I waited until age 70 to start collecting my Social Security benefits and I'm glad I did!

 

I turned age 70 last month and began a new decade of life as a septuagenarian, a crown I’ll proudly wear, God willing, for the next 10 years of my life.  Today, I received my first monthly Social Security benefit check that was direct deposited into my personal checking account.  It’s been a long time coming and I’m delighted. 

I’m among the six percent of Social Security recipients who chose to postpone collecting benefits until age 70 in exchange for a higher benefit than what it would have been had I started collecting at my full retirement age of 66 years and 2 months.  I didn’t even consider starting to collect my benefits as soon as possible at age 62 or before full retirement age like the 57 percent majority of recipients do.

But it wasn’t easy, at times, holding off for this delayed gratification.  The never-ending “expert advice” in internet articles, unsolicited suggestions from friends and relatives, Tik Tok videos and the like seemed to constantly point out that my delaying wasn’t a smart move.  I beg to differ while acknowledging that it’s different for everyone.

What matters is that I methodically analyzed it, considering my longevity risk and the financial investment risk of collecting it sooner and investing it for, hopefully, a bigger return than the higher benefits I’ll now be collecting.  Those higher benefits are about 32 percent more than what they would have been had I started collecting at my full retirement age.  Time will tell if I made a good decision, but I believe I did.

I also considered that my spouse’s survivor benefit, if I predecease before her, would be higher than it would have been if I had started collecting benefits at my full retirement age. 

My math says I need to live to about age 80 to be at the breakeven point where my total delayed benefits collected will equal the amount collected had I started at my full retirement age.  Again, time will tell if I made a good decision.  I’ll continue reading the obituaries each morning to make sure I’m still here, and if I make it to my breakeven age, I’ll write an article about it.

Again, what matters is that I methodically analyzed my situation, considering longevity risk and investment risk in arriving at my decision.  My message to you is for you to do the same and leave your emotion at the front door when doing this.

What about the constant internet articles about how our benefits will be reduced because the Social Security Trust Fund is going to run dry?  I’m not worried about it, and I suggest you don’t worry either.  Now younger folks might have the worry of their retirement age being increased, and higher-income folks might face the prospect of having more of their earnings subject to the Social Security payroll tax, but they have the likelihood of a longer lifespan and greater wealth accumulation if they live healthy lives and save.  They’re not the Social Security recipients of yesteryear, and neither are we, the folks who retired, lived a few more years, and then died.  On average, we’re all living longer and that’s good.

Besides, our “fearless” elected leaders, while at times casting doubt in our eyes about their wisdom in the decisions they make when casting their votes, are smart enough to know that voting to reduce Social Security benefits is a recipe for their political careers to end sooner than they’d like.  They like their political careers and won’t do anything to antagonize voters who’ll vote to send them back from where they came.

Yes, I waited until age 70 to start collecting my Social Security benefits and I’m glad I did!

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

It’s 10:00 pm, do you know where your strength is?

"It's 10:00 pm, do you know where your children are?" was a popular question used as a television public service announcement for parents.  My recollection of this question was before the 10:00 p.m. evening news back in the days when our family owned a television, and I’d watch the nightly news before bedtime.  

So, my version of this is as follows: “It’s 10:00 pm, do you know where your strength is?"  Let’s ponder this question for a moment.

What is strength and how is it measured? 

In our gracefully aging fitness, strength is our power and ability to exert force, to support our body weight and lift heavy objects without assistance. Muscular strength and muscular endurance are attributes of our physical fitness. We measure our strength by the amount of weight lifted and for how long, such as repetitions completed or time under tension.

Does our strength decline in our gracefully aging journey? Yes, according to research, it does.

For example, a recent research study last year, one of many, investigated the effects of aging on muscle mass and strength from an examination of twenty-six leg-healthy participants who were examined in a university medical center in Germany. Participants were subdivided into two groups. The first group were younger participants under age 40.  The second group were 40 years of age and older. 

The study concluded that aging leads to muscle mass and strength loss. The decline of the muscle strength of people who were younger than 40 years, in comparison to those who were older than 40 years ranged between 16.6% and 40.9%.

You can read more here if you’re interested:

Strength and muscle mass loss with aging process. Age and strength loss

Not every older person is necessarily weaker than their yesteryear self.  Take someone, for example, who may not have devoted time during their youthful past engaging in physical fitness strength building activities but took it up later in life.  This person would be stronger now than his youthful past.  But keeping everything constant except aging, the evidence is convincing that we lose strength as we age.

But strength isn’t worth a bucket of spit unless we can apply it efficiently.  In physical fitness, training is how we build strength and learn how to efficiently use it. And, Pierini Fitness believes the strength we have should be available on demand. 

Therefore, the strength training he does seldom include significant warm-up activities such as warm-up sets with lighter weights to prepare for the peak heavy lifting that I intend to do. 

One of my recent strength workouts, for example, was using a pair of double 24kg kettlebells to clean and overhead press them for as many non-stop repetitions as possible. This weight was challenging and heavy for me. My warmup was limited to briefly stretching my shoulders getting them ready for the challenge.  I didn’t complete lighter weight sets as a warm-up but, rather, went right for the test weight load and got to work.  

Strength training this way goes against the conventional wisdom of stretching and warming up before engaging in strength training, but it aligns with my belief that my strength must be available on demand for when it’s required for my daily lifestyle living needs. In daily living when our strength is called upon to perform a challenging task or respond to an emergency, we don’t have the luxury of warming up for the strength challenge. 

Strength on demand training is something I’ve been doing for a while and believe it’s serving me well.  Thus far, I’ve been able to remain injury free training this way.  Obviously, I smartly pick my weight loads wisely and only perform the repetitions I can safely complete with good form.

Training this way helps me cultivate my strength on demand performance so I’m able to answer the question: It’s 10:00 pm, do you know where your strength is?

 

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Financial fitness favorites

Pierini Fitness is a happily retired old man and has been for almost four and one-half years.  But there was a time when he was in the rat race working hard, providing professional financial advice and other services to individuals and businesses.  Doing this for forty years gave him lots of wisdom. 

Now retired, it seems shameful if he took this wisdom and buried it.  It’s better to share it with others so this reflection will be his first effort doing so. 

Seasoned financial fitness jocks constantly striving to take their financial fitness to the next higher level, and those who have a healthy relationship with their financial resources, live by many of my financial fitness favorites.  

Here’s a brief discussion of financial fitness favorites.  It's not comprehensive or necessarily scholarly, but it comes from my 40 years of professional experience giving advice and observing my former clients’ financial success.

Live below your means

This is easier said than done for many, but it always works.  I've never seen it fail both in good times and bad times.  

Let's say you live 30 percent below your means and the economy goes south.  You experience a 20 percent decline in your income and your living expenses increase by 10 percent.  Despite this double-edged financial sword, you're still even and living at your means.  

Contrast this with someone who lives at their means and now experiences the same financial fate.  Absent any crisis-invoked drastic changes, they're now living 30 percent beyond their means.

Living beyond your means must be paid by depleting your financial net worth by either spending down hard-earned accumulated assets or incurring additional debt.

Once again, live below your means.

Measure and monitor your net worth 

This doesn't have to be a major undertaking, and you don't have to be a financial services professional to do it.  Nor must you prepare a glossy and bound report loaded with pie charts, graphs, and pages of statistical information.  Heck, you can even pencil it out on a bar napkin because doing it that way is better than nothing.  

Have you prepared a 2024 year-end report of your net worth?  If not, prepare one now.  

Consider it a historical "selfie" of your financial net worth for a snapshot moment in time. It's also a moving-forward benchmark that'll help you measure and monitor your financial success efforts.

Prepare an annual budget to guide your future financial success efforts

A budget is your personal financial management tool.  It's not a punitive mandate that takes the fun out of living.  There's no excuse for not having one and preparing it doesn't have to be complicated or time-consuming.     

A simple Excel worksheet or one prepared using inexpensive and popular computer software programs allows you to track and manage your income and expenses. Years ago, doing this was too darn much work so most people didn't.  Now it's easier and still most people don't.

Consider your personal budget as your "MapQuest driving directions" that'll help you efficiently get to your financial destination.

Become debt free 

Sooner rather than later is my suggestion.  For some, this may seem impossible but in the long run, all things are possible. Unfortunately, sometimes an impossible mindset breeds inaction.  Know that a debt-free goal isn't an all-or-nothing proposition.  

Start by adding an extra $100 per month to your next home loan payment, build some confidence and go from there.  You'll be amazed how "addicting" debt reduction is and how, before you know it, you'll be ramping up your debt reduction efforts.  

Read my lips and strive to become debt-free.

Share your prosperity with others

The old saying of what goes around comes around is true.  Some of my former clients who enjoyed peak financial fitness and had a healthy relationship with their financial resources were often the most charitable.  They know they've been blessed and were willing to share their financial blessings with others.

These "others" may be family members, a local charity devoted to helping veterans, or an international ministry working to reduce hunger in third-world countries.  

Almost three decades ago, I had a profound charitable experience that left a lasting impression. My wife and I attended an annual fundraising event for a local charity near and dear to our hearts.  During dinner, she "announced" we were going to make a big contribution to this organization.  It would help them buy an ultrasound machine needed to expand and improve their charitable work.  The amount was, shall I say, financially and emotionally challenging for me.  I "cried like a baby" while reluctantly telling her "OK".   

About one week later, after the financial dust had settled and my numbness wore off, I experienced an amazing epiphany of what we had done and totally embraced our decision.    

Sometimes we need to step out of our comfort zone to realize the dormant greatness residing in each of us.  If we do so, it'll resonate brightly but only if we respond to the hidden opportunities regularly coming our way.

There's so much more I can say but I'll stop for now before you get bored. Thanks for allowing me to share my financial fitness favorites.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Gracefully aging journey around our fitness world

Imagine taking a trip around the world and how long it would take to do it.

Chances are it would be an adventuresome journey with multiple destinations along the way.  The driving part might bring you some unexpected delays.  There might be a flat tire or road construction requiring you to take a detour.  

 

Well, your gracefully aging fitness journey has many similarities with a trip around the world.

 

First, it's a long one that lasts a lifetime and takes longer than a trip around the world.

 

Second, it's full of adventure with multiple destinations along the way.

 

Third, if you haven't already experienced it, you eventually will and that's you'll encounter unexpected delays, much like a travel journey flat tire, road detour or accident.  

 

Your gracefully aging fitness journey includes travels to a destination that can be measured by different means.  For Pierini Fitness, it’s measured using cardiovascular-respiratory and strength endurance conditioning measuring yardsticks, along with physical and psychological health and wellness.  

There are many objective measures that can be used, and we decide the ones we’ll use.  They allow us to objectively measure and assess our gracefully aging fitness for today and tomorrow up until the last day of our lives, then, for kicks, we can compare to our yesteryear youthful past.

 

What's most important in our gracefully aging fitness travel journey is having a healthy relationship with our body, mind, and spirit, and being grateful for all our blessings.    

 

It's typical at various times of the year, such as the start of a new year, a birthday, an anniversary, or the end of the year to plan and ponder our gracefully aging fitness, or perceived lack of it.

   

While fitness might typically be thought of in physical fitness terms, our entire gracefully aging fitness treasure chest includes more than just physical fitness; other measures of our gracefully aging fitness can be expressed by measures of faith, family, and economic fitness.      

 

So, let’s be mindful of all this in our gracefully aging journey around our fitness world.

 

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Older man fitness motivation sayings

I’ve collected a small list of wise sayings that are my old man motivation on those days when I don’t feel like getting off my behind for some quality fitness training.  They’re the creation of others, and in most cases I don’t know who the author is.  I’d like to share them with you so here they are:

“Fatigue makes cowards of us all.”

 

“Your couch is winning, and it shows.”

 

“Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.”

 

“Don’t let laziness disguise itself as aging.”

 

“Nobody escapes aging.”

 

“Being in shape is the ultimate status symbol and the older you get, the more it’s worth.”

 

“Muscle doesn’t know age, only effort.  It’s not too late to start building muscle.”

 

“The older I get, the better I was.”

 

“The older I get, the earlier it gets late.”

 

“Every day we’re the oldest we’ve ever been, and the youngest we’ll ever be so every personal best is something to be celebrated.”

 

“Old age is a privilege denied to many.”

 

“Hunger makes a good chef.”

 

“A fit body can’t be bought; it has to be earned.”

 

“Success is the result of small efforts repeated day in and day out.”

 

“He’s so lazy that he’s tired tomorrow.”

 

“I’m getting older but that doesn’t mean I feel old.”

This nice collection which I’ve shared with you is one that will continue to grow as time goes on.  For me, they’re my older man fitness motivation sayings.

 Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Time for a one-minute fitness challenge

 

I’d say that most fitness guys tend to be structured and rigid at times with their fitness training.  Like Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for example as training days regardless of whatever else in life may be going on.  Or three sets of eight reps for each exercise regardless of how you’re feeling.  I used to always say that Monday at 5:00 pm was International Bench Press Day at gyms across the country.  There may only be partial truth to any of what I’ve said but undoubtedly there’s truth to be had in it.

We’re creatures of habit and whether it’s by how God created us or learned, we find comfort in doing what we’ve done, over and over, until something kicks us in the behind to do or try something different.

If I’m not speaking for you, I’m speaking for me, although I must admit that my fitness training structure and rigidness can best be described as intensity laced.  Not that this is ideal or preferred but merely my fitness training personality playing out in my workouts.

Another creature of habit mindset is that more is better.  So, for example, if doing one hundred burpees is good, two hundred of them must be better and 300, 400, 500 or 1,000 must be best.  Running three miles is good, running five miles is better, and running eight miles is best.  Take your favorite fitness activity and plug it in to this equation and tell me if it’s true for you.  Not that you necessarily do it, but only that you think it.

Well, in my gracefully aging journey, I finally hit age 70 and this has a subtle way of exposing the errors in this fitness training thinking.  I didn’t stumble across this revelation on my 70^th birthday, it’s something that has been cooking for a while.

And what did I do when it finally hit me, that structure, rigidity, and more is better fitness training mentality isn’t ideal?

I discovered one-minute fitness challenges.  Like how many burpees can I complete in one minute.  Or can I hold a pair of kettlebells, using a challenging weight, overhead for one minute.  I now have at least a half dozen or more fitness activities that I periodically include in a one-minute AMRAP challenge, and my fitness training is harvesting new bounties.  One that I’m currently doing is a double kettlebell rack hold Asian Squat for time, trying to last one minute.  I started off with a pair of 16-kilogram kettlebells.  It took a while but eventually I was able to hold them in a rack position for one minute in an Asian Squat.

Then, I advanced to using a pair of 20-kilogram kettlebells.  I don’t remember my hold time the first time I attempted with this heavier load but eventually, I managed to hold for one minute.

Now, I’m doing the same activity using a pair of 24-kilogram kettlebells.  I remember the first time I tried this weight and lasted a whopping nine seconds.  It was a humbling experience I still remember today.  My most recent effort was a few days ago and I managed to hold this position for fifty seconds.  My one-minute gold standard is right around the corner of being achieved.

So, nowadays, when life gets in the way of my fitness training, I always tell myself that despite how busy I am, I will always have time for a one-minute fitness challenge.

 

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

The boss of inflation

 

There is no shortage of internet articles and bloviating rhetoric from left-sided economists and politicians about how the tariffs proposed by President Trump will be inflationary and hit the pocketbooks of Americans.

One notable economist and former U.S. Treasury Secretary, Larry Summers, slammed President Trump’s tariffs as a self-inflicted wound on the US economy and warns they will fuel inflation within months.

This inflationary concern is also echoed by Mark Zandi, the chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, who recently shared that President Trump’s tariff plan would raise inflation and cost U.S. jobs.

A recent internet news article by USA TODAY (February 16, 2025) - “Why Trump’s plan for sweeping tariffs could ‘shock” inflation back into gear” - warned that President Donald Trump’s plan to hit imports from foreign countries with sweeping reciprocal tariffs could nearly double U.S. inflation if fully imposed, according to a recent study, intensifying a recent resurgence in consumer price increases.

Not all economists agree with this Peter Crying Wolf bleak inflationary message.  For example, Kevin Hassett, an economic adviser for President Trump recently said that long-held beliefs by nearly every economist that tariffs will raise prices are “just false.”

Who is right and who is wrong?  Each economist obviously has statistics to prove their point. Do we resolve these differences of opinion by channeling Mark Twain who once said, “There are three kinds of lies:  lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

Or does this add further support to a popular expression of yesteryear that economists are paid liars?

In America, inflation is typically measured by several economic indices with the most popular being, perhaps, the Consumer Price Index. 

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. Indexes are available for the U.S. and various geographic areas. Average price data for select utility, automotive fuel, and food items are also available.

From January 2024 to January 2025, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 3.0 percent, after rising 2.9 percent over the 12 months ending December 2024.

One of the drawbacks of the CPI, which measures the cost of a hypothetical basket of goods and services, is that it is static, the items of goods and services in that hypothetical basket remain constant.  It fails to consider what is known as substitution bias.  Substitution bias occurs when prices for goods and services change relative to one another. For example, the price of beef goes up greater than the cost of chicken.

Failure to consider substitution bias in the calculation of inflation via the CPI is that it results in this inflationary measure to overstate the true rise in the cost of living because it does not consider that people can substitute away from goods whose prices rise disproportionately.

Substitution bias is the power of American consumers doing what they do best, shopping for the best price for the goods and services they need and can afford.  It is an example of skipping the beef and buying the chicken for dinner.

Let’s also consider a less well-known force that can be described as the skip bias.  If the cost of food goes up by, say, ten percent, skip, or eat, ten percent less food and you have cancelled the inflationary cost of food.  What a great way to jumpstart the mission of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the new U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, of “Make America Healthy Again.”

President Trump’s tariff proposals will not be an inflationary nightmare for smart American consumers who have a keen sense of substitution bias in their shopping for goods and services. These smart American consumers will always be the boss of inflation.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

70th birthday 100 burpees workout

 

Pierini Fitness recently and quietly crossed a line in the sand new decade of life with his 70^th birthday and entered new and uncharted life territory as a septuagenarian; he is #FITAT70 and blessed.

 

Continuing with an annual tradition started on his 65^th birthday, when he turned age 65, the 70^th birthday celebration included a 100 burpees workout at a local park.  While currently not at the top of his burpees game, he completed the 100 burpees with hands extended overhead clapping jumps in the time of 12:29. Here’s video proof of his effort:

 

Visit Pierini Fitness often to read his latest perspective about living and dying, gracefully aging and trying to live a good and honest life.  He’ll also continue sharing the details of his journey chasing upper-percentile and age-adjusted cardiovascular conditioning and strength endurance.  Finally, he’ll occasionally share some financial and political perspectives and wisdom. 

 

Until we meet next time, I’m Pierini Fitness #FITAT70 and blessed, and glad I was able to complete my 70^th birthday 100 burpees workout.

 

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Will soon be revealed and shared

Wow, how time flies when you’re spending a lot of time doing nothing activities as a retired guy and blogging isn’t one of them.  It’s been 344 days since my last blogflection on March 11, 2024.  I should be ashamed of myself and am, somewhat, given that Pierini Fitness has been in cyberspace existence almost seventeen years since August 28, 2008.

So, what have I been doing?  Glad you asked.

 

I continue with my fitness pursuits in my gracefully aging journey.  I have swapped blogging time for video-making time and have added a lot of content to my Pierini Fitness YouTube Channel.  If I wasn’t so lazy, I’d take those videos and leverage them here with some middle-aged man fitness training wisdom. 

 

But in my lethargic blogging absence, I’ve slowly come to the end of my middle-age manhood.  Years ago, I “announced” that once a person becomes age 70, they’re an old man.  My days of middle-aged manhood are slowly coming to an end.  The next time you read a new blogflection here, it will be penned by and old man named Pierini Fitness.

 

So, it’s time to make some changes with this time-tested blog. The banner currently reads as follows:

 

“Founded on August 28, 2008, Pierini Fitness is a middle-aged man's reflections about living and dying, gracefully aging, and trying my best to live a good and honest life. There's good middle-aged man diet, fitness and health stuff here too. Enjoy your visit here and savor the knowledge and wisdom. Tell a middle-aged man or woman friend to stop by for a visit. Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum.”

 

It will soon change to read as follows:

 

“Founded on August 28, 2008, Pierini Fitness is now an old man who continues sharing his reflections about living and dying, gracefully aging, and trying my best to live a good and honest life.  Prior to turning age 70, he shared his reflections from a middle-aged man’s perspective.  Pierini Fitness has added content to now include occasionally financial and political perspectives.  Enjoy your visit here and savor his knowledge and wisdom.  Tell an older man or woman friend to stop by for a visit.  Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum.”

 

The section titled WHO IS PIERINI FITNESS? currently reads as follows:

 

“I'm a 69-year young middle-aged man fitness dude. As founder and chief executive blogger of Pierini Fitness, I'm the ambassador of middle-aged men around the world, advocating their interests and expressing their views of the way life was, the way life is and the way life should be. I have my own thoughts and opinions about this and that, and they're not dependent upon whether or not you believe them. I express them periodically - and sometimes more - with a Pierini Fitness blogflection. I will personally and timely reply to all your comments and questions.”

 

It will soon change to read as follows:

 

“I’m a 70-years young older man fitness guy.  As founder and chief executive blogger of Pierini Fitness, I share my opinions and wisdom about the way life was, the way life is, and the way life should be.  While most of my content since 2008 has focused on reflections about living and dying, gracefully aging and trying to live a good and honest life, I now occasionally share my financial and political thoughts.  I will personally and timely reply to all your comments and questions.”

 

Again, I apologize for my unexcused prolonged absence but stay tuned because my old man opinions and wisdom will soon be revealed and shared.

 

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

New burpees workout fitness apparel

I just completed another Pierini Fitness custom designed fitness t-shirt, and the merchandise is on its way, I can hardly wait to try one on.

Some time ago, I decided that I would no longer buy fitness clothes sporting a company's logo.  I would no longer be a walking billboard for Nike or Under Armour.  I'll acknowledge that my running shoes do bear the Asics logo, but there's not much I can do about that one; but that's it!

So, I started designing my own t-shirt logos and messages and this one is my third design creation.  I ordered five t-shirts, and they should arrive in a couple weeks.

I can hardly wait to wear my Spring 2024 new burpees workout fitness apparel.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum