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I'm a 51-year-old boomer. The change in my retirement plans is that until recently, I had hoped that I might be able to at least go to part-time status by the time I turned 70, but now I don't expect to be able to retire at all. Even if Social Security still exists when I'm eligible for benefits, which I doubt, my 401(k) nest egg is evaporating faster than I can replenish it with my contributions, and my employer has suspended matching contributions altogether due to the economic downturn. I figure that I'll be working until they carry me out feet-first, and at that point, hopefully there'll be enough left in the 401(k) to pay the funeral costs.
We are already retired but the current downturn has really impacted our source of income. We do not have to make immediate changes but it is clear that we no longer have a sustainable plan.
What makes the situation more difficult is the lack of opportunity to return to the workforce in these difficult times and after four years of retirement. We have decided to give the situation another 6-12 months looking for improvements (meanwhile drawing on a dwindling portfolio) before taking drastic action. With real estate values down it would be a further impact to net worth to relocate but it could be necessary to find work.
This economic / market crash may well change our lives (for the worse) in ways we never imagined.
It has no effect on me. The people who can survive the downturn are the very rich and the very poor. For the rich, they have amble resources and for the poor, they have nothing to loose. I am closer to the poor but I have always lived well below my income and resources. When I got suddenly sick and disabled, many years ago, and was forced into social security retirement--I was able to maintain my already simple and frugal livestyle.
Yes, my investments have dwindled, but I have no cares because I know that I can easily live on less. If necessary, I will slowly pare the little extras I have in life---especially the cost of this World Wide Web of Wasted Time. It makes no difference; I am still alive and I survived so far, but in more, and more, pain... but I still
livecontent on this my 1000 post
Most definately.
We had been working with the projection of X dollars in savings divided by X number of assumed years = a less frugal, more relaxed retirement.
Now it's back to pulling those purse strings tight again since a big share of the first component of that equasion just got sucked down a black hole.
We could still make it work as planned..... all we have to do is change the X of the second part of the equasion and die sooner.
I hope I don't have to change my plan to retire in 2009. My retirement income will be a pension from the state. The $$ I have in my supplemental retirement account (401K) are so minimal, that I never included that in my calculation anyway. But what concerns me is the rumors about problems in funding retiree health benefits, and the fact that the pension is invested in the stock market. These benefits are something I planned on for the last 31 + years, and I knowingly accepted being paid much less than what private industry, the federal government, and even local government paid its employees in order to be assured of a regular pension with health benefits. The possibility that it may now be stripped away is disturbing to say the least.
I'm still hoping I can go at the end of next year. As I saw my S&P500 fund dwindle over the last 2 weeks, I re-counted all my savings and realized I'm not as exposed as I thought. It is hard to see $30k evaporate but most of my savings is in cash funds which is looking fairly smart right now. I also get a pension with health benefits and I hope that stays as I earned it as that is the primary pillar of my retirement planning. I had hoped that I could move about a year after retirement and now I'm not sure that will be a reasonable option. I may not be able to sell my house.
My biggest fear over the next several years (decade?) is that we will be in both an inflationary and deflationary cycle at the same time - assets deflate in value and necessities inflate. That will make it hard to make ends meet.
It is really hard to plan in these volatile times.
I had about 40% of my savings invested in stock owning mutual funds so that is down about 15%. This means that my projected retirement income has gone down to the extent that I would have to work a few years longer to make up for it.
I am also planning to invest a little more conservatively.......letting the stock portion of my savings drift down to about 33%. This would mean less risk and less volatility but less potential growth to fight inflation.
Since most of our work we had contracts on have all but gone up in smoke with this credit crunch, we have decided to work until we are no longer able to sit up at the desk. What a crime. My walking friend lost over $300,000.
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