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the system conditions Americans to live in the present for the future.
The mutual-fund and self-help industries might "condition" that. And then there's the whole thesis of Calvinist thrift. But there are many countervailing forces, enjoining consumption, living for the present, seizing the day and so forth. One supposes that the greater problem is reaching retirement-age with insufficient funds, rather than dying before retirement-age, or dying before having tasted the pleasures for which one had been saving-up.
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Originally Posted by TuborgP
On the other hand many others hit the retirement road to soon, don’t die and find themselves broke and alive 10-15years later.
Exactly. Even the frugal and well-tempered might find themselves having to forego satisfaction of desires, settling for comfortable but less-than-thrilling retirement.
Those business-trips to Europe or Asia, with per diem and so forth, suddenly have to replaced by self-funded vacations. Not the same thing. Not the same level of privilege.
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Originally Posted by ysr_racer
I never lived to work. I worked to live (and hated all of it).
That is your personal situation. Others are different.
For some, the workplace dynamics, bosses and time-sheets and office-politics, are noxious irritation. But the work itself is a creative outlet. The work itself may allow for publication of results, for research, for enthralling and stimulating ventures. Those ventures may be hard or impossible to duplicate in retirement. One doesn't miss the barrage of e-mails about mandatory training or security-policy and so forth, but one sorely misses the laboratory and one's former lab-mates.
He died in his sleep on Sunday night. Never got one day of retirement, never got one penny of social security. Time waits for no man.
One of my coworkers retired from the school system at the same time that I did, in June, 2003. He died in his sleep in late August of that same year, before the next school term began, so while he did have about 1.5 months of retirement, he clearly didn't get to derive much enjoyment during that brief period.
I wake up every day being thankful that I have been able to enjoy these past 16 years in relatively good health, but I also mourn on a fairly frequent basis as more and more of my colleagues and friends die.
Indeed... Time waits for no man... so try to enjoy life as much as possible while you can.
On the other hand many others hit the retirement road to soon, don’t die and find themselves broke and alive 10-15years later. That thinking to some is comparable to the 35 year old saying why worry about retirement I could be dead before then.
Some of them run numbers and assume a few things that don't pan out - reduced spending, consistently good interest on the declining balance and no major unexpected expenses. I worry about whether I will really be happy living the way it is easy for me to imagine will make me happy.
I lost 5 people between 61 and 63 in 3 months. One was a dear friend of over 40 years. I watched him take his last breath on Memorial Day. Both of my parents never made it to retirement, and I'm glad I retired at 58. Maybe I should start drawing my social security? People in my family don't make it out of their 60's. I can only hope I go to sleep one night and not wake up in the morning like one of my friends did. That's not so terrible. I'm not sure I really want to see my 70's.
I'm 65 and I've had five wonderful years of retirement. What a shame he didn't/couldn't retire sooner. I just went to the memorial service of my former boss today. He dropped dead of a heart attack at 63. At his mother's funeral, no less. At least he had eight years of retirement to enjoy. I have no regrets retiring when I turned 60 and I never will. Retire as soon as you can do so comfortably. Tomorrow is not a given.
I also was able to retire at age 60. And I echo what others have posted. If you can, retire soonest. It is a shame about the fellow who died the night before retiring. But you know? He does not care now.
Those business-trips to Europe or Asia, with per diem and so forth, suddenly have to replaced by self-funded vacations. Not the same thing. Not the same level of privilege.
In the dozens of business trips I've taken to Europe and Asia, I worked my tail off. I'm trying to remember the last time I flew business class to Europe where my employer paid. 1988, I think. Europe means you work all day and then head back to your hotel room after a modest dinner the corporate bean counters will allow on the expense report to shovel out email and do conference calls. I had lots of trips where I was up until 2am writing code to fix something for the next day in the lab. It's not like I have the option to shrug and say I'll come back a month later with a fix. You make it sound like a business trip is a paid vacation. Not in my life experience. It's planes, trains, & automobiles; hotel; conference room and lab. Very long work days. Tons of stress.
We're in Europe a couple times per year. The Virgin Atlantic Boston to Heathrow flight is $340 round trip in May or October at the off-peak times we normally go. The Sheraton Heathrow I've stayed at forever on business travel is 60 pounds on a weekend. US$78 the last time we stayed there and British Pound has continued to crash so it will probably be more like $70 when we're there in late-September on the next trip. We mostly do AirBnB. We usually average about $200/day for two people for lodging, public transportation, food, and things like museums. It's not like a trip to Europe is an enormous expense if you shop it and plan it properly.
In the dozens of business trips I've taken to Europe and Asia, I worked my tail off. I'm trying to remember the last time I flew business class to Europe where my employer paid. 1988, I think. Europe means you work all day and then head back to your hotel room after a modest dinner the corporate bean counters will allow on the expense report to shovel out email and do conference calls. I had lots of trips where I was up until 2am writing code to fix something for the next day in the lab. It's not like I have the option to shrug and say I'll come back a month later with a fix. You make it sound like a business trip is a paid vacation. Not in my life experience. It's planes, trains, & automobiles; hotel; conference room and lab. Very long work days. Tons of stress.
We're in Europe a couple times per year. The Virgin Atlantic Boston to Heathrow flight is $340 round trip in May or October at the off-peak times we normally go. The Sheraton Heathrow I've stayed at forever on business travel is 60 pounds on a weekend. US$78 the last time we stayed there and British Pound has continued to crash so it will probably be more like $70 when we're there in late-September on the next trip. We mostly do AirBnB. We usually average about $200/day for two people for lodging, public transportation, food, and things like museums. It's not like a trip to Europe is an enormous expense if you shop it and plan it properly.
This why it’s much cheaper to go to Europe nowadays.
We're in Europe a couple times per year. The Virgin Atlantic Boston to Heathrow flight is $340 round trip in May or October at the off-peak times we normally go. The Sheraton Heathrow I've stayed at forever on business travel is 60 pounds on a weekend. US$78 the last time we stayed there and British Pound has continued to crash so it will probably be more like $70 when we're there in late-September on the next trip. We mostly do AirBnB. We usually average about $200/day for two people for lodging, public transportation, food, and things like museums. It's not like a trip to Europe is an enormous expense if you shop it and plan it properly.
Oooh. I did not know this. I even like airport hotels.
^^^Huh. It was about $200 a day for us too, now that I figured it out. But that was over 2 months and included all the flights and a travel agent---connecting within Europe and trans-Atlantic. You are getting some good rates there. Our historic district hotels were about 100 euros or more but the VRBO rentals were more like 50 euros.
Also you get to deduct the amount you saved by not being home. 1/3 electricity, food, driving around, going out.
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