What are your plans for surviving the next decade?

[runningncircles1]

Invest in liquor. That's ALWAYS a sound investment, especially in bad times!

Or sell weed. Both will suffice!

[brightdoglover]

I've been cutting back on eating out since I left the city (oh, for one-tenth of the money I threw around as a young woman!).
I'm an RN in a psychiatric hospital with an old-fashioned pension, plus 403b. I came back to this job after moving around some because of being vested in the pension, plus, my job is in a big consortium headed by old-time medical top people in the Boston area- old, fat and rich. My job place finally figured out how to operate in a not-rich environment, and seems OK for some time to come (there was downsizing in the 1990s).
I am picking up some OT when available, although I am physically having a lot of difficulty with the night work. I feel better for making more money while I can.
I cut down on the 403b deductions (there's no matching) in order to save more, and I still want to take one big vacation (horseback riding in the West) next year, and pay cash.
I am paying down non-mortgage debt at the rate of 2.9% for life, should be finished with all non-mortgage debt in three years.
I worry constantly about being able to continue to work, and I worry more about other people and the country in the hard times coming. I should be OK, but I think there are so many people who won't be.
As for boomers "working until they die," they have to have a) enough health and b) a job. Could be dicey.

[Woof]

Liquor and weed attract thugs, and that would mean having to keep an armed guard going 24/7.

It's better to have barter items and services that attract decent people, such as having eggs to trade, knowing how to fix plumbing, or being a shade-tree mechanic willing to work for less than the licensed and bonded ones.

[Woof]

The good thing about being an RN, Brightdoglover, is that there will always be some kind of work for you, even if not in your current field (which may suffer from even more severe cutbacks, as psychiatric patients don't have much political influence), and even if you stop getting much in the way of benefits.

[sterlinggirl]

Originally Posted by Woof

It's better to have barter items and services that attract decent people, such as having eggs to trade, knowing how to fix plumbing, or being a shade-tree mechanic willing to work for less than the licensed and bonded ones.

Something as simple as owning a chainsaw with a few extra chains would be cheap insurance to make sure you can continue to eat when things get bad.

[chesapeakeavon]

Keeping good credit, saving money, paying cash for things, not using credit, not wasting money, using a ton of coupons, buying clothes off season, etc. Same as ALWAYS!

[Woof]

Absolutely, Sterlinggirl, or even sewing.

I remember a Polish woman who would do all kinds of little things like sewing or selling candy to neighborhood kids, or making garlic kielbasa, or baking, back when I was a teenager ..... those were the sorts of things women in Poland did to make a little extra money. Lots of little things rather than specializing in one service.