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DH and I will work until we're not able. Who wants to just sit around the house? We do have a lot of flexibility in our work so it's not as though we must clock in at a job everyday. We have lost a lot in investments, so whenever we quit, we'll just put whatever is left into a pile and live accordingly.
The thing I worry about most is selling our house for a decent price, since it is our biggest source of retirement nest egg. We used to assume we would travel and be comfortable in retirement, but we've lost those illusions now.
I will try to "stick it out" until full retirement age at 66, but am hoping to be able to retire (with perhaps a part time job in a field not related to my profession, at 65. 64 now, and working a physically demanding job in an outdoor, severe climate. . . the body keeps telling me it's time to retire. P.S. for me "retirement" means growing my own veggies, caring for and managing my small flock of poultry, painting (showing and hopefully selling my paintings), improving my skills as a musician, and making a serious dent in the reading that I wish to do. Probably will not have the $$ to travel much, but I am very happy at home!
Retired at 55. Worked straight through since I was 15 with no breaks for having kids or college (did my college education part time while working full time). Paid into Social Security early on but not the required number of weeks. Will never collect that SS money paid in and don't care. Have a pension and savings.
Paid into Medicare and will be forced into it when I hit eligibility age.
Totally against Obamacare/Pelosicare and "rationing treatment" for the elderly, which by the way, is not the same as "restricting benefits" (how the Obamapeeps try to spin it).
Since I will not be collecting Social Security, I will not weigh in on that issue, however, the question I would ask when that bleep hits the fan is by what justification did Congress raid Social Security over the decades to pay for other things. I would think that's akin to Grand Theft. But again, that's not my fight.
People who retire now will not have it as bad as younger people who, thanks to Republicans, will spend most of their money on Health Care Insurance and have very little left over to use or save.
Geez,...I thought it was FDR who developed the socialist idea for Social Security, and LBJ who expanded it to include Medicare and Medicade. Democrats raided the Social Security fund and drained it for other uses, and now these social programs are this nations largest expense and the largest drag on our economy. You really need to study history a little.
If you're looking for "sympathy",...try Merriam Webster,...it is somewhere between Moderator cut: languageand "syphillis"..........
Last edited by katzenfreund; 08-17-2009 at 10:09 AM..
Geez,...I thought it was FDR who developed the socialist idea for Social Security, and LBJ who expanded it to include Medicare and Medicade. Democrats raided the Social Security fund and drained it for other uses, and now these social programs are this nations largest expense and the largest drag on our economy. You really need to study history a little.
If you're looking for "sympathy",...try Merriam Webster,...it is somewhere between Moderator cut: languageand "syphillis"..........
No, , Moderator cut: not necessaryI am not looking for sympathy, I am quite comfortably retired. Unlike repugs, I can see into the future, and I care about other people and this country....sorry you don't.
Last edited by katzenfreund; 08-17-2009 at 10:10 AM..
I do not know how to do an on-line survey (to tabulate), so I will post this as a question for replies with comments.
The question to those now 60 and older (though if you are 55+, your comments would also be helpful):
At what age to you really think that you will actually retire from full-time work?
I ask this because there is so much concern about Social Security and Medicare funding. And, the Social Security Administration is making dire predictions.
For myself - I have no choice - If I am able, I will have to work at least until I am about 70. It certainly will be as long as I can possibly work. And, in my current health condition, I can work until about 70.
I will certainly try to go at least 1 or 2 years after 67 - To build up retirement funds for myself. I have no choice.
And, I wonder how many more are like me?
How many nore have taken a beating with this current economic crisis, and now must continue at least sometime further than 65, 66 or 67 (whatever the minimum age you will be confronted with under social security law).
The significance of this, is that with the current projections based on baby boomers retiring and draining the system, may not take into consideration the fact that a significant amount of people may continue to be contributors after their eligible year. And, every additional year of contribution, is significant.
For instance, if life expectancy equals 10 years of drawing against social security/medicare, and someone works an additional 2 years - that could be about a 20% - 40% difference without a surviving dependent. (The 2 additional years of making more contributions + 2 less years of drawing against those contributions, may equal up to 40% less drawing out of the system).
This is certainly not an valid acturial analysis - Just a rough number for sake of the discussion.
I just wonder how valid are the predictions, taking into account on what people intend to do.
Thus, my question to others.
P.S. After I posted the above, I found this article:
I know a guy who is 74 years old, collecting full social security and still working as a project superintendent. He probably earns $5,000 a month and add on the social security he and his wife receive and his monthly income is $7,500 or better affording a rather comfortable living for most especially if the mortgage is paid off and you don't have monthly bills other than standard living expenses. In his condition I suspect he could easily save $4,000 a month and still live most comfortably.
For every year after age 66 I work and don't apply for SS my benefit goes up 8%. $1,800 @ 66, $1,944 @ 67, $2,088 @ 68, $2,232 @ 69 and $2,376 @ 70. $576 a month can mean the difference between survival and living.
What drives my desire most is to take care of my wife. She will start collecting at 62 but when something happens to me (I die) she will lose her SS benefit and receive mine because it is more. I want her to have the extra $576 per month.
Yes, I do have some savings in IRA's etc but not near what I had hoped to have when I was younger. Few have what they should have saved because a lot was lost over the last year and, not to the 20 somethings that might be reading this, things come up like college for the kids.
I am confident that it is not the republicans that threaten the wealth of the younger generations. We actually like wealth and encourage all to try to gather as many peanuts as you can store. The dems however will be happy to tax your peanuts away from you as you gather them while reminding you that you must share your peanuts with those who can't get out of the tree to get some of their own.
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Your confidence is misplaced. This article is from 2003, and Bush was well into tanking our economy already.
BTW, most Americans are certain that the GOP "likes wealth"...even when the wealth they're trying to protect isn't their own. There are millions of gullible Republicans who believe whatever their party elders tell them, regardless of how many times they've been proven to have lied.
I'm already retired, but only from working for others. Now I do the work that I want, at my own pace, at home. My vocation allows me to work as long as I can read, write and think creatively.
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Your confidence is misplaced. This article is from 2003, and Bush was well into tanking our economy already.
BTW, most Americans are certain that the GOP "likes wealth"...even when the wealth they're trying to protect isn't their own. There are millions of gullible Republicans who believe whatever their party elders tell them, regardless of how many times they've been proven to have lied.
I'm already retired, but only from working for others. Now I do the work that I want, at my own pace, at home. My vocation allows me to work as long as I can read, write and think creatively.
I really wonder, many times on this board, how long will the left blame Bush for doing his job? Before you jump on me, I'll tell you that I wasn't a happy camper with him, either, but he was El Presidente of us all, just like Obama is El Presidente of us all. I guess it's a matter of perception, whether your eyes are wide open or slammed shut along with your ears.
I'm retired as well, and you'd best believe I'll take every cent of the SS I paid into for oh so many years. It's just another gubmint pension in a way, just like the other one I've got, courtesy of the gubmint by way of 20+ years of military service. I still piddle around doing little odd jobs, but I can say which ones I'll do, and which I wouldn't touch with a 10-ft pole.
No, , Moderator cut: not necessaryI am not looking for sympathy, I am quite comfortably retired. Unlike repugs, I can see into the future, and I care about other people and this country....sorry you don't.
If you "care" so much,...how about giving some of your money to the less fotunate who are not so "comfortably retired"? I see a lot of bleeding-heart liberals who readily demand that "the less fortunate" be helped,...as long as it's not them who has to cough up the dough.
When does it ever stop if you do that? You didn't fix anything, you just keep prolonging the pain... Why do people advocate stealing from others as a "fix"...
It's a temporary fix for a temporary problem. Once we Boomers are dead, SS is set for several decades.
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In his condition I suspect he could easily save $4,000 a month and still live most comfortably.
