The New Realities of Work and Retirement

SeaBreeze

SeaBreeze

Endlessly Groovin'
Location
USA
I'm glad that I was able to retire early and I don't miss work or regret it at all, but others aren't in the same position or have different thoughts on work and retirement.

NPR's series introduces us to some older Americans as they navigate the new realities of work and retirement. Let's meet them.
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https://www.npr.org/2019/10/02/751797229/the-new-realities-of-work-and-retirement
 

I retired 19 years ago, travelled the world & enjoyed everyday of my retirement. I would never want to go back to work. I feel sorry about anyone who has to work beyond 70 years. Sometimes that is caused by poor choices in life such as buying all those vehicles & other consumer junk without saving for your senior years. Bad choice!
 
I could have retired after 25 years, but stayed for 37. I really enjoyed my time as a State Policeman. After retirement, I was offered to come back and teach a few classes to new Cadets in my field of expertise. Now, I am considering hanging up my service belt for good.

I have spoken with several other seniors, some of which have told me they have to work. The reasons are many. A few seniors have told me that they wouldn’t eat if they didn’t work. So, here I am, making more money retired than I did while I worked while others barely can feed themselves. I have donated much, but it seems like so little.
 
After what happen in 2008 to the stock market due to the mortgage crisis's, companies were pulling money out of their profits to support pensions. So one by one companies froze there pensions (Most are fixed amounts / month) and offered payouts. Now some people needed to cash in their pension's by taking the payouts, others are looking forward to pensions of barely 10 yrs due to job hopping and layoffs. Lots of people paid mortgages, college tuition's and just growing a family in the middle class. (30k to 50k not much to save there with 2 kids) Living and saving some times doesn't work to well together in the middle class. I love how the middle class in the news is pictured to be a 100k to 200k income. I read most are in their 50's and beyond have less than 50k saved up. They are looking forward to living on SS, medicare and Medicaid. When pension's got froze and were being done away with, it didn't seem to strike anyone in the government (Who kept their pensions) that a real issue would be happening soon when allot of people will be required to retire due to health or the loss of work. Not all people work in jobs that don't stress one's body and will have a pension that will have a cost of living raise. Not everybody can work into their 70's like the government seems to be encouraging. This will raise the cost of medicare, no doubt. I just got done listening to Mr. Shawb say that you need a million dollar investment to get a return of 40k most of the time but not always. So he said that will also be counting on and adding to some other fixed income funds (SS and a pension) to have a frugal income. It would be nice if some of these advisers would figure out how a large part of the population of the up and coming retires can live on less than 100k investments an God please help those with less. In 2018 the average needed retirement income above poverty in small town america needed to be above 42K. I don't know how all this is going to work out. Something odd I noticed with the 2017 population chart, the number of 70 yr olds was about half the number of 60 yr olds, could this be why we are encouraged to work as long as we can into our seventies, less than 1% make it to their 90's. I am not sure we all will be able to work after retirement.
 
Creek Pirate said:
After what happen in 2008 to the stock market due to the mortgage crisis's, companies were pulling money out of their profits to support pensions. So one by one companies froze there pensions..... and offered payouts. Now some people needed to cash in their pension's by taking the payouts, others are looking forward to pensions of barely 10 yrs due to job hopping and layoffs. Lots of people paid mortgages, college tuition's and just growing a family in the middle class. (30k to 50k not much to save there with 2 kids) Living and saving some times doesn't work to well together in the middle class......
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This is a topic of endless discussion and no consensus as far as opinions. You touched on a number of issues. According to every survey I've ever read, most people simply never did anything in the way of financial planning until it was too late (in their 50's). Few households set up budgets, tracked their expenses, tried to maximize savings, learn to invest, etc. I am definitely in the group that lacks empathy as I saw, all through the decades, so many people simply purchase too much house, too much car, overspend on unneeded items, eat out too much, etc. and never thought about retirement. And surveys back this up --- not just my anecdotal experience. Surveys have shown that only 1 in 3 or 4 adults have a modicum of financial literacy.
Then, of course, there is a percentage of people who did 'everything right' and got wiped out from medical expenses, or layoffs that took their savings away and perhaps never got a job paying their old wage and benes. Then there is another percentage of people who just don't have the ability (or 'werewithall') to get a good paying job. Another percentage didn't do family planning.

So, everyone is in a different position with a different perspective. Meanwhile, wife and I retired strictly on investments at age 56 and 54 respectively, no pensions. I started investing in my 20's and I can't begin to make people understand how we lived in 'undesirable neighborhoods' in really crappy apartments to save money along with allowing ourselves, on the weekend, to only do one thing. Go to a movie, go out to eat, go to a bar with live music, go to a museum, etc., but we could not do more than one thing so we'd save money. We brown bagged it for lunch, learned to cook. We did this for years to get a nest egg to retire, and to save for a house. Can't feel sorry for those who did not make an effort.
 
Financial literacy is nothing more than 3rd grade math - addition and subtraction, income vs. outgo. If the outgo is consistently more than the income, you are doing something wrong and will someday suffer for it financially.
 
gennie said:
Financial literacy is nothing more than 3rd grade math - addition and subtraction, income vs. outgo. If the outgo is consistently more than the income, you are doing something wrong and will someday suffer for it financially.
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Sorry but that is far from the truth (3rd grade math). "Managing" money and understanding short and long term ramifications of money moves is key to wealth building and/or having enough to retire and outlive one's money. We waste to much time ignoring teaching young people how to survive moneywise in their futures. Instead we teach them useless info. that will never impact their ability to guide themselves through a span of 80-90+ years of living. One prime example is the national student loan debt. Proof that while they attend universities in order to make a descent living they end up graduating with one foot leg deep in the grave.
 
fmdog44 said:
Sorry but that is far from the truth (3rd grade math). "Managing" money and understanding short and long term ramifications of money moves is key to wealth building and/or having enough to retire and outlive one's money. We waste to much time ignoring teaching young people how to survive moneywise in their futures. Instead we teach them useless info. that will never impact their ability to guide themselves through a span of 80-90+ years of living. One prime example is the national student loan debt. Proof that while they attend universities in order to make a descent living they end up graduating with one foot leg deep in the grave.
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For someone whose income is only enough to provide for life's essentials, it is very simple math, just numbers. Bring home pay must be more than amount spent. Basic numbers.

Too often people do not separate a need from a want. A need is a basic essential. A want is not. Too often, people see it ... want it ... charge it ...and then only pay the minimum when the credit card bill comes. These people rarely have money to 'manage'. More often they see bankruptcy court at some point.

Learning about needs vs. wants must be learned long before college and colleges don't teach it anyway because it's bad for the economy. "Charge it" keeps the wheels turning, money flowing. I know a few very elderly people who still don't know how to separate a need from a want and are living an uneasy retirement because they never learned.

Going to college on borrowed money is a gamble and must be accepted as such. However, the American educational system should provide a way for bright, earnest students to get a useful education without bankrupting their futures.
 


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