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i saw an article that caught my attention. it was about what to do when things look bleakest, markets are pummeled, housing prices in the toilet and unemployment high---answere quit your job and retire.
as those who retired in 2007 found out, retiring when markets are soaring and home prices are up can be easy... it looks like there will be plenty of money for living the good life.
then came 2008 and boom, lots of retirements failed, income dropped to zip and those homes slash piggy banks we had were suddenly worth way less.
so what to do when things look the worst? retire... if you can afford to retire and make things work during the worst of times then statistically you wll fair just fine as times improve and your finances get even better.
polls thru history show that those that retired during the worst down turns lived out retirement financially better then those that retired at the peak markets ...
Last edited by mathjak107; 12-06-2009 at 05:19 AM..
The downturn in the economy helped me decide to retire early. I am lucky enough to have a job and lucky that I have little concern about job security. Even so continuing to work just seems to make little sense. In spite of all the official claims, I find my cost of living rising at an uncomfortable rate and I have been getting minimal salary increases. If I want to continue to live on Long Island after retirement, then I am going to need to work many years past normal retirement age. The downturn made that even more evident. So I have moved up my retirement and will quit working a couple of years before the normal age. I am downsizing and will sell the house. Proceeds from the house will be enough for living expenses for several years without touching social security or retirement funds and I will be able to buy a house in a reasonable cost of living area and have money left over.
we would have loved to stay in bay terrace in queens when we retire but like you found its just way to costly... we have a house in lake wallenpaupack in the poconos and will retire full time there next year.. had we stayed in bayside we wouldnt have retired so early.. the fact is for both of us if we can do it now after the drop then it should only get better for us when things improve and markets and real estate move higher.
My goodness. I actually did it right. I retired in December of 2008. Had I remained on the job into 2009 I would have lost 14% of my income to furloughs. We bought our retirement home at the bottom of the market. Life has been good ever since! But most of all, I was tired of the rat-race, tired of working and needed to take back complete control of my life (or as much as my wife allows me to ).
yep one persons disaster is another persons good luck......
its interesting because the media only publicizes those that planned badly and were crushed in the downturn but there is a whole other side to it that dosnt make good news and thats those that benefited from all this..
for every person who sold something in the downturn and lost there was a counter party who bought at that level.
yep one persons disaster is another persons good luck......
its interesting because the media only publicizes those that planned badly and were crushed in the downturn but there is a whole other side to it that dosnt make good news and thats those that benefited from all this..
for every person who sold something in the downturn and lost there was a counter party who bought at that level.
But isn't the media still agog over The Annointed One? You'd think they'd publicize the success stories and give him all the credit. Never mind that we did it without government help or interference except for my hard-earned GI bill/home loan benefits for which I offer no apologies.
No, the media is not still agog over the current prez. As is usual, they are in full on attack mode with the current power structure. You need to read stuff beyond the faux news sources.
This is an interesting topic. The premise does make a lot of sense. If your plan works in this economic climate, then it is probably due in no small amount to a self-limiting lifestyle that is sustainable over the long term - otherwise known as living below your means. I'm going to retire in 4 weeks and believe I will be fine. I agree that cost of living in this lousy economy is not falling but staying steady or rising a little. It seems that the drawback in supply due to the crunch is making prices rise but fewer people can spend on it.
I want to sell my house and move but I'm not sure when that will happen. I'm retiring anyway. A poor market means my house isn't worth very much. If where I want to move to is in the same boat, then it doesn't matter. Except for finding a buyer at all. But I can stay here for longer than my original plan called for.
One of the traits of successfully navigating a poor climate is being flexible in your plans to be able to adjust to changing conditions.
Last edited by Tesaje; 12-06-2009 at 09:45 AM..
Reason: typo
No, the media is not still agog over the current prez. As is usual, they are in full on attack mode with the current power structure. You need to read stuff beyond the faux news sources.
Sorry! I forgot the tongue-in-cheek and eye-roll smiley when I posted that. Old habits die hard and even though I'm thankfully and finally removed from the political fracas in which I labored for almost 20 years, I still read parts of from 10-15 newspapers a day, not to mention other news sources.
Best of luck in your retirement. It's a glorious thing!
My wife and I retired the end of March, 2008. We knew at the time that our primary plan after retirement - to relocate - would probably be put on hold due to the drop in local housing market, and not being able to sell our house. And that's exactly what happened.
Our back-up plan was to stay put, and that has actually worked out much better than we thought it would. We can afford to stay here, and once commuting up and down I-95/395 every day was taken out of the equation, we found that living in Northern Virginia was, and remains, very nice.
At no time did we consider NOT retiring when we did. We had picked the approximate date more than 10 years ago, and had made decisions along the way that would help us afford to live in relative comfort after retiring.
Not sure about the logic that retiring early in bleak times -- will make future retirement conditions better when markets improve. The missing point is that retiring when markets are depressed, means one must spend depressed resources -- that will no longer be available to appreciate when/as markets improve.
The cost of living doesn't really decrease/change in a depressed economy (except, perhaps for sale pricing on purchases). Therefore, early retirement in depressed economic times may indefinitely lower one's standard of living. About the only possible advantage of early retirement in a bleak market, may be the creation of a job for someone else(?).
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