Struggles with retirement, before and after

[retired60]

How are people in retirement ??? The news I’m reading isn’t good. Anyone / couples making $100,000 annually in retirement out there ???

How are you doing it or did it ???

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[retired60]

Most Families out there are spending almost all that they have. $15,000 to $250,000 income families are spending too much to live and provide for their children as youth and college bound. 90% can’t see retirement in the future or just ignoring it until …..

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[retired60]

Real life stories of those in retirement will help others to see how serious it really is to save and make wise decisions about saving and spending. What’s your story ??????

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[wakeflood]

Yeah, I think lots of folks are just shrugging and hoping for the best. I suspect a number of those who actually held onto their homes in the great purge are hoping that equity will come back and that will ease the pain when they get to the point of cashing that in on retirement.

Which is to say, people are placing their bets that we’ll have another timely bubble that doesn’t pop at the wrong time. Nice plan, huh?

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[retired60]

My wife and I are both retirees .. I FOR 10YRS after 30 at work. NOW …MY WIFE FOR 5 YRS.after 34 yrs at work. BOTH OF US ARE 62 YRS OLD. W 2 GROWN CHILDREN …. adults. Blessed to stay on our jobs since grads from college. Doing ok but have many friends and associates that are not doing as well.

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[retired60]

People that have great jobs are moving into areas that have the best schools and expensive mortgages. Working long hours and having others take care of kids and property can be financially stressful. Little is thought of retirement and most of these jobs don’t provide pensions, you are on your own in most cases .. this means delay and delay some more on the future.

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[wakeflood]

Yeah, with our race to the bottom and the free-agency status that we all “enjoy” today, the average worker is now faced with what amounts to DAILY concern whether they’ll have a job in a six months.

But then in this brave new world, we all have the opportunity to “win” on our own terms. Because, you know, everyone should be an entrepreneur. Cuz that’s more low risky and right in everyone’s wheel house, right? Right, all you enforcers of freedom? You bootstrapping “did it all on my ownsters”??

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[retired60]

Still working after 55 or 60 yrs of age ????

Why ???? Some say they wouldn’t have anything else to do if they stopped work .. Others say they like their jobs … or I’ll work until I have enough saved for retirement. Many are saying I’ll never stop working .. I will die on the job, if they let me. What’s your reason ??? Most will never tell the truth, whatever that is.

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[retired60]

When I’m not doing work for my church and maintaining my home or spending time with my Boss

“Wife” traveling, eating out or at home .. whatever and when she wants me to. I’m on the computer or watching Westerns on television in my own space. Since we both worked with peoples problems for a living, we give each other plenty of space. Whatever she wants is fine with me. We are both thoughtful and sensible people. Life is too short for stress if you can avoid it, and we do so far.

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[retired60]

Married for 40 YRS THIS YEAR .. I THINK THINGS HAVE gotten better over the years since we’ve learned so much from our past. I’ve learned to say “yes Dear” … “I’m sorry” or nothing at all very well.

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[anonyme]

I love being busy and involved. I do. But I’m in a very scary place right now. My income has never been substantial, but I tried my best to pinch pennies and save. About 15 years ago I had a catastrophic illness that wiped out everything I had. I’m now 63 and working as hard as I’m able, but doing work that is physically beyond my breaking point. It’s way too late for financial recovery, and Social Security alone is not enough to survive on. Retirement is not an option and never will be, as I have no family or any other resource.

I know I can’t be alone in this boat, and it infuriates me that there are those who would suggest that it’s my/our own fault for getting sick and/or failing to get rich. They would like us to just go off and die somewhere – which is probably exactly what will happen. “Going out on the ice” is a better option than losing one’s home and going into a state-run institution.

Welcome to the real America.

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[JanS]

anonyme, I can relate, for sure. Self-employed for over 20 years now, 2 serious health issues in the last 10 years. I’m 66 now, and doing a physical job, how long can that last?

I foresee retirees banding together, living together, supporting each other, if not monetarily, otherwise.

I, too, resent younger people who have not walked in my shoes, shooting off at the mouth saying I just didn’t plan well, that my predicament is my fault (tell that to cancer and kidney failure/transplant)(no paid sick leave, no work, no pay). One plans well, and “poof” it can all disappear in an instant. I hope they never have to find out.

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[littlebrowndog]

I am 58 and self employed–at least in part due to my own intermittent health issues, caring for my parents when they were still alive, and supporting the needs of my disabled husband. Not a formula for great wealth! I have been working very hard at cobbling together a safety net for the next couple of decades, bit by bit. Despite my age and my own health and disability issues this month I was thrilled to find I am able to get a decent life insurance policy and decent disability insurance. If my husband goes first, I think with no kids my plan will be to share my house with a couple other “mature” retirees or people who would like to reduce expenses and therefore reduce necessary work hours.

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[skeeter]

Some people may be “shrugging and hoping for the best” but I’m not one of them. My wife and I have been aggressively saving since the age of 22 (long before we met each other.) We are amazingly fortunate to both have steady salaries and generous employers. I mostly credit my parents. They did a fantastic job teaching me how to save.

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[skeeter]

WF – you are correct that many people are of the “I did it on my own” mentality. Personally I’m not one of them. It’s because of the love, support, and encouragement of my parents that I have what I have. I highly doubt I could accomplish what I have without them.

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[littlebrowndog]

Skeeter, that is fantastic. A great combination: supportive parents who taught you well, steady income, a good employer, and a like minded spouse. It seems like as a society we could do a lot more to focus on those values instead of the rampant consumerism we have and help teach children who might not have parents who will pass on those same values. I also think we need to be very creative, especially with the graying of the baby boomers, in adopting the value of interdependence. There are some of us whose life circumstances have made that kind of preparation difficult if not impossible. I think we should also start thinking more about such ideas as co-housing.

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[skeeter]

Thanks LBD. I agree the rampant consumerism is a problem. I think we all have friends or acquaintances who lament that they cannot save any money. Yet they have cable TV. And an iPhone. Etc etc. Try reading “The Millionaires Next Door” sometime. Most Americans with significant assets don’t have a super large income. Instead, they consistently live below their means.

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[miws]

And it’s not always just them young whippersnappers that can have the “blame the victim” attitude.

Those of us that have been hanging around the Forums for a few years (which is most of us in this conversation) know very well of some former participants, that were in our very own baby boomer generation, and held that same attitude. And some of them had apparently dealt with their own, significant, life struggles.

It almost seems more frustrating to have them be of that mind, than it is the younger generation.

Mike

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[anonyme]

I agree about the consumerism. Most people would find my lifestyle intolerable – no car, no cable, no cell phone. Old analog TV. One pair of work boots at a time, replaced when they wear out. I don’t skimp on healthy food, as I believe it’s an investment in preventative health care. I live within my means, but those are very narrow parameters indeed.

I think it’s also reasonable to acknowledge that most advocates of “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” probably did a lot less of that than they’d actually care to admit. As mentioned before, even poor but supportive parents are an asset many are not blessed with. I think the American mythology around the self-made man or woman is rather unfortunate, as it sets forth an expectation of success that, in reality, is extremely rare.

Instead of everyone dreaming about striking it rich (and living as if they had) a better ideal would be a world where all citizens had equal access to education, fair compensation for work, and health care. I don’t care what moniker you want to put on that; these are the basics of a civilized society.

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[wakeflood]

Feelin’ you, Mike. ;-)

Certainly there are those in every generation that have some expectations of a certain lifestyle they may feel is afforded to them regardless of their efforts – or lack thereof – to attain it.

But it is also the case that the current situation is not what it was 40 or 50 yrs. ago, when a good education (much more affordable) and some capacity to assume that with good effort, that a job had relatively secure prospects.

Today, getting into significant debt to get a degree and emerging into an economy that is in doldrums; anxious to reduce wages; and quite happily reduces labor forces at a moment’s notice isn’t exactly conducive to long-term planning – ptsychologically, if not also physically.

At some point, social Darwinism gets everyone in this scenario. Be you the “overpaid” guy/gal in their 40’s/50’s who is just plain “making too much money!” and is always on the chopping block in every slight downturn. Or the older worker who wasn’t good looking or connected enough to be welcomed into the club with the gang feathering their nest with stock options.

Try latching on to another gig when you’re in your 50’s and are competing with a 30 yr. old who will take half of what you need to keep your kids in school.

Wages in real terms have been stagnant for over a generation while real costs have outpaced them significantly.

But yeah, there’s levels of personal responsibilities that apply to all of us. But there’s millions of folks who have done what would have been just fine in their parent’s generation and are struggling to see the light at the end of the tunnel now.

And as everyone who took Macro Econ 101 remembers, every dollar NOT spent on material goods/services is one less dollar going into the economy – and jobs. Which is to say, frugality is a true virtue, but even it has its limits when talking about capitalist-based economies. Can we save some more and be better off? Sure. But if one is under the impression that it would solve our “retirement” deficit issue, I suspect that’s a fallacy. Remember, 401k’s have sucked hundreds of billions of $ out of middle class retirement funds through fees and market crashes than would have been the case with the old pension systems. But we’re not supposed to think about that.

Or are we?

http://www.salon.com/2013/08/06/big_finance_lied_401ks_will_not_save_aging_americans_partner/

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[wakeflood]

And in the immortal words of Frank Costanza, “DEL BOCA VISTA!!”

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[oddreality]

Skeeter, do your children follow in your footsteps or do you not have children?

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[skeeter]

“Skeeter, do your children follow in your footsteps or do you not have children?”

So far our child has shown a complete disregard for any sense of responsible money management. Food gets wasted. She has no job. Valuable things get broken just for the sheer fun of it.

But since she is only three, I cut her some slack.

hee hee.

So to answer your question, oddreality, TBD. (To be determined.)

Great question though and it will be very interesting to see how she develops.

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[wakeflood]

Good luck with that, skeets! Daughter’s have a way of twisting daddies around their little fingers without so much as a “pretty please???” ;-)

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[skeeter]

WF – I’m not convinced the “old pension systems” were such a good thing. If you left your job early, you lost your pension. 401k plans, which are portable, seem to be a better idea given a mobile workforce. Employees are free to leave a job and take their retirement with them to the next opportunity. I bet there were a lot of people stuck in miserable jobs in the 50s and 60s and couldn’t leave because then they would lose their pension if they hadn’t vested.

If someone offered me a job with a choice of a defined benefit program and a defined contribution program, I’d take the latter.

WF – do you mind me asking your age? It might put our different outlooks into perspective. I’m almost 40.

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