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I was planning on retiring in 5 years or so, but now it looks like it will be more like 10 years since inflation has shot up and the stock market has gone down the toilet. From what I've read, it looks like things will suck for at least the next couple of years, possibly longer, especially if the economy craters. About a year ago, I penciled in 2027 for my retirement year but that just isn't happening unless a miracle occurs.
I've hated working for decades. I hate waking up at an ungodly hour, fighting traffic for 3 hours a day round trip, staring at boring things that I don't care about on a monitor for 8 hours a day, and wearing a fake smile around bosses and coworkers who I don't particularly like and would rather not deal with.
I've been in a bad mood lately, but I figure it's beyond my control, so why worry about it?
If it does it is a good wake up call. If you have a "cash" reserve for your living expenses not covered by ss, pensions etc you should be ok. If you will have to sell securities to pay your monthly bills I would postpone. But then I enjoyed my job.
No. I've accepted that we might have less in retirement but I don't see that impacting our time frame for retirement.
Sure this inflation and the impact on the stock market are coming at a terrible time for us but I'm not seeing working even longer to be a solution.
I've seen way too many people push themselves to continue working only to wind up dying before they have a day of retirement or dying shortly after retirement. It's better to live on a little less than you had hoped for in retirement than it would be to not have a retirement at all.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I'm retiring in 2023, and so far my latest check on my 401 and 457 show 1.5% growth, not great, but still no loss. Those are also a small part of my retirement income, with my wife and I both getting pensions.
No. I've accepted that we might have less in retirement but I don't see that impacting our time frame for retirement.
Sure this inflation and the impact on the stock market are coming at a terrible time for us but I'm not seeing working even longer to be a solution.
I've seen way too many people push themselves to continue working only to wind up dying before they have a day of retirement or dying shortly after retirement. It's better to live on a little less than you had hoped for in retirement than it would be to not have a retirement at all.
Yup, guy I used to work with retired in June at 70. Someone sent me his obituary a few weeks ago. I am not sure what killed him, but I think if he had found he was terminally ill earlier, he would not have retired. Where I worked, if you die when you are working, your beneficiary gets 3X your salary. If you die in retirement, you get $35K. I knew someone once who had put in his retirement papers when he found he had cancer and a few months to live. Pulled his retirement papers for the sake of his family, and was just out sick until he died.
Yup, guy I used to work with retired in June at 70. Someone sent me his obituary a few weeks ago. I am not sure what killed him, but I think if he had found he was terminally ill earlier, he would not have retired. Where I worked, if you die when you are working, your beneficiary gets 3X your salary. If you die in retirement, you get $35K. I knew someone once who had put in his retirement papers when he found he had cancer and a few months to live. Pulled his retirement papers for the sake of his family, and was just out sick until he died.
My husband's dad and my dad both died around the age of 70 so there is no way that we'll be waiting that long to retire.
My husband's dad and my dad both died around the age of 70 so there is no way that we'll be waiting that long to retire.
I retired at 57 from a public sector job with 37 years of service. Worked part-time for a bit for a few years after, but it was easy work and paid well and I could more or less work what hours I wanted to. I will not file for SS until I am at FRA. My pension is sufficient. I would have gone out at the earliest possible time at 55, but my boss dangled a promotion and a chunky raise to stay for the extra two years.
My younger sister worked at various office jobs before going back to school and getting a degree in software engineering at 46. She has a good job in the private sector, but she is 61 and won't be able to retire until she hits FRA in the SS system. I feel bad for her. She is struggling still with some aftereffects of COVID, and her husband was just diagnosed with bladder cancer. He is already retired and eight years older than she is. He is going to be getting treatment, but she is worried that they will never be able to enjoy retirement together.
I was planning on retiring in 5 years or so, but now it looks like it will be more like 10 years since inflation has shot up and the stock market has gone down the toilet. From what I've read, it looks like things will suck for at least the next couple of years, possibly longer, especially if the economy craters. About a year ago, I penciled in 2027 for my retirement year but that just isn't happening unless a miracle occurs.
I've hated working for decades. I hate waking up at an ungodly hour, fighting traffic for 3 hours a day round trip, staring at boring things that I don't care about on a monitor for 8 hours a day, and wearing a fake smile around bosses and coworkers who I don't particularly like and would rather not deal with.
I've been in a bad mood lately, but I figure it's beyond my control, so why worry about it?
Why is it beyond your control? When have you done something to actively change your situation?
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