortunes is us leaving the world unprepared.

That’s right; our 70s is all about ensuring we have everything in place for us to leave the world with our fortunes intact.

Welcome back to the Staying Debt-Free at Any Age series (20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s), where our mission is to build and keep our wealth.

Why You Need a Job

Long-term care for the loss. Long-term care is the biggest threat to our wealth and prosperity during our 70s and beyond. Other medical situations may be dangerous as well.

Long-term care (LTC) is when we need to live in a special facility staffed by medical and other professionals. There is also in-home care which can be even more expensive in some cases.

A well-regarded long-term facility can cost anywhere from $5,000/month to $15,000/month, even more in certain areas. Yes, LTC can break the bank quickly if you do not prepare for it.

“Get Your Ducks in a Row” goes further into LTC options and other retirement and estate planning techniques. Sometimes people can be in LTC for up to three years.

Preparing for long-term care. The primary way to prepare for long-term care is LTC insurance. At a certain age, perhaps in your 60s, you can start paying insurance to help pay for LTC.

My 60-Day Pre-Retirement

Some people also attempt to remain under a certain income level to fall into government-sponsored coverage. Giving your money away to fall under this line is tricky, as the government will track and penalize this behavior. 

But, because we are thinking ahead, we can solve our LTC issues long before they become problems. All we need to do is use math.

Passive Income for the win. Many people laugh when I say I want $20,000/month in passive income. However, that $20,000/month income guarantees my wife and me a spot in an LTC for as long as we need.

Thus, if my wife and I reach $20,000 in passive income in our 50s, we can be assured that we will have at least $40,000/month in our 70s. That’s the magic of passive income—it keeps growing on its own. 

Pumpkin Spice & Royalties

Here are some of the ways we plan to keep growing our passive income from our 40s well into our 70s.

1. Military Retirement. My military retirement will grow along with inflation.
2. Roth IRA. My Roth IRA will grow tax-free forever because it doesn’t make us take required minimum distributions. 
3. Series “I” Bonds. I can buy savings bonds today that compound for 30 years. They will mature and provide me income in my 70s. If I don’t need them, I can reinvest in more bonds. 
4. 30-Year Treasury Bonds. These government bonds pay me semi-annual interest for passive income. 
5. Index Funds. I can use dividends from index funds for passive income or sell them for a quick cash boost. 
6. Dividend growth portfolio. DGI portfolios take a while to start, but towards our 60s and 70s, they should provide a hefty amount of income without selling shares. 
7. Income portfolio. By our 70s, my wife and I should easily have income portfolios paying us $10,000/month each. 
8. Rents. We will not have any mortgages on our homes by this age, so our rental income will be massive. 
9. Royalties. I will have thousands and thousands of books by this age. I cannot even fathom the royalty income they will pay us. 
10. Automated business. If I maintain the same website for over 30 years, it will be producing over $30,000/month in purely passive income by then. Easily. 
11. Cryptocurrencies. We don’t know the future of crypto, but investing now will pay off sooner rather than later. 
12. The Metaverse. Jumping into the metaverse will be like riding the “internet wave” in the 1990s. Involve yourselves early to reap the rewards forever. 

Diversify your passive income. Your 70s are not the time to diversify your passive income. The time for that is today. Thus, in your 70s, you will have multiple choices to pay for your medical and long-term care needs. 

Involve your children in the planning process. Of course, all the planning in the world can’t help us if we lose control of our facilities (our mind or body). Therefore, we need to keep our children in the loop of our income streams. 

How to FALL into Investing

An excellent book to read on how to involve your children is “Make Your Family Rich.” It goes into hosting town hall-style meetings with your children. 

You can also introduce your kids and grandkids to prominent people and institutions in your financial life. Important figures can be real estate agents, bankers, insurance types, and lawyers.

Overall, the more your children understand, the more likely they will ensure they take care of you and your wealth. Hopefully, we spent the last 30 years training them in the art of passive income. 

Living overseas may be an option. Another option is moving overseas and living on passive income. Depending on the country, you could probably receive better “in-home” long-term care than the best resident facilities in America.

Debt-Free? So, What’s Next?

The costs would be 4-5 times cheaper than in America, and you could have more freedom and comfort. The downside is that you could be away from family. However, if you set your passive income up correctly, they may be able to visit or even retire with you overseas. 

I wrote an entire series on Living Overseas on Passive Income. The idea is to set these thoughts and ideas into motion well before moving overseas. 

1. Living Overseas Passively 101: Introduction
2. Living Overseas Passively 102: Financial Mindset
3. Living Overseas Passively 103: Retirement Income
4. Living Overseas Passively 104: Dividend Income
5. Living Overseas Passively 105: Rental Income
6. Living Overseas Passively 106: Royalty Income 
7. Living Overseas Passively 107: Crypto Income
8. Living Overseas Passively 108: Business Income
9. Living Overseas Passively 109: Cash & Emergency Fund
10. Living Overseas Passively 110: Living Overseas

The Magic of House Hacking

Conclusion. As we wrap up the Staying Debt-Free series, we should reflect on our lives. We need to ask ourselves a few questions today.

1. Am I preparing myself financially today for a better future tomorrow?
2. What obstacles can affect me tomorrow that I need to prepare myself to handle?
3. Who are the people in my life I want to ensure I can assist in the future?

You may not have all the answers today, but having a lot of money will help facilitate all the answers you need—and then some. 

People always like to ask me why I want to make so much passive income, and there is a straightforward answer. “Having a lot of money cannot hurt the situation.”

No matter what roadblocks life puts on our path, having the education and money can make it easier to handle. Thus, I continue to grind until I reach my goals. What are you doing in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s to stay debt-free and build passive income?

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Disclosure: I am not a financial advisor or money manager, and any knowledge is given as guidance and not direct actionable investment advice. I am an Amazon Affiliate. Please research any investment vehicles that are being considered. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it.  I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. All Right Reserved Military Family Investing