My wife is a tenured professor - so at most she will become “emeritus,” and keep on taking the University paycheck (and health plan!) as long as possible. Our retirement looks like this:
2 Social Security checks
1 University pension (hers)
403b (hers)
401k (mine)
IRA (mine)
The dice rolling comes from me playing in start-up software companies. As the bumper sticker says, “Please God, just one more Bubble!” If I can hit at least a triple, I will leave the corporate workforce and return to being a lecturer at the University.
The big costs ahead of us:
One child needing college in 6 years. We plan on paying for 100%.
One child needing college in 13 years. We plan on paying for 100%.
$250k left on the mortgage. We hope to pay that off ASAP.
We would like to help our kids get into their first homes (cover the 20% down once they can handle the monthly payments on a normal 30 year fixed mortgage).
I don’t expect to retire: once I can no longer work a full day, I’ll take part time employment at one of the places like B & Q that welcomes older people.
Yeah, I fully expect to retire, tho I’m not sure when.
I’ll have:
1.Soc Sec
2.Pension (VERY strongly guaranteed)
3.401K (have been consistently contributing at high rate for long time)
Between the combination of those I should be reasonably comfy.
I’ll eligible for my full pension in 8 years when I’m 55. That’s a couple of years after my youngest should get out of school. Of course, SS doesn’t kick in til a few years later, and the sooner I start to draw on savings …
Whatever my combination of retirement incomes, they won’t be as high as my current income. My current job - tho boring - isn’t flat out unpleasant. And I have a flexible schedule, and a ton of leave I can take very flexibly. So I can imagine keeping working until I’m 60 or so.
My SO and I have been making plans to retire in 15-20 years. We both save a signifcant amount to our 401k plans (double digit percentage of income) and we figure we will downsize the house about then. We’ve made all our plans based on the idea that there won’t be social security available. If it’s there, then we get to travel more, if it’s not, we will still be in good shape.
As for how to budget for it? Hopefully, we’ll be without a mortgage when retirement comes, but if we are able, we’d both like to do more traveling, so I kind of figure those 2 balance out. So take today’s spending levels, make wild flying guesses at interest and inflation rates, and hope you come close enough to fudge the rest of it.
I didn’t start saving until around 6-7 years ago (I’m 42), but I am now at the point where I expect to have 80% of my income at retirement (which right now is low 40’s) - and thats with conservative estimates of stock increases. I don’t own a house/condo, but hope to buy within 5 years. I have $1,000 on a credit card, and could take care of that if I needed to desperately. There’s going to be some amount of inheritance, not huge, but probably $50K+. Put all that together and I feel pretty comfortable, and I think that folks who put off savings (like me) until later can still accomplish quite a bit.
If for no other reason than to avoid being in a position where they are forced to accept the charity of loved ones: the people that value you are not going to let you eat catfood in your old age, but you really don’t want to take from them for years: it’s not a good feeling.
I agree…If they have the right job and the right circumstances, it can be done. I know too many people who don’t have the kind of job (or skills) that will allow them to wait until they’re 35 to start thinking about it. I worry about those people (my brother comes to mind).
I pretty much decided I’m letting my loved ones eat cat food. I’m a little tired of “I can’t afford to save for retirement” while they flit off to Europe or Mexico on vacation and I hold a grudge.
We’re actually in pretty good shape, all things considered. I plan on teaching until I have 33-34 years on the job (about 12 more years). Then I can retire on basically 104% of my highest spot on the pay schedule. I have full medical until Medicare kicks in. The wife is an RN, so she’s planning on working until she doesn’t feel like it anymore. Between my pension, her SS, the savings and the investments, I figure we’re good for at least 3 months or so.
I found out recently that 20% of American companies offer both a pension and a 401K. I happen to work for one of those companies. I also have a pension from a place I worked at in the 80s and early 90s. I’m really hoping those two don’t tank. At the moment, it’s not a lot but I figure every little bit helps.
Like a lot of folks, I don’t have a career, just a job. My dream is to quit my day job and make a living writing, in which case I’d never retire, and would be working on a new project when I die.
I don’t know. I’m 28 currently and still finding myself career-wise. Nashiitashii will likely land a good position as a librarian or information specialist. Those jobs currently pay between 40k and 60k depending on experience etc. I now work in the arts, and after nearly a decade of taking the “Just find a job with benefits” advice; I’ve decided to pursue my field. I teach about 18 hrs a week, with occasional weekends. Hopefully I’ll be able to grow this career over the next few years, which are going to be rough financially for us.
Currently we just keep our heads above water, but that should change as soon as she can land a full time position. We are NOT having children, so we ought to be able to afford to save, pay off a mortgage and plan for a comfortable, if frugal retirement assuming my career never takes off.
The only way I expect to create a place for retirement is if I find a community to live in–well outside the city, so that I can afford it–and then build a house myself. I just don’t see any pensions being more than a nominal stipend by the time I retire… what does the Canada Pension Plan give these days? And my RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Plan) will probably be eaten up by inflation or market drops or something before time comes to use it.
I think part of the problem is that people are thinking of providing for retirement in purely financial terms. I’m uneasy about that; it means that they expect to be able to buy all they need when they need it. I suspect that working to establish a community in which you are a member, in which you help and are helped, and working to arrange sustainable systems that will feed and shelter you, will be much more important.
I don’t think we’ll have trouble spending that kind of time together (I say now); I was thinking more along the lines that it might not be good for the relationship if one of us retires way before the other one does.
If I can smartly, happily and succinctly save and pay my way to a happy 85th brithday, I will be content. I’ve got 50 years to get there. Right now, I’m not worried. I’m married to a financial nazi and I always choose to max out my 401k allocations. I’ve lived paycheck to paycheck and understand the meaning of a buck. I’ve eaten peanut butter and wonder bread for months and worked a few jobs to pay bills. I’ve learned a lot from my mistakes and hopefully one day I will be able to finish the home I want in the place I wish to see my last days. Again, I’ve got a long time to think about it.
Those communities are out there. Some of them are way under the radar, but I think it’s not only a great idea, but a realistic one for a lot of people.
If it weren’t for the fact that my best friend is my husband’s ex wife, I would plan on living with her ‘til we “check out.” She has very little in the way of inheritance or Social Security. She has no savings, no 401K, no nothin’. She will be on welfare in a Section 8 seniors building if someone doesn’t take her in.
