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There are several topics going on right now in the Retirement forum, all seemingly converging on the same discussion on how to provide for comfortable life in retirement without working (or without working very long) for it.
But at least the point I was trying to make in every one of the threads is: if your income is very small (say, just SSI), why do you focus on ways of extorting more $ from people who work (or have worked) hard, rather than on creative ways of making yourself happy with the little that you have? Let's talk about that: ways in which a US senior living on a shoestring can create personal happiness.
PS- In case you can't make sense of the title of this thread, it paraphrases this song :
stephen stills love the one you're with lyrics https://g.co/kgs/C6Be4e
I don't know what all the hoopla is about. I live on SS alone. I've worked my tail off since I was 17. I'm single so I only have one not very large SS check every month. I did save some, and had a 401K but not a large amount of money in it. That money is for emergencies and traveling a little if I want to do that.
I retired about 6 months before I was 62. My only focus is to enjoy life now. I don't ask for anything from anyone. I moved to a nice little town and bought a nice little inexpensive house, at least from my perspective. My cost of living is probably half of what it used to be when I was working. I've made some new friends, and stay as busy as I want to be.
I'm able to pay my bills, buy food, go out to eat once in a while only on my SS. Honestly, I was never this stress free or happy when I was working. What am I missing?
They say money can't buy you happiness, but I think a LACK OF MONEY certainly brings you a lot of unhappiness.
While I had lived with severe lack of money for a sizeable part of my life, I don't recall that this brought me unhappiness. Now that I have money, I think it's understandable that I wouldn't like to see it extorted from me and/or squandered, since that money is something that resulted from very hard work (remember, I made my retirement resources overwhelmingly by actual work, not by investment).... but if I hadn't worked hard and had therefore remained poor forever, including in retirement, I don't think I'd be unhappy about it. When I was poor, I had many other concurrent problems, and I was unhappy about those, but never actually about lack of money. Truly never.
I don't know what all the hoopla is about. I live on SS alone. I've worked my tail off since I was 17. I'm single so I only have one not very large SS check every month. I did save some, and had a 401K but not a large amount of money in it. That money is for emergencies and traveling a little if I want to do that.
I retired about 6 months before I was 62. My only focus is to enjoy life now. I don't ask for anything from anyone. I moved to a nice little town and bought a nice little inexpensive house, at least from my perspective. My cost of living is probably half of what it used to be when I was working. I've made some new friends, and stay as busy as I want to be.
I'm able to pay my bills, buy food, go out to eat once in a while only on my SS. Honestly, I was never this stress free or happy when I was working. What am I missing?
I think that this should be the goal for working class adults of ANY age (with the exception that little towns don't appeal to everyone, even though they do appeal to people like you and me). I could only wish your kind of contentment for ALL retirees!
I can't imagine that anyone would be happy if they're routinely unable to afford food or shelter. Some people are going to have far less desire for discretionary spending than others.
I save/invest all of our money in order to grow it as much as possible but I have absolutely no desire to spend any of it...ever. Id be more than happy without it, but I think I like having it there for peace of mind. I do think money can buy happiness to an extent, but everyone also has their own definition of happiness.
As an introvert, it takes very little to make me happy -- a small cozy home, coffee in the morning, books, pets, quality time with a few close friends... I could live comfortably on very little, and I've got a sizeable social security projected plus an annuity that will both start when I'm 70, together which will cover all of my expenses plus a little extra. My 401k and other savings are adding up (I'm still working) and, by my standards, I will be very comfortable in retirement. Yet, I'm still worried, solely because I'm single with no children and I am fixated on having enough money to "buy" quality, dignified personal care when I can no longer take care of myself. The stories I've heard about nursing home abuses scare me, and there doesn't seem to be a lack of predators waiting to take advantage of diminished seniors. It's not today I'm concerned about. It's 25-30 years from now.
Good for you, and I mean that. But why in the world are we killing ourselves working for four decades to maybe, just maybe, get time to live life on our own terms? The vast majority of people I know are stressed to the max, working multiple jobs/gigs for the privilege of being a fine productive member of society, and take drugs of one form or another to cope with it all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by marino760
Honestly, I was never this stress free or happy when I was working.
If the past 4 years of inflation has taught us anything, it is that
1) Inflation can go from near-zero to double digits in a matter of months
2) inflation hits seniors and very low income people especially hard.
Planning your retirement with assumptions of very low inflation and just enough money to survive is quite risky.
Our Government does not understand the root cause of inflation. We need a balanced budget and to start reducing our national debt!
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