|
Post by Reactionary Rage on Mar 15, 2022 11:36:08 GMT
I've started to think about this recently because the thought of working till I'm at least 67 fills me with fear. Pensions, saving cash, shares....it's quite a lot to consider.
I have a workplace pension that will be a decent enough amount if I work till state retirement age but I don't want to do that therefore I need to think about options. What have others done? Is multiple pensions the way to go? Or just maybe save up as much cash as possible and make a few property moves and cash in?
What's your plans for retirement? What age are you planning on retiring? For those who are retired what's your experience been?
|
|
|
Post by souphound on Mar 15, 2022 13:04:45 GMT
I'm planning on going until 65 if I get there. But then, that's only 3 1/2 years away now, so, I just might.
Decent pension as I work for a large company and will have been there for 35 years when I go, so, shouldn't be too bad. Other than that, I have not planned much. Happens what may. Tomorrow is another day.
Seriously, most of what I'm doing in preparation is on the lifestyle side of things. Not being cheap and scrounging to save a penny here and there, but more to do with healthy choices. I have two big things to get fixed before the time comes and I'll be all set. Have to quit smoking (and that, regardless of retirement or whatnot, it's just a ridiculous habit in so many ways. The other is getting my mouth/teeth in order. That should happen this year. I've already made quite a few adjustments with little or no pain. Haven't had a drop of alcohol in more than a year and a half now for example. And I ain't going back. I've also changed my eating habits to a fairly large extent too. I now eat more regularly as opposed to skipping meals left and right. My body has been thankful for both these changes and I expect to keep getting younger as time goes by.
Heck, I even think I'll get myself a bike this year, haven't had one in over 10 years. My city is bike path crazy.
|
|
|
Post by Reactionary Rage on Mar 15, 2022 13:30:05 GMT
Quitting smoking is a huge thing that will improve your life. The sense of achievement I got from quitting was huge every time.
You can get by on not much if you have your health and are in good shape. It depends what kind of retirement you want to have of course and what you want to do. The exes step Dad has the kind of dream retirement I'd want where he's always going out for meals, doing wine tastings and swanning off to Venice but that will be beyond me but I'd be happy arsing about each day on little projects...painting and shit like that.
You have to fill the time with something.
|
|
|
Post by sloopjohnc on Mar 15, 2022 13:40:04 GMT
I envy Brits and more socialized countries for the pensions, even if it's relatively paltry. It's pretty much every man for himself in the US, except for social security and medicare.
Before my divorce, I probably had $65,000 in accumulated 401Ks from various companies. I sincerely considered what year I'd have to switch to dry cat food from wet (a luxury)in my past retirement set up.
With California real estate so crazy, we were able to sell my dad's property and my brother and I came out of it with pretty good inheritance. I immediately sank a good chunk of it into retirement investments and long term health care plan, which saved my brother and my bacon with my dad and paid for nearly 80% of his expenses in the last few months in a home. I was also able to put a decent amount into each kid's college fund.
I contribute as much as I can to my current 401K and have saved up a decent amount. My social security, last time I looked, came out to around $2,500 per month for the rest of my life. That's okay.
My financial advisor told me in a meeting that her calculations showed I'd run out of funds near 81 years old.
I sincerely am looking to get some fentanyl and when I see a point of no return, taking that and overdosing. I want to leave a little something for the kids. Not the fentanyl, my savings.
I've told you guys this before, but I had a pretty heavy conversation with my ex last week about moving in with me. Just for practicality's sake. If one of us falls and breaks a hip, it's better if there's another old person to call 911. She could sell her condo in the Bay Area, get a decent chunk of change, I'd make her co-owner of my house and we could pay off the mortgage here.
I am very surprised, but maybe I'm a worry wart, that more of my single women friends aren't more concerned about their retirement and living alone.
I could tell from my conversation with my ex that it's sinking in. One of the reasons I think it is, is she has some health problems. I'm still relatively healthy and can get around. Last week, when I had to go to the Bay Area to work, my ex agreed to drive me from the light rail station near where she lives to my company's HQ. I rang her complex's front door and asked her to come let me in. She can't even walk from her condo's front door to the lobby down the hall because her legs are so bad.
That's one of the reasons I continue to do the exercising each day that I do.
|
|
|
Post by sloopjohnc on Mar 15, 2022 13:41:05 GMT
Quitting smoking is a huge thing that will improve your life. The sense of achievement I got from quitting was huge every time. I have quit many times. I am almost there again. I use the patch and it works pretty well with me and a good dose of intestinal fortitude.
|
|
|
Post by sloopjohnc on Mar 15, 2022 13:44:15 GMT
I have two big things to get fixed before the time comes and I'll be all set. Have to quit smoking (and that, regardless of retirement or whatnot, it's just a ridiculous habit in so many ways. The other is getting my mouth/teeth in order. That should happen this year. I've already made quite a few adjustments with little or no pain. Haven't had a drop of alcohol in more than a year and a half now for example. And I ain't going back. I was doing some calculations. A pack of smokes cost $10 here and I round up to $10 for a bottle of wine and $25 for a pint of alcohol. That's a lot each week. I don't drink during the week, but I'll buy a bottle of wine or pint on the weekend. I'm going to stop doing that. You notice the savings almost immediately. I eat pretty healthy during the week. The weekend, less so, and part of that can be attributed to alcohol.
|
|
|
Post by souphound on Mar 15, 2022 14:11:08 GMT
I have two big things to get fixed before the time comes and I'll be all set. Have to quit smoking (and that, regardless of retirement or whatnot, it's just a ridiculous habit in so many ways. The other is getting my mouth/teeth in order. That should happen this year. I've already made quite a few adjustments with little or no pain. Haven't had a drop of alcohol in more than a year and a half now for example. And I ain't going back. I was doing some calculations. A pack of smokes cost $10 here and I round up to $10 for a bottle of wine and $25 for a pint of alcohol. That's a lot each week. I don't drink during the week, but I'll buy a bottle of wine or pint on the weekend. I'm going to stop doing that. You notice the savings almost immediately. I eat pretty healthy during the week. The weekend, less so, and part of that can be attributed to alcohol. Cigs are nearing C$20 (about $18.50/$18.75 actually) here now and I smoke more than a pack a day with this remote working nastiness. There are cheaper options available but I won't go there. On the booze side, these days I have about 4-5 beer a day, the non-alcoholic type. They have developed quite a few good ones in my opinion. They're fine by me. I accidentally have had two mini-sips of "real" beer in the past year and a half. Both times I was surprised by how nasty the taste was. Also fine by me. I used to keep a bottle of Honey Jack Daniels in my freezer at all times. And it needed replacing very often. Ridiculously often. (Yes, I'm an alcoholic, no joke). I replaced that with sherbert at first and now lactose-free ice cream. Delicious. Whenever I wanted a shot of Jack I'd settle for some sherbert. I'm now addicted to ice cream. Another thing I have chnaged for the better is salt. At first I tried to cut it out entirely. That's practically impossible but I tried. I have resorted to use as little as possible, treating myself to an extra dash once in a while. I can really taste it when its there now. Sounds a bit boring but let me tell you, I feel a hell of a lot better now than I did 5 years ago. Maybe more than 10 years ago. If I keep going I'll have to find myself a spot in kindergarten when I retire.
|
|
|
Post by cousinlou on Mar 15, 2022 14:46:09 GMT
I turned 60 few weeks ago, so I guess, I should be starting to think about retirement. About time too, as I have not done that in any serious way ever before. I started working independently when I was 28 or so and for most of that period, I have not been building up any pension plan. I've always assumed I'd be financially safe by the age of retirement and found it ridiculous to spend a fortune on a private pension plan. Absurdly, I also thought it to undermine my confidence to get there.
What I do have inpension plans is accumulated from before. I just checked it and they'll be paying me EURO 700/month when I am 67, plus there'll be an additional EURO 1,000/month state pension.
With what I currenty do, and can continue to do for a long time if I manage to retain my customers, I can up that amount with about EURO 3,000-4,000/month.
That will be more than sufficient enough but I doubt I will be able to retain customers for that long. I have more competition these days with young companies that are all digital while my weekly report is only a little more advanced than sending missives by pigeon.I send a weekly PDF by email while the competition have all sorts of interactive functionalities online. Yes, I feel like a dinosaur from time to time.
When I started working an older guy once explained me why they way salaries work is all wrong. His rationale was you need most money when you have kids, but as its stands, you usually make more money once you've turned 45/50. He argued that companies should pay more when you had higher costs which they could then lower once some of these costs vanished. Of course he was from a generation where most people would work all their lives for the same firm. Anyway I always remembered this idea as it appealed.
I did manage to raise my kids in relative wealth, but I could have done better than fostering ridiculous thoughts that saving money and building a pension scheme was a kneefall.
|
|
|
Post by DarknessFish on Mar 15, 2022 15:18:44 GMT
I find it impossible to think about money, the future, retiring, it all seems like something that will just have to sort itself out. I won't hit the official retirement age for 20 years, and by that point I'm guessing the official retirement age will be have been raised to be another 10 years away. I have a decent-ish paid job and no debts, but when I get the yearly work pension letter through, it shows I have x thousands of pounds squirrelled away which could give me a monthly income of the square root of fuck all. The good thing to know is that I could pay more into it, struggle for years, and then either the stock market crashes or the firm goes bust, and the pension pot disappears into another crooked billionaire's backpocket and I'm still left to a life of prostitution to try and make ends meet. So fuck it, I'm going to trust to luck and blind optimism.
|
|
rayge
Administrator
Invisible
Posts: 8,822
|
Post by rayge on Mar 15, 2022 15:27:47 GMT
The circumstances of my life are so singular that I suspect my experience will be of no practical use to anybody. I was 25 when I got my first salaried job, and 30 when I quit my second, and last. Neither of them had employee contribution pensions, and if they had, I would have opted out. I have no use at all for contingency plans, or indeed any form of long-term planning, nor for insurance of any kind, as I simply do not trust financial institutions, think that gambling of any kind (including variable yield investment, stocks and shares, and so on) is a waste of soul and knew besides that I would inherit the house my dad died for before - if - I reached statutory retirement age of 65. Although I did not realise it then, all of the good things in my life have been the result of my making the right decision at a critical point, and for a couple of decades now I've learned to trust my reactions and not bother planning for the future. The unforeseen and unforseeable are always with us. My decision to quit work had its heart the sure belief that I valued my time far more than people were prepared to pay me for it. I could not understand then, and still find it odd today, to hear or to read about people saying that they dreaded retirement because they did not how they would fill the time. I've never had that problem, the reverse in fact. From the age of 30, I winged it, never on anyone's payroll again, never regretted it. Yes, I was 'fortunate' in not having any dependants, nor a mortgage, and that I was secure in the belief that I could run home to mother if things got realy bad (they never came close, but it was a help to know that the saftey net was there), and also that I'm not materialistic, and can not only survive, but thrive, on just a modicum of money and lots and lots of time (and dope, if available .
|
|
|
Post by sloopjohnc on Mar 15, 2022 16:18:35 GMT
Although I did not realise it then, all of the good things in my life have been the result of my making the right decision at a critical point And yet you're here.
|
|
Sneelock
god
Better than Washington...
Posts: 8,592
Member is Online
|
Post by Sneelock on Mar 17, 2022 21:13:33 GMT
DF, I'll keep you updated on the blind optimism approach. I'm 64 and I don't have a pot to piss in. luckily, I piss so frequently that a pot isn't really required. knock wood.
|
|
toomanyhatz
god
I've met him/her. He/she's great!!
Posts: 3,243
|
Post by toomanyhatz on Mar 17, 2022 21:30:51 GMT
I'm pretty much going to have to work till I'm 80. Hope my health holds out.
I WILL get Social Security and a pension, but my house payments will likely outlive me (we refinanced, so 29 more years of payments means...), so I can't imagine it'll be enough. Especially since I want to travel more once I'm working less.
Sloop's right that it's pretty much 'you're on your own' here - the lack of solvency in Social Security funding has been talked about for years, and probably everybody knows how fucked you are in this country if you have a serious illness or injury, even if insurance covers part of it. It's usually not enough.
Medical science has figured out how to help people live longer and longer, but the financial system seems to have no interest in catching up.
Umm...I guess this a gripe more than an answer. Sorry. But don't know if I know anyone - unless they're independently wealthy - who isn't at least somewhat worried about it.
|
|
toomanyhatz
god
I've met him/her. He/she's great!!
Posts: 3,243
|
Post by toomanyhatz on Mar 17, 2022 21:36:11 GMT
I should add that we'd be TOTALLY fucked if we hadn't bought a house. Best move we ever made. Worst-case scenario, if we have to sell it and move into a trailer park, we already have some equity built up.
I suppose at some point we could make a deal with someone to inherit the house upon our death with the condition of taking care of us till we die.
It could be worse, in other words. And we had good timing. Not sure we could even afford a 'fixer-upper' out here in the boonies anymore.
|
|
|
Post by souphound on Mar 18, 2022 1:07:42 GMT
... probably everybody knows how fucked you are in this country if you have a serious illness or injury, even if insurance covers part of it. It's usually not enough. I feel big time for you guys on that one for sure. I am so thankful in so many ways for our absolutely fantastic health system. Here, if you're in need of health services, they're there for free for all. You (or your insurer) have to pay for your prescriptions, but that's pretty much it. Of course there are some problems with access times for some services, and we do pay for the lot through our taxes (call it health care communism if you want), but just the knowledge of its availability is very satisfying.
|
|