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True, but even 10 years at $10K per month is only about $1.2 M.
Money isn't the only thing you need for assisted living and ultimately a nursing home. Most people need to learn speak and understand Spanish. That way, you can tell the employees you need your diaper changed - again.
I know many people with an alternative strategy. When it's their time, they say, they'll just walk in front of a bus.
We don’t have any Spanish speaking CNAs. I’ve been working in nursing homes for 20 years in New Jersey and I can maybe count on one hand the number of Hispanic CNAs we’ve had. When we have a patient who speaks Spanish we normally have to go to housekeeping to get translation.
Yes my best friend had that strategy to although now she has kids so I’m not sure if she still does or not. Often by the time you realize you’re at that stage, you’re no longer capable of walking in front of a bus LOL.
Assisted living is not $10k a month everywhere. Here in east TN, my MIL spent 3 years in assisted living. Her rent, all-inclusive, was $3200k/month when she moved in and went up 5% per year. Was about $3500k when she passed away in January. We paid her bills (with her money, thank God) so I know exactly how much it cost.
I also get the Spanish speaking CNA comment. With my mom (living in CA) in her nursing home, the CNA's couldn't even read the doctor's orders, which were written in English, and couldn't understand me when I told her my mom was having a seizure and to get the head nurse.
$22,000 in 1972 is equivalent to $131,000 today. I didn’t know anyone in 1972 who had anywhere near that to invest. We lived paycheck to paycheck on my mothers secretary salary. $22,000 might as well have been a million. She couldn’t afford a home for us except for a one bedroom apartment, In which I had to share a bed with my mother until I was a teenager, yet she was supposed to somehow buy investment property?
My point is only that it is not as simple as you try to make it sound.
The $22k I was referring to was the amount that "jetgraphics" was poo-pooing in his post. He laughed at the idea that saving that amount in 1972 could fund today's retirement. In truth, if that guy invested that money even in a mediocre way back in 1972, he would be a millionaire today. It's not simple, and I didn't intend to make it sound simple. It requires discipline to keep yourself from just spending the money, so that you'll have some money to invest. And then the ability (and good fortune not to have an emergency) to leave it alone for years at a time, living only on current income, not going into debt, so as not to have to pay interest, etc.
In 1972 I was pretty much EXACTLY where you were. Living in poverty, 14 years old, with my mom (a career waitress) and her husband du jour. I lived paycheck to paycheck as a young adult until I reached my mid 30's and wised up. After my divorce at 34, I had a car on which I owed $15k, my clothes, and a decent job, that was it. I educated myself financially by buying financial magazines and reading books from the library on money and investing. From there it was trial and error. And I made some HUGE errors.
Last edited by TheShadow; 05-26-2018 at 09:16 AM..
I just article on CNBC about why so many won’t take vacations this summer Affordability was one of the factors along with non financial ones. Gave some tips on how to do it. Made me think of this thread and the many things people might want to save for and can’t.
My poor wife. Married me and barely spoke English. Gave up her middle manager job and started her career over by moving to the US and going to work for a non-profit barely making $27,000 a year. Now, 15 years later, she makes well over triple that.
How? Since hitting the shores of the US, she never stopped trying to improve herself...her English, her writing skills, her financial skills, etc. For the first 12 years, she was always taking one class or another.
To think her family couldn’t afford a hair dryer so she went to school with wet hair as a kid. Never learned to ride a bike...couldn’t afford one.
Good thing....she’s part of *my* retirement plan. (I keed...I keed!!!!)
Some ‘mericans are lazy or too focused on the their phones or too busy posting on FB to figure it out.
I grew up low, low middle class. My answer was the service, learn a skill that would translate well to civilian work ( I was a med lab tech), , the GI Bill which helped with a under graduate and a masters and, keeping my mouth in check at work. God bless America! The US is still the land of opportunity. If we can do it, anyone can.
i never had a hair dryer either as a kid . i used to stick my head in the oven , no joke .
plus we had no clothes dryer. i once put a pair of my cream colored jeans in the oven because they were not fully dry . when i put them on they had grill marks on them like a burger king hamburger . this is the truth .
I just article on CNBC about why so many won’t take vacations this summer Affordability was one of the factors along with non financial ones. Gave some tips on how to do it. Made me think of this thread and the many things people might want to save for and can’t.
The only vacations I took for MANY years were camping trips to the mountains or beach 2-4 hours drive from home. Best vacations ever! And the only cost was gas to get there, camping fees ($14-20 day), beer, and food. And heck, I'd be buying the beer and food at home anyway. And if you camp with friends, they can split the camping fees. If you don't get paid vacation you can just go on a long weekend.
The only vacations I took for MANY years were camping trips to the mountains or beach 2-4 hours drive from home. Best vacations ever! And the only cost was gas to get there, camping fees ($14-20 day), beer, and food. And heck, I'd be buying the beer and food at home anyway. And if you camp with friends, they can split the camping fees. If you don't get paid vacation you can just go on a long weekend.
That was us also. The old man built a tent trailer and we slept in that on our trips. I never recall eating out as a kid. Sandwiches made beside the road for us!
The only vacations I took for MANY years were camping trips to the mountains or beach 2-4 hours drive from home. Best vacations ever! And the only cost was gas to get there, camping fees ($14-20 day), beer, and food. And heck, I'd be buying the beer and food at home anyway. And if you camp with friends, they can split the camping fees. If you don't get paid vacation you can just go on a long weekend.
The article suggested much of that
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