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Sure...but that doesn't include any of his retirement savings...I'm not sure that he gets any SS...
I find it odd that people think (or hope, or plan to be?) - and I don't mean you Mightyqueen, they'll actually be richer or better off when retired than working. I mean, I won't be saving any longer, my house will be paid off, and I'll have more free time. But I don't expect to have a higher inflow than when I was working!
Retirement isn't "get rich" time for many folks so to have income about the same as when working is quite an accomplishment in itself. Most people aim to replace their salaries with savings and consider that the primary goal - or am I completely wrong on this? Do many people scrimp to the point where they have MORE when retired?
Yes, you can end up with more in retirement then working.
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TY and it truly is a blessing. Works great for surviving spouse. While she wasn’t happy about it at the time, she is now very happy she didn’t leave her job to be a stay at home mom.
Sure...but that doesn't include any of his retirement savings...I'm not sure that he gets any SS...
I find it odd that people think (or hope, or plan to be?) - and I don't mean you Mightyqueen, they'll actually be richer or better off when retired than working. I mean, I won't be saving any longer, my house will be paid off, and I'll have more free time. But I don't expect to have a higher inflow than when I was working!
Retirement isn't "get rich" time for many folks so to have income about the same as when working is quite an accomplishment in itself. Most people aim to replace their salaries with savings and consider that the primary goal - or am I completely wrong on this? Do many people scrimp to the point where they have MORE when retired?
Well, I didn't! My life didn't go smoothly along the financial track that most people's on here seem to have gone--as a matter of fact, the one constant was that public-sector career that I never wanted in the first place. I had to support myself and my daughter (and for most of my marriage, my husband), and there was never any extra money lying around to save. I lived in debt for most of her childhood in order to provide my kid with a safe environment in a place with good schools. It was worth it.
But, after 37 years and a good ending to the career, I did get that pension, and health benefits, and since then I've been working part-time. Between the pension and the PT job, yes, I DID have more income over the past two years than I had when I was working.
That is temporary, though. I paid off the college loans and have no debt left except my mortgage, which I will always have unless I live past 82. I am phasing out the working and will come to a point eventually where I am just living on the pension, at least for another 7 years until I can collect SS.
So, yes, my life is better living in retirement because I no longer carry the debt load I did when I was working, but it's not because I saved.
We've lived well below our means for about 30 years, with two high incomes. We lived on part of one of the incomes, saving the rest. So, we have been extreme savers for decades. Now, in retirement, we are in a situation where we both have pensions, although are pensions are each about half the OP's pension. We can live mostly off of the two pensions, withdrawing a little from the retirement accounts, until I start collecting Social Security. Then we wouldn't have to touch our retirement accounts at all.
However, we don't have any children, so we are in a situation where we will need to spend more money in retirement than what we spend during our working years, because of living well below our means. Living below our means is a hard cycle to break, after living that way for decades. After seeing our retirement accounts double in value every 8 years on average, its hard to accept seeing the retirement balances decrease from withdraws in the future.
We didn't seriously start saving until our early 40's. He's a new IT worker. I have a nephew in his early 20's. He plans to save at least 20%. If he doesn't make any serious mistakes in his life like marrying the wrong person, or run into serious health problems, he'll probably be able to retire by about age 50, a multimillionaire. It makes a huge difference if you start seriously saving in your 20's instead of waiting till your 40's like we did. The first million takes a long time to accumulate. The next million comes much faster. Although, when you've saved enough to be a multimillionaire, you don't feel rich at all, you just feel comfortable.
So, it is possible to invest in yourself, by educating yourself to have a high paying skill set to potential employers. The high paying jobs might not be your dream job, but it allows you to save a lot more for your future. All the hard work educating yourself in a high return career path, living well below your means, and extreme saving really pays off in the long run. You then have the freedom where work is no longer a requirement, and you can choose to have the freedom to retire, and have the financial resources to have a comfortable retirement.
Yes, you can end up with more in retirement then working.
I know some veterans that wait until after they retire from a regular job to pursue their VA Compensation benefits. That can add up to 3500 extra a month.
I know some veterans that wait until after they retire from a regular job to pursue their VA Compensation benefits. That can add up to 3500 extra a month.
Those must be veterans with severe physical disabilities that occurred during their service or were the result of their military service. I am a Army veteran that had 4 yrs of active duty with no injury or disability due to military service, so I get nothing from the VA.
A veteran that receives $3500 per month from the VA is likely somebody with a significant injury caused by military service. I am surprised that someone with that kind of injury could have made it through an entire working career until retirement age, and suddenly submit a claim to the VA. Was it a long-delayed reaction from some chemical exposure like Agent Orange?
It is harder to find happiness on a budget if you haven’t had to budget like that for most of your working career. The loss of a lifestyle down to a lower income is way more difficult than if you have never lived it at all. That is human nature for anyone that ever had ambition and desires. To those that never had that higher income lifestyle it may sound shallow and condescending. But it is true, nonetheless.
I get rather tired of hearing how I should get this new or get out and see movies more and so on. Like, guys, I get a bit more than the SSA minimum now, with the extra help money I finally got established. And I have a small house, food, normal costs and property taxes which are not high. I have some nice stuff, get satalite for tv, and sort of live on my computer. Works for me, and there isn't much to go out to here. Currently my son is pushing for me to move near him, but he's not looking up and finding out if the things he suggests can even be done. He hasn't learned that some stuff you have to verify if it is possible and long, long before you plan around a 'yes' find out if its a 'no' and get over your dissapointmen and find ways you'll feel okay. Sadly, with the permit situation, the stuff which counts to me can't happen. So I feel like I'm back to my house again.
But I learned long ago, when I was very sick, and I couldn't do anything, that moments are what counts, not the whole. No, being sick isn't fun, but sometimes there are magic moments. And while I would certainly prefer it be different, sometimes its not up to us. I've lived off wayyyyy less for some time. It doesn't scare me but there has to be a really really good reason to walk into the situation intentionally. And the security of the norm, even if its boring, keeps you going. What comes later where we can't see at all we should be considering and always looking for a better option when then comes is important. It's equally important to see the smiles hiding in the gloom when it comes.
Having stuff, running off to play at some expensive place, flashing your shiny new clothes, is a fools pathway. Things happen in life. Sometimes we don't even suspect they are coming, but the playthings you never play with, the shiny clothes you never really liked ... time to think about that and maybe wish you had before.
When people talk about how 'poor people' dress so bad and act so nasty they should be run out of town I just think of how much they themselves are every so carefully tempting karma and SHE will just laugh at them.
And yes, karma will find you if you tempt her too often.
Not if he wants a lifestyle different than the average retiree. Most folks working and earning above average income want to retain that advantage in retirement.
Then those folks will either be working until they are dead or they need to temper their expectation for retirement.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TuborgP
Folks when you retire you still have to compete for goods and services and that competition is usually measured in dollar cost. Many with a working years advantage want to keep it in retirement. Average is not their goal.
Not a problem for a guy with a paid off mortgage, no debt, pension, IRA, grown kids, no wife, etc.
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