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A thought for all not yet retiring but considering it. Yes retirement means leaving work and giving up all of that you now feel unappealing. Yes retirement offers a wonderful sense of freedom, however it is obvious from a number of threads and postings currently in the forum that the following reminder might be helpful:
When you retire you are giving up all possible raises, bonuses, promotions, new jobs etc etc. You are giving up all of the work based salary increases you have enjoyed over the years. From that point on any increase in income will be from SS and possibly pension COLA's. In this current environment they will not be large and your income very easily can and will stagnate unless you have also built in personal retirement income vehicles. Age 62-92 can be a very long time financially if all you are depending on is a predetermined CPI.
When you retire you are giving up all possible raises, bonuses, promotions, new jobs etc etc. You are giving up all of the work based salary increases you have enjoyed over the years.
Assuming, of course, that you are (or will be) getting salary raises, bonuses or promotions. In private sector engineering, those were all absolutely wiped out the last, say 8 years of the spouse's job. The only way to get those now is to change company.
A thought for all not yet retiring but considering it. Yes retirement means leaving work and giving up all of that you now feel unappealing. Yes retirement offers a wonderful sense of freedom, however it is obvious from a number of threads and postings currently in the forum that the following reminder might be helpful:
When you retire you are giving up all possible raises, bonuses, promotions, new jobs etc etc. You are giving up all of the work based salary increases you have enjoyed over the years. From that point on any increase in income will be from SS and possibly pension COLA's. In this current environment they will not be large and your income very easily can and will stagnate unless you have also built in personal retirement income vehicles. Age 62-92 can be a very long time financially if all you are depending on is a predetermined CPI.
And the pay increases are wiped out and then some by rising health care insurance premiums.
Assuming, of course, that you are (or will be) getting salary raises, bonuses or promotions. In private sector engineering, those were all absolutely wiped out the last, say 8 years of the spouse's job. The only way to get those now is to change company.
And the pay increases are wiped out and then some by rising health care insurance premiums.
I have a friend who retired earlier than fully vested with a pension and tried a couple of years for SS disability and finally got it close to 62. His finances are miserable. His wife still works etc etc. He keeps talking like he expects or entitled to a raise from somewhere because he needs money. As a substitute he is looking for someone to sue. Thats another story and topic.
A thought for all not yet retiring but considering it. Yes retirement means leaving work and giving up all of that you now feel unappealing. Yes retirement offers a wonderful sense of freedom, however it is obvious from a number of threads and postings currently in the forum that the following reminder might be helpful:
When you retire you are giving up all possible raises, bonuses, promotions, new jobs etc etc. You are giving up all of the work based salary increases you have enjoyed over the years. From that point on any increase in income will be from SS and possibly pension COLA's. In this current environment they will not be large and your income very easily can and will stagnate unless you have also built in personal retirement income vehicles. Age 62-92 can be a very long time financially if all you are depending on is a predetermined CPI.
TuborgP, I think you must be having a bad day.
This reminds me of a conversation I was having with a friend a while back. We were talking about how we missed the interest we use to collect, and then we got to thinking about how awful it must be for people who had expected to live off their interest It seemed, at the time, much worse for them than for us...... "us" being two little old ladies who live off our fixed incomes with an occasional dip into savings.
I am constantly figuring on how to make my money stretch. Not because I don't have enough but because it is a life long habit. I enjoy it. Life is still filled with possibility and the chance to move ahead. Or sideways. Its not so grim as your post suggests.
A thought for all not yet retiring but considering it. Yes retirement means leaving work and giving up all of that you now feel unappealing. Yes retirement offers a wonderful sense of freedom, however it is obvious from a number of threads and postings currently in the forum that the following reminder might be helpful:
When you retire you are giving up all possible raises, bonuses, promotions, new jobs etc etc. You are giving up all of the work based salary increases you have enjoyed over the years. From that point on any increase in income will be from SS and possibly pension COLA's. In this current environment they will not be large and your income very easily can and will stagnate unless you have also built in personal retirement income vehicles. Age 62-92 can be a very long time financially if all you are depending on is a predetermined CPI.
But what if you never made it a habit of spending up to all those bonuses and pay increases? Isn't that living paycheck to paycheck in a way?
This reminds me of a conversation I was having with a friend a while back. We were talking about how we missed the interest we use to collect, and then we got to thinking about how awful it must be for people who had expected to live off their interest It seemed, at the time, much worse for them than for us...... "us" being two little old ladies who live off our fixed incomes with an occasional dip into savings.
I am constantly figuring on how to make my money stretch. Not because I don't have enough but because it is a life long habit. I enjoy it. Life is still filled with possibility and the chance to move ahead. Or sideways. Its not so grim as your post suggests.
or perhaps I am reading you wrong.
I am not having a bad day, my comments are in reaction to all of the posts about no SS Cola increase, especially by folks who may have taken it at 62 with little or no other source of income. There are many threads about when to take SS. Most of them absent conversation on COLA and how your benefit grows in subsequent years. Waiting not only gives you more but increases your compounding power which for some appears to be very critical for many.
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It seemed, at the time, much worse for them than for us...... "us" being two little old ladies who live off our fixed incomes with an occasional dip into savings. 
