Posted on 09/25/2012 5:10:12 PM PDT by Condor 63
Re your post #55, that’s my point. It makes no sense to force old people to work at what is really a young person’s job. At a certain point one is old and tired and unable to continue working, especially at hard labor.
Those who have “inside jobs” and want to work until they drop, be my guest. To me, though, 30-35 years at something is quite enough and it’s time for a long rest.
Dead but only after rigormortis sets in can one be truly retired.
The genius “financial planners” have moved the safe retirement withdrawal from 7% to 4% and now to 1.8% which means that a person retiring on 80% of the median income of say $50,000 would need $2,222,222.22 to “safely” retire. To accumulate this at 6%, what has become an optimistic rate of return you would have to save 27% of your gross income from the time you were 20 until you were 65. So after the gov take s 7.5% for FICA you would have 65% or about $32k / year to pay all your other taxes and live on.
It is probably not going to happen for anyone but a very few who are not on the public dole.
Almost all will be paying taxes to pay the retirement of teachers, firemen, cops, congressmen and other local, state and federal employees who will have retired at least 20 years before you do.
Lie down, roll over, sit-up, beg. LIKE IT.
My neighbor growing up spent his entire working life preparing for retirement. Never went on vacation, deferred everything to save for his retirement. Well the day came to receive the going away watch, and within one week he dropped dead. True story. Since that time as a teenager till today as a 50 year old, I have vowed to never retire.
How about some 80 year old referees .... could be an improvement?
I count my lucky stars...laid off last year at 60 and back to work 8 weeks later. Even was able to bank part of a severance package. Keep on learning and mastering new skills. Maintain your network. It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there.
Uh...that one goes over my old head, but you’re right, I never developed any software. Had 4 kids, does that count?
Good for you. That’s what I did; retired one day then got up and went back to work.
Thank you, I am rarely accused of being wise.
I have had no luck at all 3,000 applications I fractured my spine last year had to have surgery on it and going to interviews with a cane doesn’t help
That kind of what I was talking about earlier. A lot of people out there look forward to retirement as their "golden years" when they are actually in their golden years now but don't realize it. Therefore all those good years are wasted in pursuit of some idyllic dream but when they get there, it's often not the paradise they expected or they have health issues, or worse, to deal with.
To me, the true golden years are approx. when you are between ages of 45-65, this is usually when your kids are grown up and moving out on their own and you are at the peak of your earnings power. Since our kids grew up, my wife and I take trips to places like Hawaii at least twice a year and we splurge a little on things we scrimped on when raising kids, like going out to dinner or seeing movies/shows.
With the money coming in, the bills are getting paid and we still get to put a little aside for if we do retire from work but we don't worry too much about it. When I am too old to work (hopefully not until I'm well into my 70s), all I'm going to want to do anyhow is sit in my yard with my dog and a good book to read, or maybe listen to the radio, so you don't need a whole lot of money for that!
So since I am planning on working well into my 70s (at least), I make sure that I have a job that I am happy to go to. I've given up career opportunities where I could have made more money because I didn't need the stress and aggravation of doing work I do not like. So if you have a job you like going to, you can work literally until you are no longer physically able. While you are physically able, keep making the money and be sure to spend it on fun things WHILE you are still working.
In a few generations they’ll ask, “What’s ‘retirement’?”
well, the privatization can’t be worse than what is happening right now.
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