Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
People just aren't prepared. According to a study on retirement confidence by the Employee Benefit Research Institute published last week, less than half of those surveyed have tried to calculate how much money they'll need in retirement, and 39% simply guess rather than doing a systematic analysis.
Once in a while we hear comments in this Retirement Forum to the effect that "I will have to work until I drop dead", which is certainly a grim scenario for the future. Even people who love their jobs probably look forward to the increased freedom of retirement eventually.
I have a cousin, ex-Air Force, who flew medical rescue helicopters. He loved the flying but didn't care much for the scheduling; His sleeping quarters while on duty were at the helipad, and when the siren went off he had something like ten or fifteen minutes to be airborn. Not always fun at 3 a.m. on a cold morning. He told me, "If only I could fly on my schedule rather than on their schedule". He quit at age 65 eight years ago and hasn't flown since.
Once in a while we hear comments in this Retirement Forum to the effect that "I will have to work until I drop dead", which is certainly a grim scenario for the future. Even people who love their jobs probably look forward to the increased freedom of retirement eventually.
I have a cousin, ex-Air Force, who flew medical rescue helicopters. He loved the flying but didn't care much for the scheduling; His sleeping quarters while on duty were at the helipad, and when the siren went off he had something like ten or fifteen minutes to be airborn. Not always fun at 3 a.m. on a cold morning. He told me, "If only I could fly on my schedule rather than on their schedule". He quit at age 65 eight years ago and hasn't flown since.
Goes to show you that you don't always know just how you'll end up spending your retirement.
Unfortunately nearly half of all retirements (the article I read recently said 42% in their survey) are earlier than planned due to health issues or loss of employment and inability to find another job. So it may not be an option but you should have a plan to somehow make it work at pretty much any point. The second scenario is the tough one; some people try to stick it out in a high COL area hoping to get another job and burn through a lot of savings before giving up.
About a year before I planned to retire I started living on only the amount the SS estimator said I would get. The rest I put into my savings account. Actually, I was able to live on less than the estimate.
Unfortunately, I was laid off about seven months before I planned to retire. I got unemployment payments for six months, then lived off of the rather meager severance from my job. Now I'm utilizing the money from my 401k (not much). I figure I will have to use some (about 1k) of my savings until I start SS.
I wanted to hold out until age 66, but 65 will have to do. Even though my expenses are small (I can live on 1k/month), I don't want to drain my savings.
After almost 30 years of working for the same company, having my first job at age 14, and basically working full time from age 17, I just didn't have the heart to even look for another job. I did have to 'look' to satisfy Unemployment, if they ever asked if I was trying to find work.
I got no response from the companies I sent my resume to, and Unemployment never contacted me.
Even though I lost my job, I had some peace of mind knowing I could live until SS without having to worry.
People just aren't prepared. According to a study on retirement confidence by the Employee Benefit Research Institute published last week, less than half of those surveyed have tried to calculate how much money they'll need in retirement, and 39% simply guess rather than doing a systematic analysis.
Whenever our neighborhood has a garage sale I notice that a lot of older "E-Bayers" show up.
They are looking for specific items to buy cheap and re-sell on E-Bay for a profit.
There are many ways to supplement meager retirement incomes.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
