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Two of their recommendations: Develop a social network, and Think creatively.
I agree with both of those. The second one is really the purpose of this thread. The first is not really workable - our social network is mostly our age and won't be in a position to pack boxes etc any more than we will be at some point.
I remember when my mother had a debilitating heart attack at 88 or so. I flew down and spent a week finding a care facility for her, packing up some personal items for her, taking care of her condo, and starting the process of selling her place and moving her to Seattle where I lived. It was a lot of work to sort and pack her stuff and many trips back and forth. I keep asking myself who is going to do that for us, or one of us? Yes, we can pay someone which I am OK with but that means the person is likely a stranger. That makes me nervous.
When I was looking into this I discovered there were professionals, that is those who were bonded and those who just had an ad on Craig's List. Had I chosen to go this route, I would have chosen the professionals and felt safe. But I understand how even that can make someone feel uncomfortable.
One thing I took from the article is that we "elder orphans" are not alone. Our numbers seem to be on the rise especially amongst those who don't have a spouse or some sort of significant other.
It truly is a lot of work. My 90 year old in laws needed to move quickly and sell their condo - and move into assisted living. My spouse put his life on hold for three weeks to handle their affairs..... and did all that and sold their car. It was exhausting. When FIL died he handled everything then as well. We live 700 miles from them.
My sister lost her husband tragically to a car accident - he was only 68 - and a couple months later her motherinlaw passed away. Her deceased husband - one of two sons - was her MILs POA. He has an indigent brother who would not know how to handle any of the final procedings. Talk about being in the middle of a tornado.
Sis was caught having to settle both estates within the same time frame.
Yes, there are attorneys who have resources to help with this - but it WILL cost.
Being poor and running out of money are not the same thing. Unless they had $100,000 a year jobs, there is no guarantee that people who live a long time won't run out of money when they get frail and sick. My mom ran through $175,000 in 3 years, between medical care, home health aides and rehabs.
In order to be sure you're not going to run out of money, most people need well over a million by the time they retire. Not everyone makes a ton of money. Heck, I'm single no kids, make a decent salary but aren't going to come close to having enough. I went to college late and paid off student loans until my mid-40's, doesn't leave a lot of time to save enough, and I won't have a home to sell.
It's really odd to imply that anyone, no matter their income, should have enough money saved to live to 100 as long as they didn't have kids.
I'll shut up about this now however, as OP has stated multiple times that money is not his concern.
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You are single, no kids, and you know right now that you will not have the money you need for retirement.
You have choices.
1. You could continue on with how things are going, do nothing and accomplish not having any money when you retire.
2. Since you are single and have no kids, you could get a second job or work overtime, save and invest the money from the second job and maybe meet your retirement goals.
3. Start a business on the side that will not only bring you extra income but you can continue to run it after you are retired or sell it and have money from the sale of the business and the investment income that it provided prior to the sale.
I know a couple that faced what you are talking about, few opportunities for saving. They did have kids and wanted a better life for the kids. The husband took on a second job and still works there. He works two full time jobs. The mom works full time as well. Their kids are all grown and they continue to work. Both of them work at the hospital where I work and he works at Costco as well. Sometimes you just need to do what you got to do.
When I was in my mid 20's I worked for a guy that has a commercial window cleaning company. I managed one of his locations for him. Him and his wife were living in Santa Barbara and it has always cost a lot to buy a home there. He started washing windows after work to make extra money. Eventually he built up store front routes and had to hire people. Within five or six years he had to quit his job. Within 10 years he had purchased a second business. After 18 years he went on to do other things. He still owns the business but he does not have to go into work anymore. Him and his wife have a beautiful home in Santa Barbara. His side business took over all his time and it became his primary source of income.
Two of their recommendations: Develop a social network, and Think creatively.
I agree with both of those. The second one is really the purpose of this thread. The first is not really workable - our social network is mostly our age and won't be in a position to pack boxes etc any more than we will be at some point.
I remember when my mother had a debilitating heart attack at 88 or so. I flew down and spent a week finding a care facility for her, packing up some personal items for her, taking care of her condo, and starting the process of selling her place and moving her to Seattle where I lived. It was a lot of work to sort and pack her stuff and many trips back and forth. I keep asking myself who is going to do that for us, or one of us? Yes, we can pay someone which I am OK with but that means the person is likely a stranger. That makes me nervous.
I doubt one caregiver would be enough, especially later...but I'd feel safer with a few strangers in place. Like multiple people kind of being able to check the other. So "third shift" person could report if it seemed like the person they were caring for wasn't getting fed by the "second shift" person...or that they had a cut that wasn't there from the day before. Safety in numbers!
Anything is possible....but what businesses do make it so multiple people work on the books, for example. Sure, you can get one dishonest person....but the chances of one or two people willing to lie for another person is less. If you have 3 family members willing to work shifts on you great...but I'd actually think THEY would be more likely to collude to get your money!
You are single, no kids, and you know right now that you will not have the money you need for retirement.
You have choices.
1. You could continue on with how things are going, do nothing and accomplish not having any money when you retire.
2. Since you are single and have no kids, you could get a second job or work overtime, save and invest the money from the second job and maybe meet your retirement goals.
3. Start a business on the side that will not only bring you extra income but you can continue to run it after you are retired or sell it and have money from the sale of the business and the investment income that it provided prior to the sale.
I know a couple that faced what you are talking about, few opportunities for saving. They did have kids and wanted a better life for the kids. The husband took on a second job and still works there. He works two full time jobs. The mom works full time as well. Their kids are all grown and they continue to work. Both of them work at the hospital where I work and he works at Costco as well. Sometimes you just need to do what you got to do.
When I was in my mid 20's I worked for a guy that has a commercial window cleaning company. I managed one of his locations for him. Him and his wife were living in Santa Barbara and it has always cost a lot to buy a home there. He started washing windows after work to make extra money. Eventually he built up store front routes and had to hire people. Within five or six years he had to quit his job. Within 10 years he had purchased a second business. After 18 years he went on to do other things. He still owns the business but he does not have to go into work anymore. Him and his wife have a beautiful home in Santa Barbara. His side business took over all his time and it became his primary source of income.
I don't have regular hours in my daily job, which makes a second job hard (I cannot say when I will be done the day) and I am currently working at a job 90 minutes from my home because there's nothing closer to me at the moment, living out of a suitcase and running home 2 days a week to make sure my plants don't die and bring my mail in. Aside from that, I had major back surgery 2 months ago, and am just getting back to work after being unable to for 6 months, during which time I had to use a good portion of my savings to live (I am a 1099 and did not qualify for state disability...I had a private plan but it didn't pay enough to cover my bills, especially because I had $14,000 in co-pays from the entire incident. Before you say I live too high, I have an apartment which is less than $800 a month, and just bought a 2009 Hyundai, after my '98 Acura finally died with 315,000 miles...just saying, it's not always as easy as you think.
2. Since you are single and have no kids, you could get a second job or work overtime, save and invest the money from the second job and maybe meet your retirement goals.
This is a misconception that many people without kids have. Just because you don't have them doesn't mean you can get a second job or work OT. I've worked at places where if the primary job discovered and employee was working at a second job they would be fired. Sometimes health issues don't allow for someone to work two jobs. It may be that the person has to take care of an elderly parent after work or works odd hours that wouldn't allow a second job.
Having or not having kids doesn't always determine the ability to work a second job.
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