After a lifetime of work, Richard Smith, now 81 years old, still hasn’t been able to stop. He lives half the year at a campsite in New Hampshire, where he works as a security guard, and the other half in Florida, where he makes home deliveries using the DoorDash app. All because a financial error destroyed the plan he had for reform, according to the news portal Business Insider.
For more than three decades, Richard Smith worked at Eastman Kodak in Rochester, New York. He started in the 60s and worked two jobs while studying at night to support his family. “I wish I had put some money aside at that time and let it pay off”, he admits today.
In the 90s, an opportunity arose that changed the course of his career: he was invited to work in Hollywood as technical director of a large film laboratory. He later accepted another position in California, at a university that restored and preserved old films. He remained there until 2009, when he was offered an early retirement package, precisely at the time when the American economy went into crisis.
The financial mistake that changed everything
With his retirement money, Richard decided to invest in a self-managed retirement account. But what seemed like a safe bet turned out to be a disaster. “I made stupid mistakes and made investments that were too risky”, he admits. The result was losing a large part of what had accumulated, says the same source.
Without sufficient savings and little prospect of a fixed income, he decided to adopt a new lifestyle. He bought a 13-meter motorhome and began living between the road and campsites, a common practice in the United States known as work camping, which combines seasonal work with itinerant life.
From Hollywood to campsite guard
Since 2019, Richard and his wife have spent their summers in New Hampshire, where they exchange a few hours of work for accommodation and salary. He patrols the park at night, from 4:00 pm to 12:30 am, earning $15 an hour; She cleans cabins and laundry rooms. The monthly rent for the space where you park your motorhome is reduced to around 200 dollars.
For the remaining months, they return to Florida, where Richard drives for DoorDash, a delivery service similar to Uber Eats. He works between 3pm and 10pm, and tries to earn around 100 dollars (approximately 85 euros) per day. “Sometimes I get more, but then there are the costs of gasoline and car maintenance,” he explains. After all expenses, you have around 500 dollars (about 428 euros) per week left.
His health still allows him to continue
According to the same source, despite his age, the North American remains active and relatively healthy. The doctor praises his good physical shape, although he recognizes that being overweight could make the future more uncertain. “I still drive well, but I avoid high speeds and let those in a hurry pass”, he says, with humor.
He lives in a small town next to the Atlantic, where he enjoys fishing with his wife and brother. However, they never spend the summer in Florida, because of the heat and humidity.
Debts that give no rest
Today, Richard Smith accumulates a debt of around 350 thousand dollars, between his house mortgage and personal credits. He receives close to $3,000 a month from Social Security and has less than $20,000 in his retirement account. “I try to pay what I can, but expenses always appear, the car, hand surgeries, trips between states. Everything goes on the credit card”, he laments, quoted by .
Even so, he remains optimistic. “If things get worse, we can always sell the house and go back to living full time in the motorhome,” he says. His brother even sends him job advertisements, and Richard doesn’t rule out the possibility of going back to work for the whole year. “After all, winning the Powerball isn’t working”, he jokes.
The Portuguese reality
In Portugal, the number of retired people continuing to work has also been increasing, although for different reasons. Many opt for small informal jobs, especially in rural areas or in local businesses, while others return to seasonal activities or look for part-time jobs.
The lack of financial literacy and the postponement of savings decisions are common factors in several countries, and stories like that of Richard Smith, marked by a financial error, are a warning about the importance of planning the retirement period in good time anywhere in the world.
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