An Important Lesson From George Mallory Revisited
Episode 171 – George Mallory may—or may not—have been the first man to summit Mt. Everest. But he never gets credit for it. He apparently died on his way back down the mountain. In this episode we revisit how this may have parallels to your financial life.
Transcript of Podcast Episode 171
During the 1924 British Mount Everest expedition, George Mallory and his climbing partner, Andrew “Sandy” Irvine, disappeared on the North-East ridge during their attempt to make the first ascent of the world’s highest mountain. The pair were last seen when they were about 800 vertical feet from the summit.
Mallory’s ultimate fate was unknown for 75 years, until his body was discovered on May 1, 1999 by an expedition that had set out to search for the climbers’ remains. Whether Mallory and Irvine had reached the summit before they died remains a subject of speculation and continuing research. Irvine is thought to have been carrying a camera which could provide conclusive film evidence that the pair reached the top in 1924, almost 30 years before Sir Edmund Hillary.
Although Sir Edmund Hillary and his companion Tenzing Norgay are credited with having been the first to reach the peak on May 29, 1953, the theory that Mallory and Irvine beat them to it has caused controversy for many years.
When the body of Mallory, who famously climbed the mountain in his three-piece suit, was found at 26,760 feet, a photograph of his wife Ruth was missing from his pockets. He had planned to leave the picture on the summit. Mallory’s goggles were in one pocket, suggesting he was on his way down in fading light when he fell to his death.
The sad truth is that at Mt. Everest, more people die on the way down than the mountain than up the mountain. Studies by Popular Science Magazine1 and Scientific American2 concluded that the majority of deaths occur during descents from the summit in the so-called “death zone” above 8,000 meters, or approximately 26,250 feet.
When Sir Edmund, who died in January 2008, was once asked his view on the controversy, he replied: “I do not know whether Mallory and Irvine reached the summit…What I do know is that Tenzing Norgay and I were the first to get to the top and back down to the bottom again.”
George Mallory’s lesson to us is to have a plan to get back down the mountain. You have spent years focusing on accumulating assets for a comfortable retirement, climbing up the mountain. What is your “de-accumulation” plan, to get down the mountain? Everything changes on that day you stop working. Is your income going to be the same? How long are your assets going to last? Have you even looked at it?
Here’s one complicating factor. If you have an IRA or 401(k), you have to deal with “Required Minimum Distributions,” better known as RMDs. Emphasis on the word “required.” You have to take the money, and pay the tax on it, whether you need it then or not.
The same thing applies when you look at health care costs. Many people assume that because they’re on Medicare, their health care costs are going to be lower. Maybe, maybe not. Some people are shocked by how much they have to spend out of pocket while on Medicare.
Whatever you decide, you need to take a hard look at all the variables before you decide to stop working. The mountain is just as treacherous on the way down as it is on the way up.
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