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Old 08-18-2014, 05:06 PM
 
Location: Great State of Texas
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My sister says that. I figure she'll just move in with me when reality hits and I'm planning accordingly.
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Old 08-18-2014, 05:23 PM
Status: "Octopi tastes like snake" (set 25 days ago)
 
Location: in the miseries
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Father was a farmer and worked until he broke his leg at 93.
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Old 08-18-2014, 06:19 PM
 
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My dad says this. The weird thing about it is, I know a little bit (NOT A LOT) about my parents finances and I know they have enough to retire, because my Dad said he's calculated it and could live 20 years on his nest egg and he's 70 right now, but still my dad says he is afraid. I think that era - the baby boomers - have that mentality that something is going to go terribly wrong and they will end up with nothing. I'm not quite sure why this is, but it is how they feel. My mom was a stay at home mom but she does some things on the side. I don't think she plans on stopping anytime soon either.
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Old 08-18-2014, 06:30 PM
 
Location: State of Being
35,879 posts, read 77,161,760 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Emigrations View Post
I totally agree and this is so terrifying for a lot of older people that they just keep their heads in the sand.

My dad worked at a major pharmaceutical plant until he was laid off at 50. Not old or well enough off to retire, he ended up at a call center. With a BS in education, he's stuck working at a call center for $15/hr, and drives a hundred miles roundtrip to get that. Mom makes about $36k at a bank. The company has been finding reasons to fire a lot of employees and replace them with no benefit, W-2 contractors. His hope is to stay there long enough until they can draw SS (with a mortgage and a car payment, no idea how that's going to cover things), but the job security just isn't there. He lives in an area where there are no jobs, probably couldn't sell the house, so if he loses this job, he won't find another and it's really game over for them and they'll be on the streets unless her mother takes them in. Granted, there were a lot of other issues which lead to this, namely not leaving TN for the northern states where there is work, but the job market is incredibly transient.
The job market in so many parts of this country hasn't recovered and the sad thing is - it was not good before the recession and never will "recover" as far as there being a low unemployment rate. Just not enough jobs per capita. In NC, we lost our furniture and textile industries and put hundreds of thousands of folks out of work - permanently. So I understand what you are saying, Emigrations.

There comes the time when you just have to face that you have to relocate in order to make a decent living. Otherwise, you will need to hang on and scrape by, hoping to survive until you can start collecting social security. That is not the best way to go into retirement. I know from earlier posts that your parents cannot accept that they need to move away and secure decent jobs while they can, so I hope your Dad's job holds out. This is not the way it should be but for too many Americans, this is what has happened.

We will soon be relocating to my hometown, where I am told employers are still using more temps than "new hires" and also hiring people on part time (I guess to avoid benefits and maximize productivity). As others have said, hard to save for retirement when you are scraping by on part time work.

I think most of us have assumed we could always get a part time job after we officially retired -- "if we want to." And I have known people (often, women) who did pick up part time jobs in years past - just to make a little extra money and get out of the house a bit. Now, those part time jobs are the often the only jobs so the competition is fierce in many areas of the country.

I just don't think most folks are realistic who say they will work "forever." As TUBORG mentioned, even if a person THINKS that, their employer may have other ideas.

Last edited by brokensky; 08-18-2014 at 06:43 PM..
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Old 08-18-2014, 06:42 PM
 
18,655 posts, read 33,234,085 times
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I think for a lot of people it's like whistling past the graveyard, because they know (or think) they don't have enough money to retire and therefore the only thing they can think of is to keep working.
I have an old-fashioned company pension, as do my co-workers and those who work under me. Many people have zero savings for the future and don't seem to really understand that there is a genuine "free money" pension at our place of employment (vesting after three years). Other areas, like housekeeping, security and dietary used to be in the pension plan but got outsourced in the 1990s to outside companies who might have a 401k but hardly pay enough to make any real savings unlikely. But there was a day where a lifetime housekeeper could retire in some comfort at the usual age (often going back to Jamaica or some island nation).
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Old 08-18-2014, 07:04 PM
 
31,672 posts, read 40,927,604 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by anifani821 View Post
The job market in so many parts of this country hasn't recovered and the sad thing is - it was not good before the recession and never will "recover" as far as there being a low unemployment rate. Just not enough jobs per capita. In NC, we lost our furniture and textile industries and put hundreds of thousands of folks out of work - permanently. So I understand what you are saying, Emigrations.

There comes the time when you just have to face that you have to relocate in order to make a decent living. Otherwise, you will need to hang on and scrape by, hoping to survive until you can start collecting social security. That is not the best way to go into retirement. I know from earlier posts that your parents cannot accept that they need to move away and secure decent jobs while they can, so I hope your Dad's job holds out. This is not the way it should be but for too many Americans, this is what has happened.

We will soon be relocating to my hometown, where I am told employers are still using more temps than "new hires" and also hiring people on part time (I guess to avoid benefits and maximize productivity). As others have said, hard to save for retirement when you are scraping by on part time work.

I think most of us have assumed we could always get a part time job after we officially retired -- "if we want to." And I have known people (often, women) who did pick up part time jobs in years past - just to make a little extra money and get out of the house a bit. Now, those part time jobs are the often the only jobs so the competition is fierce in many areas of the country.

I just don't think most folks are realistic who say they will work "forever." As TUBORG mentioned, even if a person THINKS that, their employer may have other ideas.
It is wise to have a retire securely date even if not planning to use it. At that point you can go any time after. Not going just enhances your war chest.
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Old 08-18-2014, 07:05 PM
 
Location: Ft. Myers
19,719 posts, read 16,727,250 times
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Working late in life is in my DNA. My Grandfather died working in his garden at the age of about 86, he could not sit still. I have retired twice and gone back to work both times and now work full time at 69. I see no reason to stop, I love what I do.

I have seen so many people wait all their lives to retire and when they do 6 months later they drop dead. Nope, activity keeps me mentally and physically healthy. I may work for a couple more years then take a year off to do my bucket list thing of touring the 48 States. But, God willing, I will go back to work after that.

Besides, I like having the extra money to waste.

Don
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Old 08-18-2014, 07:26 PM
 
2,334 posts, read 2,634,966 times
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Think of '60s or '70s rock stars, bands, still touring, even if they have to play in tiny clubs or casinos: I think they keep at it because they literally don't know how to do anything else; it's become not only a job, but a lifestyle. The same with actors -- they keep looking for work because it's just "what they do," like any job. They have no other skill sets (or at least none that please them as much or are as employable). When Andy Rooney retired from "60 Minutes" at age 92, he died less than five weeks later.
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Old 08-18-2014, 07:43 PM
 
7,492 posts, read 11,787,683 times
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Some people don't see retirement in their future. Like me.
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Old 08-18-2014, 08:16 PM
 
Location: Los Angeles area
14,017 posts, read 20,849,137 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by don1945 View Post
Working late in life is in my DNA. My Grandfather died working in his garden at the age of about 86, he could not sit still. I have retired twice and gone back to work both times and now work full time at 69. I see no reason to stop, I love what I do.

I have seen so many people wait all their lives to retire and when they do 6 months later they drop dead. Nope, activity keeps me mentally and physically healthy. I may work for a couple more years then take a year off to do my bucket list thing of touring the 48 States. But, God willing, I will go back to work after that.

Besides, I like having the extra money to waste.

Don
I attach a lot of validity to your comments because you have sampled both realities - you have been retired and you CHOSE to go back to work. I think the key is what I bolded.

That doesn't mean I advocate continuing to work as opposed to retirement as a generalization; it means I understand what you are getting at. I am retired and I love it, yet the same statement applies: "Activity keeps me mentally and physically healthy". One can have "activity" on one's own terms, that is, less activity than working full time but still meaningful and challenging activity.

We all have to find our own way.
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