How are you living with consequences of not planning for future?

C'est Moi said:
I think too many people have the mistaken impression that Social Security is sufficient to provide a sole means of support in one's retirement years. They either didn't or couldn't take responsibility for saving additional funds for their retirement.

It has been widely discussed for several years that Social Security is in trouble. I doubt that the program will ever be discontinued... but we will undoubtedly see major changes happening as more people retire and begin collecting benefits. I imagine there will be means-testing instituted at some point to scale down payout to more affluent retirees. I think that sucks because they are the ones who likely paid the most into the tax but could potentially see their benefits reduced.
Click to expand...

Your are absolutely right, about not being able to save. If I would've continued with my college education, like my wife did, I would have made a better salary working in Purchasing and/or Inventory Control. I was able to work those two areas later in my life, but didn't get the salary I would've with a college degree. The highest salary I ever made was $14.50 per hr. and that was after I met my wife and we moved to Colorado. I was 52 years old then. It's almost embarrassing to me that that is all I made during my working career.

When I went to collect my Early Retirement SS at 62, I was told straight up "Social Security was never meant to live on." But, because I was having an extremely hard time finding a job in Purchasing and/or Inventory Management, after we moved from Colorado, when I turned 62, wife and I decided that I should apply for my SS. Actually, I don't know how many Seniors who are now 70 and are working a full-time descent paying job, PLUS getting full SS, but my wife is. Her SS sure makes our life easier.

We know two men that get a darn good Pension and also collect full SS. Some folks would say, "Sure must be nice".
 

I have a pension a 401k and SS.
My wife has a 401k,a pension and will have SS.
I stressed every day of my working life over retirement. We put away the maximum in our 401. We lived well,but not extravagantly.
I worked for the government. 6 years for DOE,10 years for the DoD. The base I worked at was caught in a BRAC and shutdown, I then transferred to the Post Office.
!8 years I hated every second of that job, everyone associated with it and everthing about it. The only thing it had going for it was a decent blue collar salary and a continuation of my seniority and benefits.

I regularly scream at my children and grands when they quit a job or not take one because it isn't what they want. Bullshit jobs ain't to like, jobs are to put food on the table.

We are not rich by any means, but We are not going to worry about eating cat food.
 
Cut the credit cards up NOW. .If you don’t have the cash learn how to do without it. Cut every thing you possibly can..Don’t think about your bills as if ..I can pay that this month so I’m good ,Think about if you cut that bill out how much you can save in a year. For instance a 9.99 Netflix bill is $119.88 a year. This may sound petty but add a few more to it and you will see that it adds up quick…


Health care won't be an issue for me, as I have decided to make my unhealthy lifestyle a part of my exit strategy.
Click to expand...


I kinda like your thinking on this one…




We didn’t have a retirement plan either but we are blessed to have everything we own paid for. My husband will only start drawing SS in May of this year but we have lived a very frugal life for the last 20 years. You can do it don’t despair. Don’t eat cat food but do learn to eat less expensive and more healthy. It will take work. You nailed it on the downsize and that entails lots of areas.
 

Seeker said:
I kinda like your thinking on this one…
Click to expand...

My wife had a blood infection and needed an IV for awhile to really clean things out. I went to place to learn how to change bag, irrigate PIC line, etc. I was talking to the nurse (he was outside smoking) and somehow we got on to the subject of lifestyle. He said "the biggest - and most cruel - joke is that all the people who don't drink, don't smoke, eat right and exercise are the ones that eventually end up in one of my chairs taking Chemo." I'll never forget that.
 
Mr X said:
My wife had a blood infection and needed an IV for awhile to really clean things out. I went to place to learn how to change bag, irrigate PIC line, etc. I was talking to the nurse (he was outside smoking) and somehow we got on to the subject of lifestyle. He said "the biggest - and most cruel - joke is that all the people who don't drink, don't smoke, eat right and exercise are the ones that eventually end up in one of my chairs taking Chemo." I'll never forget that.
Click to expand...
BAH! Total nonsense, for the most part, said by a nurse, as he smoked, the stupidest thing one can do for one's health! Throw in that he's a "health professional," and I'd wager that his intelligence level is not exactly off the high end of the chart! Anything he'd ever say, to me, would be quickly forgotten!
 
Mr X said:
Hello, folks!

Quick summary:

I'm 55, my wife will turn 60 this year. I have worked in IT industry for 30 years - the kind of jobs with good salaries, but a DIY approach to retirement savings. Result: I have no 401, no IRA, no pension - nothing. I'm still working, making more then I ever have, but it's only a matter of time before I'm replaced by a new grad. My wife works as an aid for the school district. The pay is terrible, but insurance is good and there is a retirement plan that will pay about $400/month if she were to quit in two years, a bit more as time goes on.

We have no savings. Debt consists of a couple credit cards and an IRS payment plan - about 5K total debt. Equity in our house is between 50k - 100k, depending on who you ask (neighbor just sold his place for top dollar, so I'm figuring 70 - 100 is more realistic.) There is still an eternity left on mortgage. Monthly housing nut (mortgage, insurance, taxes) is about $1150, which is less than a decent apartment around here.

My wife has diabetes (manageable) , so health care costs will be an issue. That is why her benefits more than compensate for low pay (plus she gets summers off). Health care won't be an issue for me, as I have decided to make my unhealthy lifestyle a part of my exit strategy. I don't go for preventative tests and will let nature take it's course. We don't have kids, so it's not as selfish as it may sound.

I've read all there is to say on how to "fix" our situation and, frankly, it's no help. If I was able to keep my current job, at my current salary for 10 more years and put 30% of my gross income into an employer-matched retirement fund, then, yes, there would be hope. Unfortunately (as stated in paragraph 1) that's not realistic.

So I guess I am asking for stories from the trenches. I'd like to hear from people in my position who are little farther down the road. Did you find a way to make enough money to keep your home and downsize your lifestyle? Did you buy a trailer on a big lot in some rural local and live cheap? Did you decide to live in a van? Where still able to move back into your parent's basement?

I don't mean for this sound flippant. My wife and I have obviously put ourselves in a terrible situation, but I'd really like to find some options other than "start eating cat food now and put rest of your $ in a company sponsored IRA."
Click to expand...

I was in almost exactly the same spot at age 59 (due to a lot of things both within, and outside of my control), but ended up with a great job and pulled together a nest egg + SS that will sustain us. Just retired (at age 65), and everything looks good. It can be done at your age; just change your focus and you will do OK!
 
Aunt Bea said:
IMO you and your wife need to adjust your lifestyle to fit your estimated retirement income now and bank your surplus earnings over the next few years to serve as a cushion in retirement.

Welcome Mr. X. I would also encourage you to take care of your health because your current exit strategy may turn out to be slow and expensive.

If over the next few years it becomes clear that you can't adjust your lifestyle to your retirement income then IMO the only option is to look at semi retirement and continue working.

or you can relax and take life as it comes.

titanic3d1.jpg


Good luck!
Click to expand...

I think Aunt Bea has given very good advice. Although I wasn't in the situation you're in, when I knew I'd be retiring within a year, I started living off what my projected retirement income (pension) would be. I had 11 years to go to be able to collect social security. But my housing costs were much less than yours (own a co-op apartment) and I have a great insurance retiree plan. These factors make a huge difference. You and your wife need to make a formal budget, either on paper or make a spreadsheet online. Cut every last unnecessary expense and put the savings into an emergency fund. Believe me, I know people who say they are poor, don't have enough money left over at the end of the month, yet they spend money on wants, rather than needs. Don't think that if you only have a little to save, it's not worth it. I have a friend who blew through his money during most of his life. He finally saw the light and now at age 71 is still working. He saw the error of his ways a few years back and started saving as much as he could.

I agree that your stay unhealthy plan may just backfire and make your financial situation even worse by way of excessive medical/hospital bills. That would be unfair to your wife if she winds up being the one who has to pay for them. 65 is the "normal" retirement age anyway so I don't see why you couldn't work (at something) until at least that age. It's never too late to start. I hope you're able to do what's necessary so you and your wife ill not be living in abject poverty.
 
We KNOW our lifestyle will change, once my wife quits her job and we move, but will have to cope with it and do our best. Nothing else we can do. We won't have two vehicles, going out to eat nearly as much or have the medical coverage we do now. Oh, for the first year or two, we should do ok, and still enjoy some things we do now,
with savings and SS, but after that.

Hopefully, we will be able to have our boat shipped to wherever we move to, or might have to sell and possibly buy one where we go. But, having a boat in Colorado or Wyoming is much, much cheaper than here.

Four things we really enjoy still.........boating, fishing, going to rodeo's and going to the range for target shooting. Don't like the fishing here and got rid of all our saltwater gear. Rodeo is almost non-existent here.

We definitely won't get rid of our credit cards, but my wife did send some to a Debt Company that we pay monthly to get paid off. We have a trip coming up this summer that will take a nice "chuck of change" to make, but we will be checking out the area/areas that we are looking at to move to.

I'm not totally against a person staying on a job for 25, 30 or 40 years, but it definitely should be a special job. Special meaning.......a person gets along very well with management, doesn't have to put in a ton of hours (so they can spend some quality time with their wife/husband/family) and a few other things. A person who hasn't got a college degree and/or that much, if any, experience, generally has to take any job offered. As for wife and I, we've only applied for jobs we know and have done.
 
NewRetire18 said:
I was in almost exactly the same spot at age 59 (due to a lot of things both within, and outside of my control), but ended up with a great job and pulled together a nest egg + SS that will sustain us. Just retired (at age 65), and everything looks good. It can be done at your age; just change your focus and you will do OK!
Click to expand...

Awesome - nice to hear a success story!

As for the common theme of implementing a near-poverty lifestyle now, in order to save for an uncertain future - I suspect that comes naturally to some people. 25 years ago I worked with a group of people that, like me, really enjoyed going out to lunch everyday. We'd often go the the buffet at the hotel next to our office. I remember one guy always shaking his head and asking "how can you guys go out for those eight dollar lunches?" He'd then return to his desk and his stale, brown bag sandwich from home. I'm sure he's loaded now - he may even be posting in this thread.

I can't live that way, so other things will have to go, but that's OK. My wife and I have taken eating out to a farcical extreme - it's totally unnecessary, insanely expensive and rarely satisfying. She buys groceries that get tossed because we never eat at home. That is something we can massively curtail, and be better for it. Next weekend we are heading up to a small town to look at properties - might make sense to buy one now, fix it up over time, and, maybe not have to sell this place and use it for rental income (even with a management company handling details we'd make another $500/month). We'll never have another car payment, and that's OK, as well. We had our time with new BMWs and all that did was cost us our house and force us to start over in the Barrio.

When looked at with perspective, our spending really was a disease - our day-to-day life is actually very simple and affordable.
 
ClassicRockr said:
We KNOW our lifestyle will change, once my wife quits her job and we move, but will have to cope with it and do our best.
Click to expand...

Do you make any money playing? I'm amazed at how many guys in Phoenix are able to make a living - houses, decent cars - just by playing music around town.
 
Mr X said:
Do you make any money playing? I'm amazed at how many guys in Phoenix are able to make a living - houses, decent cars - just by playing music around town.
Click to expand...

Haven't played for years upon years now. I do "fake" playing of drums sometimes, like when I hear Wipe Out by the Surfaris, but that's it. Yep, just thinking about those "Good Old Days" when I was in the Navy and played in a band onboard ship. When at sea on a Sunday, we'd set up on the Fantail (stern) and play for a couple of hours. The Captain would slow the ship down so we wouldn't go overboard.
 
Don M. said:
I think most retirees fall into one of two categories.....1, being those who recognized that they too would some day grow old and retire, and managed their finances accordingly....and 2, those who lived only for "today", and gave little thought to what the future might hold.

I am often amazed at some of the reports I read about how little some Seniors have managed to set aside for their retirements.
Click to expand...


When I was a child my favorite puzzle board was a scene from Aesop's fable, the grasshopper and the ants.
In the scene the grasshopper was laid back playing his fiddle while the ants were busy working putting away
food for winter. Even as a young child, I understood the moral of that story.

http://read.gov/aesop/052.html
 
ClassicRockr said:
Haven't played for years upon years now. I do "fake" playing of drums sometimes, like when I hear Wipe Out by the Surfaris, but that's it. Yep, just thinking about those "Good Old Days" when I was in the Navy and played in a band onboard ship. When at sea on a Sunday, we'd set up on the Fantail (stern) and play for a couple of hours. The Captain would slow the ship down so we wouldn't go overboard.
Click to expand...
after 37 years away from my drums i got back in to them in retirement . been two years coming back and i am finally at a level i am happy with . i am in the studio now at least once a week . i practice at home every single day .

i was a pro drummer decades ago , hated the business and gave up drumming . how i never picked up sticks is beyond me . from the instant i did again i have not put them down for more than a day .

my dad was a pro drummer too , chic arnold .
 
mathjak107 said:
after 37 years away from my drums i got back in to them in retirement . been two years coming back and i am finally at a level i am happy with . i am in the studio now at least once a week . i practice at home every single day .

i was a pro drummer decades ago , hated the business and gave up drumming . how i never picked up sticks is beyond me . from the instant i did again i have not put them down for more than a day .

my dad was a pro drummer too , chic arnold .
Click to expand...

Oh, I could probably still do some Deep Purple, Wipe Out, Styx, Steppenwolf and other songs on a good set of Ludwig or Pear drums, but with a past rotator cuff surgery on each shoulder........don’t want to mess up the shoulders again.

Did buy a good pair of drum sticks a year ago, to “tap” around with.
 
Don M. said:
I think most retirees fall into one of two categories.....1, being those who recognized that they too would some day grow old and retire, and managed their finances accordingly....and 2, those who lived only for "today", and gave little thought to what the future might hold.

I am often amazed at some of the reports I read about how little some Seniors have managed to set aside for their retirements.
Click to expand...

This is true. I know those in both categories. I don't think either group will ever understand each other. Just as some lived a frugal life, planning for a home on a golf course, or an awesome motor home, others lived while they could, with no expectation of, or desire to live the high life at 80.

Those (myself included) in the latter category ALL expected to carve out an existence around social security. I've done the math - if my benefits are there in seven years, my wife and I will be fine. If not, it doesn't much matter as the world will be a very different place than anyone expected.
 
C'est Moi said:
Some of us actually lived the way we wanted, had the things we wanted, and were still able to save for our retirement. What a concept.
Click to expand...


That describes me too. Others might say I deprived myself to save for the future.
But I've lived my preferred lifestyle because it is my nature to be frugal.

Now that I'm retired and have enough money to do as I like... what I like to do is
my normal thrifty lifestyle. So even in retirement my nest egg keeps increasing.
 
C'est Moi said:
Some of us actually lived the way we wanted, had the things we wanted, and were still able to save for our retirement. What a concept.
Click to expand...

For us, the transition to "Saving" was pretty easy. We had two daughters that we were spending thousands of dollars a year on to raise them, and when they became adults, and went out on their own, we got serious about saving. At about that same time, 401K's became available, so we just moved the "children" money into a good 401K, and that worked out quite well. We saw several people, in the same position, who, when the kids left home, bought fancy houses and cars, and started taking lavish vacations, etc., with their "extra" money. Looking back, I'm glad we chose the route we took.

In the majority of cases I've seen, where Seniors are now having to live on minimum financial resources, most of them seem to either have ongoing health problems, or they went through a nasty divorce, in their earlier years. Divorce, IMO, is a curse that can easily leave both parties "scrambling" for their futures.
 
Don M. said:
In the majority of cases I've seen, where Seniors are now having to live on minimum financial resources, most of them seem to either have ongoing health problems, or they went through a nasty divorce, in their earlier years. .
Click to expand...

It's going to be interesting to see how this shakes out, as we are on the verge of seeing millions of new "retirees" that grew up without luxuries like a pension, coming of age with no savings. Ants ants grasshoppers aren't going to help, and there are only so many "greeter" jobs at Walmart.
 
Mr X said:
It's going to be interesting to see how this shakes out, as we are on the verge of seeing millions of new "retirees" that grew up without luxuries like a pension, coming of age with no savings. Ants ants grasshoppers aren't going to help, and there are only so many "greeter" jobs at Walmart.
Click to expand...

The next decade, or so, is going to "redefine" retirement. Middle Class wages haven't improved much in the past 20 years, only about 15% of companies offer defined pension plans, anymore, and millions of those nearing retirement have little or nothing saved. Social Security and Medicare are quickly reaching the point where benefits will most likely be reduced. Things are Not looking very good for many of our Seniors in coming years. The disparity of wealth is rapidly dividing this nation into the "Haves" and "Have Nots". I don't know where all this is going to lead us, but I think the latter half of the 20th century will prove to be the Peak of this nations lifestyles and living standards for many of our people.
 
Don M. said:
The next decade, or so, is going to "redefine" retirement. Middle Class wages haven't improved much in the past 20 years, only about 15% of companies offer defined pension plans, anymore, and millions of those nearing retirement have little or nothing saved. Social Security and Medicare are quickly reaching the point where benefits will most likely be reduced. Things are Not looking very good for many of our Seniors in coming years. The disparity of wealth is rapidly dividing this nation into the "Haves" and "Have Nots". I don't know where all this is going to lead us, but I think the latter half of the 20th century will prove to be the Peak of this nations lifestyles and living standards for many of our people.
Click to expand...


No empire lasts forever... I date the height of the American empire as 1969.

There's a wise old saying: "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

So here is a history lesson:

Leading up to the fall of ancient Rome, much of what was consumed by Romans was imported. Roman citizens lived in luxury and reveled in degeneracy while the Roman government entertained them with bread and circuses.

As J V Nash wrote in Henry Ford’s “Dearborn Independent” magazine in 1921:

” So agriculture, industry and trade were abandoned. The products of the whole known world streamed daily along the great Roman roads into the Imperial City, which sent back nothing in return but carts loaded with dung. ”


Here is another clue... when the gates are willingly opened to the barbarians, it's the end of empire.

.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top