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That sounds ideal. Many who retire are dead within a year.
That's the difference isn't it - it's the length of time that it takes to complete the task. Older age does it in two hours, younger age can take days.
This is so true, I have seen guys who couldn't wait to get that gold watch, and a year later they were dead. Like I mentioned, I've tried retiring twice, and it was not for me. You can only play with your toys so much before it starts to get old. You find yourself sleeping in later and later, watching TV more, and your people skills and mental sharpness start to go away.
As much as all of us complain about having to work, it does give us purpose in life. Someone is expecting us to be there at a certain time, we get to exercise our brains, solving problems, and the extra money ain't all that bad either. That is the other thing, when I am off work I tend to blow a lot of money, but when I am working I don't have the chance to get out and do it, so I end up saving more too.
The reality is most of us are going to have to work as long as possible. As an example, my husband and I will make WAY more money than our parents however they have a much better retirement than we could ever hope for. Why?
1. They all retired from union jobs, so along with their social security, they have pensions.
2. Their companies offered retirees health insurance. This one is HUGE! As a household we make a very comfortable living however we won't have retiree health insurance. So these nice 401k balances that we've amassed can be gone in an instant with one illness.
3. The university we graduated from cost about 3k per year in the early 90s, so you could literally work and pay your way thru school. That same university costs 14k per year now, books are ridiculously expensive even if you rent your books, they run a scam with the "codes" you now have to buy. So it's hard to save when you have 2-3 kids, you don't qualify for any financial aid. One might ask, well you make 6 figures, so college shouldn't be a problem? Well that sounds good except we didn't make that type of money when the kids were small, so there isn't a college savings account with some huge balance.
4. Our parents houses are paid off. Well that was easy many years ago because you hardly moved, neighborhood schools were good, so you could stay in the same house and pay it off. Nowadays in a lot of places you have to spend more on a house to get into a decent school district, not to mention the cost of housing is out of control
5. Since most of us are forced into 401ks and don't have pensions we are also subject to the ups and downs of the stock market. If you are lucky your retirement won't be near a crash or down period. Those who were near retirement in 2008 lost everything. It has been almost 10 years now a whole new crop of retirees are struggling because traditional safe investments are paying a damn near zero interest rate. .
When I approached retirement age I planned on where I would go and the things I would do. As the time to retire grew closes I realized that I liked my job and where I worked. I was three miles from work and lived in an upscale neighbor with every kind of amenity most folks want. I had many friends who were a large part of my social world. In the end I decided not to retire. However the company had a different idea. One day a group of people in my age group were called in and offered a retirement package. We were told that if we refused we could be terminated with nothing. Most of us took the package. So much for personal choice.
So of the posts here are laughable clearly posted by those living in a fantasy world. Since I retired I have met many people who retired with what they thought was enough, but it was not. One person I remember who was filing bankruptcy told me when he retired he sold his farm netting over one million dollars. Shortly after retiring his wife was diagnosed with cancer and her treatment over a few years took all that he had saved. He then maxed out his credit cards and was broke and deep in debt. Retiring with a million dollars and now broke he filed bankruptcy.
A friend who was treated for prostrate cancer was treated with radiation. The treatment was successful. He told me he got a bill from the radiologist for $16k. I
told him Medicare will pay most of that. He replied, "that's after Medicare paid."
I have met senior singles and married senior couples who were homeless. All believed they retired with enough and SS and Medicare would take care of them.
These people would have been OK if not for medical costs.
I worked for a fortune 500 company and retired with full medical and death benefits plus a pension. Five years out that company went to court to eliminate all our benefits. The court granted their request for the medical and death benefits but forced them to continue to pay our pensions. That med ins was the top quality BCBS plan. Most of us ended up with Medicare advantage plans plus gap insurance until gap insurance increased costs made it affordable.
You may think you planned well and have enough but you have no idea of what medical costs will do to you. You may think you have it in the bag but I assure you that you do not. You may decide you want to continue to work but what will you employer allow you to do? There is no respect for age in America and the business/medical entities have no problem taking senior's last dime and throwing them in front of a bus.
Joan Rivers once said, "growing old is not for sissies." If you live to retirement age you will experience what she said for yourself. Lots of luck.
Certainly not a new topic, but the latest article on the sobering reality facing many older Americans and those about to join that demographic in the future.
Our country doesn't value old age, instead it considers them washed up and left to fend for themselves in favor of youth.
I sometimes joke about retiring, but in reality, I love my job. It is far more interesting than the stuff I am doing when I am not at work. My wife likes taking vacations on islands, so those are our most frequent vacation destinations. Half way through the week, I am ready to go back to work. I start getting bored and antsy, and feeling unproductive. I can usually sneak in a day or two of golf, but even that gets boring to me after a while. I'm usually ok with city vacations because I can keep myself occupied with the sights and museums and things like that, but even then, by the end of the vacation I am happy to be going back to work.
I read an article about a guy who came into a decent bit of money while he was younger and everyone told him to invest it for when he got older. I believe he was in his 20's Instead he took the money and did things he knew he wasn't going to be able to do when he got older. When he had done what he wanted he started working again.
I've known people who have worked for 30-40 years and then retire only to die some 10 years later. Sure, they took a weeks vacation every year and for the most part had weekends off. Where I work now the HR guy tends to push everyone to sign up for 401K, he loves to talk about the company matches what you out in it and how you should get health insurance too. So by the time you put your money into those your broke all over again. I'm not talking about people who make $80K or more a year here I'm talking about your typical blue collar worker. Might make 50K maybe.. Back breaking work not sitting behind a desk.
Gods forbid something happens to you before you do retire if you touch your 401K they hit you big time for taking YOUR money out. No one seems to want to talk about that. I'll be 50 in a couple of months and for me I don't plan to work until I can go my body breaks like I've seen others do. We have a house that's paid for we are working on fixing somethings on it and selling it. Going to travel the next 10-15 years maybe more. I would rather die doing something I love then waiting for 65 and sitting in front of a TV for 5-10 years waiting for death to come for me.
Many people did save and invest but lost all or most of it in 2008 crash.
We all lost money in the 08 crash but the market rebounded. I'm certainly better off now than before the crash. If you stay in the market for the long haul, expect good years and bad years. That said, I don't most folks grasp how long they might live in retirement or, how expensive healthcare will get. My parents saved all their lives for retirement and had a decent nest egg. But at 65, I doubt my dad thought he would still be alive at 93 or, that he would require nursing care forc5 years and onward. That next egg ran out a few years back, so did the reverse mortgage, the cash value of his life insurance policies, Multiple IRAs, all gone to pay health expenses. And despite being in a wheelchair and needing help with dressing, going to the bathroom, etc., he may easily live a few more years. How does anyone plan for that?
The elderly tend to vote Republican. They brought it on themselves.
Does everything have to be political?
I remember the wonderful days of President Jimmy Carter when we had 15 to 18% inflation and a good fixed rate home loan with 16%. The young tend to vote Democrat, they brought it upon themselves.
Now off politics and back to the situation at hand.
Generally, unless you made a decent wage your entire life and work to 70, Social Security alone is not enough retirement money. What I would like to see is an option where people at, say the age of 25 or 30, can elect to pay double their social security tax and exchange for this they could lower the retirement age from say 67 to 64 or get 150% and Social Security benefits then what they would receive under the normal conditions. I say a hundred 50% because the employer's portion or contribution to Social Security would not double it would remain as it is.
This would especially be good to those it do real work for a living such as steel workers brick masons HVAC installers and others in construction. The problem with raising the retirement age of somebody, who let's assume is a steel worker, is after a point the work becomes dangerous or more dangerous than it already is.
Being in construction management I see it where a good portion of our hard-working field employees are going to be lucky if they make it to age 62 much less 67. I'm still working and the only reason that I can, at age 69, as a solid 80% of my time is in an office environment or I wouldn't make it.
Your body gives out and you simply cannot produce what you did at the time when you were younger.
And then there is the certain smugness among some that I find a little nauseating. Sometimes bad things happen to good people and a good number of people did save like they were supposed to say did invest like they're supposed to and ended up with nothing but their social security as an example I'll give you those that invested in Bernie Madoff Securities, WorldCom and Enron to name just three.
We all lost money in the 08 crash but the market rebounded. I'm certainly better off now than before the crash. If you stay in the market for the long haul, expect good years and bad years. That said, I don't most folks grasp how long they might live in retirement or, how expensive healthcare will get. My parents saved all their lives for retirement and had a decent nest egg. But at 65, I doubt my dad thought he would still be alive at 93 or, that he would require nursing care forc5 years and onward. That next egg ran out a few years back, so did the reverse mortgage, the cash value of his life insurance policies, Multiple IRAs, all gone to pay health expenses. And despite being in a wheelchair and needing help with dressing, going to the bathroom, etc., he may easily live a few more years. How does anyone plan for that?
The question becomes what "decent" is.
A couple who have saved and invested should end up with 3 million or more total in net worth by 65. if the money stays invested, they can live off the interest and ss and medicare.
Even if the last 10 years (very rare, but possible) brought 120K per year in extra expenses, that would still leave plenty of net worth.
Not to be morbid, but one can go the Switzerland and end it painlessly if and when the quality of life is not good. It seems somewhat ridiculous to spend millions being unhappy.
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Instead he took the money and did things he knew he wasn't going to be able to do when he got older. When he had done what he wanted he started working again. 
