Yes, I planned to retire. There were some problems along the way. I didn’t graduate from college till I was almost 30, and let’s just say I had a negative net worth at that point. I made some investing mistakes and lost money. The corporation I worked for ‘enhanced’ our pension plan and I ended up with a retirement income about 55% of what it was supposed to be before they changed the rules.
I still planned to retire and saved according to plan. So, when the corporation announced a plan designed to encourage the departure of older, longer-term employees, I was ready to take advantage of my good luck. They didn’t want me and I wasn’t all that fond of them either, so I volunteered to retire early and avoid ‘involuntary separation’. I was happy to adjust my plans and my budget. Frankly, the main people who are suffering from my smaller income are those who work for the companies which would have gotten my greater discretionary spending, if my company hadn’t gutted our pension.
There were plenty of reasons to think I wouldn’t live long enough to retire, and that I wouldn’t survive long in retirement. But I’m glad I decided to take a more hopeful outlook, because it made retirement possible. I’m one of the people who had jobs, not careers. At the end of my life, whether it’s this afternoon or twenty years from now, I won’t be wishing I’d spent more time at the office.
Yeah, I have some padding in my rule of thumb - if you have the bad luck to retire at a point in time where investments loose value while we have higher than average inflation, that creates a bad start to seeing that money through. WAs you said, with more money lying around, its less of a deal, but few of us get to choose to have a ton of it lying around.
My apologies- I thought I sensed some anger. There are so many savings after retirement- from shoe polish to spending less on work clothes (depending on your vocation).
Every person has a different situation. However, I think that living on say $50k when you retire is different to living on $50 k when working (and those are imaginery figures)
I plan to retire some day. We’re putting money into 401(k) plans, and the state’s pension plan will hopefully still be there in 20 years (his employer). Plus the house will be paid off in ::thinks:: 10-12 years? That gives us 10-ish years to put away the money that’s going to the mortgage now. We’re not extravagant people, but we do want to have some fun when we retire. Although working part-time might be fun, if it were the right job.
I’m surprised by how many posters don’t seem to understand the status of Social Security. It’s on firmer footing than any other program out there. To the degree there is a problem, it is a general problem with the general finances of the USA, not SS specifically.
I’m hoping to retire in about 10 years. Need to find a way to pay off my house early (I’ll have 10 years of mortgage left at that point), but I have a fair chunk put away in our deferred compensation plan (I work for the State of Ohio - I’m overdue on upping my contribution back to the max, thanks for the reminder), I’ll have the state retirement plan instead of Social Security, I have a small IRA that I hope to add to a bit more aggressively. (Really, I’m overdue for a financial tune-up…)
Thanks for the link to the fireseeker retirement calculator dre2xl. It looks a lot more realistic than the one linked to in the OP.
I wouldn’t mind working part-time on something really fun after I retire, but I really want to be able to do a broad variety of fun things.
Your golfing buddy has it right, Dinsdale. I’m already a volunteer for a couple of different organizations, so I know a bunch of retirees. On the whole, they are the busiest, healthiest and happiest people I know. Most of them volunteer for multiple organizations, go on Elderhostel trips, do all kinds of family activities, and have at-home hobbies. When those of us who are still working plan events, we have to plan around their schedules.
I enjoy my work (although there are more politics in it at the moment than I care for), but there are lots of other things I enjoy as well (you can guess a couple from my screen name). Also, I have friends and family all over the place and would love to be able to see them more often.
My brother bullied me into starting to contribute to our deferred comp plan; it’s one of the best things he ever did for me. So, to those of you who are skeptical about saving for retirement: find a way to save even a little. Brother made me watch a Wealthy Barber video Here’s a book review that will give you an idea of what I was subjected to. . One of the things he and other smart people say is: pay yourself first. The only thing I’ve regretted is that I didn’t start sooner.
I am old. When I went to college it was 18 bucks a credit hour. My son came when I was 37. No way I expected school to cost more than 100 k. Montesori was over 10 grand and private high school is 10 k too.
Then I had 100 k equity until the mortgage fiasco took that away.
College in Michigan goes up 10 to 12 % a year. Good luck saving for that. Plan and try but you have no guarantees. The rules change. Make a deal that says you get free medical for life at 60. They change it. Gone. The promised benefits are gone.
Social Security should be around for 40 years without change but one party is planning on killing it. They will succeed.
A woman I work with (in her 60s) is afraid to retire. How much money does it take? She’d like to know…just give a figure. Health care costs are impossible to predict, growing every year and meanwhile, life expectancy is getting higher (or at least, last I knew).
In my mind I have this image of myself, being wheeled out on a gurney from my workplace, dead as a doornail.
Bush, at the height of his popularity and with a Republican Congress, tried it. And got creamed. With the increase in the number of retired Baby Boomers, I think it is damn safe for 30 years at least. And probably more.
I’m 46, and just signing on a house which we expect to pay off in 18 years. I’ve got a 401k and some other investments, and expect, knock on wood, that there will be enough money to retire on and provide education for Beta-chan.
Last week I was in a meeting where the Commish of SS discussed the increased funding included in the president’s proposed budget and the proposals out of both houses, and planned hiring throughout SS. Yeah - it ain’t going away anytime soon.
PS – it seems insane but you may thank your debt someday. I was able to pay off 25K in CC debt ran up in early 20s. Once it got paid off I was so used to living so frugally that the money just starting piling up and in a very short time (1yr) I pulled well ahead of my peers who were used to living within (not below) their means. The non-linear money effect, thankfully, works the other way too; just like your debt piles up faster than what you actually spend, your money also piles up faster than what you actually put in the bank.