EDITOR’S NOTE:
This is the first of a two-part series on retirees worries about finances.
SEQUIM ¬– Ask seniors in this retirement hot spot whether they’re worried about their finances amid the nation’s economic turmoil, and some of them change the subject.
“I’m worried about the country,” said Lysette Stumbaugh, a retired school librarian who volunteers to keep the Sequim Senior Activity Center library in shape.
The entire North Olympic Peninsula is a draw to retirees, but Sequim in particular was singled out by Money
magazine as one of the best six towns on the water for retirees in the United States.
Like all retirees, those in Sequim have seen their retirement portfolios hit hard by plunging stocks, and they worry both about their personal futures and that of the nation.
Specifically, Stumbaugh, 86, is on edge about who’ll be elected president on Tuesday in the general election.
She’s concerned about what the new leader will do with Social Security, among other things.
“If [Republican Sen. John] McCain is elected . . . I don’t think he’s capable of making good decisions,” she said.
“A lot of retirees in Sequim live on Social Security,” Stumbaugh said.
“Obama has never threatened to privatize it. I think McCain would handle it differently, though I don’t know what exactly he would do.”
Another retiree browsing in the senior center library last week was Joey Lazzaro, 71.
McCain is his man, although he believes the country will emerge from its economic descent regardless of who moves into the White House.
Strong advisers
“Whoever gets in is going to surround himself with strong advisers,” he said.
And Lazzaro, who lived in Washington, D.C., for 18 years, said he watched longtime civil service workers doing much of the government’s business, regardless of who was in office.
“There are enough checks and balances, both formal and informal,” on the executive branch, he said.
Marilyn Zimmerman, 69, isn’t so sure, no matter who wins the presidential race.
While working on crocheted hats for Stitches from the Heart, a national nonprofit group that provides clothing for premature babies, she listed worries both personal and political.
She wonders whether “our new president will be able to clean up the mess. He’s going to have a job on his hands.”
Portfolio value down
Stumbaugh said that while she pays her bills with her Social Security income, she also has a stock portfolio for which value has slipped about $16,000 in the wake of market plunges.
But she counts herself fortunate, and is thankful that her grown children have either stable pensions or good jobs.
“My house is paid off,” Stumbaugh added, “but I have taxes I have to budget for,” so she looks for ways to economize.
For one, she’s using her wood stove more to save electricity.
She has also taken measures to cut back on pre-election stress.
“I’ve switched to decaffeinated tea,” Stumbaugh said.
Lazzaro said that while the stock market’s fluctuations have his wife, Sandi, somewhat rattled, he’s “done some right things” in the past that are helping them weather the storm.
Lazzaro served 26 years in the U.S. Air Force, and then worked another dozen years for the Boeing Co.
So he has Social Security plus two pensions — along with three house payments.
The Lazzaros own a house in Auburn, where they live part-time, a condominium in Sequim and a house where Sandi’s mother lives.
The three mortgages have created a “negative cash flow,” Lazzaro said.
Sold property
He’s dipping into savings and has sold a property he bought nearly 50 years ago.
Back in the 1950s, Lazzaro was a 20-something working for a testing laboratory. His boss heard about land for sale in Florida, and urged Lazzaro to buy some.
It was expensive at the time: $975 for 5 acres. Lazzaro bought two parcels, and struggled to make the payments of $16 a month.
“That was killing me,” he remembered.
“I was making $50 a week, and taking home $42. But I listened to my boss. He said, ‘invest in this. Some day it’ll do something for you.'”
The properties are worth $200,000 each now. Lazzaro has sold one of them.
Therein lies his advice for young people: Invest in land as early as possible, and “have the discipline to leave it there.”
Zimmerman’s husband, Michael, has stable retirement benefits from his years as a Teamster.
But she worries that a market meltdown could gut her own pension from Associated Grocers.
Illness could ‘wipe us out’
“If one of us got sick, it could wipe us out,” she said.
The Zimmermans recently modified their investment portfolio.
“We went down and put it in something low-risk. We said, ‘We don’t care if it’s only earning 2 percent interest.'”
One thing Zimmerman, an Obama supporter, isn’t so worried about: the election itself. “I think the one I want is going to win,” she said.
Ross Howell, a retired schoolteacher who’s lived in Sequim for 14 years, said he’s also feeling optimistic.
Over coffee at Starbucks in Sequim on Friday, he described himself as both concerned and accepting that these are uncertain times.
Not been hurt
Howell said that his pension and savings have not been hurt by the markets’ downturn.
But he’s taking steps to conserve on basic expenses such as heat.
He recently switched from a propane system to a tankless electric water heater out of concern about fuel costs.
“It will take a while to recoup the investment,” he said.
Howell hopes that Obama will win, and inject enough money into alternative-energy sources to make a difference in the supply.
Back at the Sequim senior center, Stumbaugh said she’ll be gathering her family on Tuesday night.
“We’re going to have a party,” she said. “Everyone should be together to either holler and shout — or cry.”
Monday: Therapists see effect of economic stress.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
