OT.. Planning to retire soon?
 

Interesting article about us baby boomers. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101227/...irement_crisis

I was just riffed from the company I worked for 12 years. At my age, re-employment in what is referred to as a permanent job is not possible. I'd like to get some contract work but I'm not counting on it. So I'm faced with retirement. I was down right scared until I met with a couple of financial advisors. One had some reasonable advice, the other guy who works for the bank, had some excellent options. I think we're going to be alright, at least we think we can make it OK. Some of our freinds and relatives don't have a prayer of not working.
Something scary to think about. If you had one million dollars to invest, if you were a millionaire, you would only get $30,000 per year income at 3% on that million. Can an older couple with medical bills live on $30,000 per year? How many of us have $1,000,000 hanging around? I know I don't.

Our beloved government raised the retirement age (the age you're eligable for a pension) to 67 a couple of years back. I'm rather grateful for that because with no money except for what I earn on a week to week basis, 'retirement' applies more to giving up during a ride and phoning my son to rescue me than to giving up the job.

You can lose all your security sooooo darned easily. I was set for life a decade back - owned a home with a comfortable mortgage, etc. Prior to that, I'd decided to get married but had chosen the wrong person (how on earth do we do that?) and the lawyers grew fat on my security ... but I managed to keep good contact with my daughter so in important matters, I won.

Ahh, the joys of living in the present.

Richard

No doubt there are challenges ahead for an awful lot of us boomers. My parents retired early and both had pensions but support of their "lifestyle" was based on earned interest. When they retired, interest rates were 16%, not the current 1.5-2.5%. They are fine, but not living a lavish lifestyle by any means.

I am hedging my bets on small medical buildings that currently return 6.5-8% on investment and leasehold improvements and maintenance are the responsibility of the tenants. Keeping my fingers crossed... I will work to 65 anyways. I have a career I still enjoy after 30 years in it.

No. Not now. Not ever. I'm dying with my boots on, or something.....

I retired almost 2 years ago at age 62. I couldn't be happier and it looks like my wife and I will be just fine financially. We're paying about $800/month for health insurance, and I think that's a bargain, but it's our largest expense and will come to an end in a little over a year. I did go ahead and start my Social Security withdrawls at age 62 because I'm not sure how long it will be there for us because of possible government means testing. We've prepared for retirement by sacrficing all these years and investing, etc., and I suppose it won't be long before the heavy hand of government will look at our nest egg and tell us we don't "qualify" for Social Security anymore because we have enough. You know, spread it around...

My biggest concern is hyper-inflation, but usually interest rates mitigate some of that. We also have income from real estate we own which can help with inflation, too. It wasn't easy getting here, but we are sure glad we made the sacrifices earlier and look forward to many, many good years of fun in the sun. Soon we'll head south for the winter in our RV and do lots of cycling. Can't wait!!! Life is good.

After a divorce and the bursting of the technology bubble, both at about the same time, I doubt I will ever see full retirement. I work all the (consulting) hours I can for now, and I'm hoping to just cut way back on hours "some day".

I am naturally frugal, and if I were on my own I could retire any time, but I keep working for my wife's and my kids' sake. Plus, given the "curse of longevity," I could be around another 40 years, and I really do not want to outlive my money. As a taxpayer, I get angry when I see the early, opulent retirement benefits many of our civil servants are drawing. Even cities which are doing well financially right now are going to be bankrupt in 20 or 30 years from underfunded pension obligations.

Yes, in about 18 working days! :D We have our house paid off, no credit card debt, will pay off one of the cars in a couple of months, and only have about a year on the other one. I'm seriously thinking about going car-lite in the spring and "borrowing" the wife's if I need it.

If I was a narky bugger I'd be giving your address to the puncture fairy :notamused:

On the other hand, knowing the pull of n+1, you'll probably find yourself sabotaging your efforts that way :D

Onya mate. Getting rid of debt is a good move and once you own your own house, it doesn't matter how bad things get, you've always got a home. :thumb:

Richard

I read that story on the air today and got some depressing calls. My listeners are generally male boomers, 35 to 60 or so, and almost none has anything put away for retirement. Some made a lot of money, but just spent it as they went along. I probably would have done the same, but my wife insisted on regular contributions to a retirement fund. Because of that, when my company made me a buyout offer three years ago, I was able to accept it at age 62. I would have worked another 2-3 years, but it was clear that wasn't possible. Everybody who turned down the offer I took was laid off within a year.
What surprises me is that this is a surprise to so many people. What the hell did we THINK was going to happen when we got old? Several of my callers are pretty hard-core Repubs, people who argued with me about the election, but now they're worried the Republicans are going to start hacking away at SS and Medicare. Hey, I tried to warn you before the election. Too late to worry now.
Tell you what, though: No matter where you are in life, put SOMETHING away every payday. We started at $25 a month when that was a real strain for us. Thirty years later, we were able to put two kids through college without going into debt and still have enough left for an adequate (not lavish) retirement.

I know what our income is and I always wondered how people can afford all the stuff they have. I guess we now know.

We'd be able to buy a lot more crap if we didn't keep putting funds into our retirement plans. Not enough in there yet to retire but should be ok in another ten years or so (I'm almost 61). Home's paid off and no debt - I work fulltime and wife works halftime.
We hope to be able to afford to buy unnecessary crap in retirement.

I grew up on a farm so I knew what work was, ie, it was something to be avoided. I retired when I was 21. I, like many retired people, have worked jobs that I like, when I like and I've developed a lot of talents. I know I won't starve as long as I can work and I realize and accept that I will never 'retire' like others but I've had a great run so far. I'm only 55 so I hope I've got a long way to go before I finish this ride.

Had everything planned to retire when I am 65 in jan 2012. But the 2008 crash has put those plans on hold for a while.

Jan 2012 and I should have had no mortgage- no bills- enough money in the bank to pay for any major household bills and a Pension that I could live on. That changed in 2008 when the shares I had in the safest investments in Banks and Finance disappeared overnight. The Mortgage now has a shortfall that I am trying to cover so no excess income to put into savings or N+1.

Luckily- a change in employment rules means that I cannot be forced to retire at 65 (As will be the case up till Oct 2011) so I will be able to work on for a year or so to get enough money behind me to be able to retire.

I have one of those rare bird pensions and my wife and I saved about 1/3 of our income for many years so we are in good shape. Unfortunately, many people I know didn't, or couldn't, follow a similar course and have bleak years ahead. I would like a few more companions for mid-week, mid-day rides :(

I retired from the military when I was 38 and draw a monthly pension. I really did not plan for the future until I was 40 and began investing the maximum allowed amounts in the government's TSP (Muni) as I continued my career as a civilian. Mandatory retirement age for an air traffic controller is 56, but there are a few exceptions to the rule. I will retire again in 6 years at age 60. In the 80s the military folks use to preach investing the meager income we made for the future. Financial planning classes were given often but it all seems like background noise to me. I am glad it finally sunk in when it did, at least I have hopefully done enough to make my wife and I comfortable in the later years. Retirement is just not something many people really plan for until it is too late. This is one lesson both of my daughters understood at an early age and have been putting a little aside ever since they have held a job.

When I was a kid, I used to say I wanted to be a farmer. My mom would tell me how hard the work was, and I remember asking her "But I'm strong enough to do it, right?"
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I was an RPG computer programmer. In '90 & '93 I had my daughters and stayed home with them, and didn't work. DH's business was doing so well that thoughts of going back to programming were eventually "retired". My recent divorce though, devastated the once decent nest-egg.

I'm facing a new 30 yr jumbo mortgage, car loan, individual health insurance, etc. With one of the babies in college and another soon to go, expenses are so high that I'm dipping into savings each month. I've done about all I can do to reduce expenses except for downsizing, which I'm putting off because it would would be so especially hard on my girls :(
My girls and I do a lot now that honey-did or others had done. We rake, shovel (our butts off), unclog drains of hairballs, catch mice in the attic, etc. Sidenote: I liked hearing my 17 year old say "We can do anything!"

So in contrast to thinking of retirement, I'm wondering "How do I come out of retirement and get back into the work force after being out for 21 years?"

Hubby said we'd be OK if I wanted to retire next year. I really like where I work so I've decided to cut my hours from 40 to 20 hours/week starting next Oct. 1, and plan to work just Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Shorter days, fewer of them, longer weekends, still get benefits and draw a paycheck. House paid off, no debts... I know I am blessed.