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only thing was i was surprised the guest , who is a phd and acknowledged expert on this stuff said at the end spend your 401k first as ss is giving you 6 to 8% in return , which is not true as most of us know .
its zero until well down the road an increase is not a return.
but other then that i agree with what she said .
working longer is not our choice . its a choice determined by our employer , the economy , our health and the health of those we are responsible for .
most who claim they will work longer or until they drop , for one reason or another cant
if everyone thought of these things we wouldn’t have to discuss them .
but the financial world is filled with myth , old wives tales , misinformation and ways of doing things that modern research say are not the best ideas
I'm one who thought I would work longer, but as more and more friends and family have retired and are enjoying new adventures and a change of pace, leaving what has been a good career for me is something that I'll be doing in 15 months when I'm 65 and eligible for Medicare and a supplement as numbers look good for me for that (same standard of living as when I am working and some money to leave heirs most likely). I won't take social security till 67.
In my department though (IT), I have two co-workers who are both 73. So it does look like there might be the option to stay on. I'm sure though it's different for every person.
My mom retired the day she turned 62. She could have worked until 65 at least when she was Medicare eligible. She has some health issues, but nothing that would prevent her from working. If anything, not working has caused a lack of structure in her life to where she is doing less than ever.
Dad quit on the spot at 63. He’s been doing a couple of part-time things since. Several people quit with him on the same day.
Sometimes it’s obstinacy. I moved from TN to IA in 2012. Anyone with a pulse could find a job in IA - where we were in TN was a disaster. Even someone older could have probably landed something or other quickly because there was such a shortage of workers.
I agree there are lots of outside factors, but it’s not always health issues or aging out of the labor force that causes issues. Sometimes, it really is just self-inflicted.
we find the opposite . we need way more entertainment in retirement then consumed working .
with us time cost money and one thing we have is plenty of time .
we eat out more then ever being we are out more daily too .
our expenses for living are way more being retired then when we were consumed working daily.
most of my buddies retired from city or govt jobs early since after 20 years they can get a lower pension .
they figured they would get lower stress jobs .
well what they did is give up good paying jobs with good hours and benefits for lower end jobs .
they went into jobs they thought would be less stress and what they found is while they were off the radar at their old job as far as performance , now they were under the microscope of some grunt supervisor watching their every move .
they got crappy pay , little benefits and with no seniority they got the worst days and hours .
so they traded one stress for another.
so no one can generalize about expenses in retirement being higher or lower for others then working .
in fact our expenses are about to take a big jump as we become snow birds
so it depends what one wants from their retirement and what their budget is .
most of us back in to a life our budget supports .
for some they may hate the life or location they have to live . but it is what it is.
my dad was forced to leave nyc and move a thousand miles away to live a decent life .
his grand kids barely knew him as he was a stop over in a once a year or twice a year vacation
Last edited by mathjak107; 05-05-2024 at 01:44 AM..
I agree with what Ms Ghilarducci says about there being almost a 2-tier retirement reality in our country. I live in a community of about 5000 with many, many retirees, probably like 70% here are retirees, and even here in an upper middle class neighborhood of retirees there seem to be 2 classes. There are those for whom money isn't much of an issue, I mean it's never discussed at ALL by some folks, and there are a cohort that complains about our annual HOA fee increase of 5%. For many years 5% meant ~$5/month, and they would complain loud and long about a $5/month increase. I'm glad we moved to a lower COL state after we retired, as it has changed us from the latter group to the former. Had I stayed in northern CA, I suspect I would still be one of those howling about the annual increase. It is possible for people in some parts of the country to change their quality of life in retirement by moving. Obviously not everyone WANTS to move, and that's one of those choices where everyone has to look at their priorities and what they perceive as necessary vs. what they perceive as the desirable outcome.
While MJ's parents moved to increase their style of living in retirement, he laments their loss of closeness with his kids, but being able to afford the retirement you envisioned is important to them, and only they can balance that against the frequency of grandkid visits to judge how that affects their happiness in retirement. I have a great lady friend who is balancing this decision right now. She and hubby moved here to live in retirement because it provided such an improved lifestyle for their income, but now she is considering moving back to where her grandkids are, after 15 years here. She really wants to be near them as her need for an active retirement lifestyle wanes in her late 70s, so she's going to move back in a couple years. The lower COL here has set her up nicely to live on her savings for the last quarter. This could be a 2-phase retirement strategy for those who struggle with these conflicting priorities.
Last edited by TheShadow; 05-05-2024 at 08:18 AM..
we find the opposite . we need way more entertainment in retirement then consumed working .
with us time cost money and one thing we have is plenty of time .
we eat out more then ever being we are out more daily too .
our expenses for living are way more being retired then when we were consumed working daily.
most of my buddies retired from city or govt jobs early since after 20 years they can get a lower pension .
they figured they would get lower stress jobs .
well what they did is give up good paying jobs with good hours and benefits for lower end jobs .
they went into jobs they thought would be less stress and what they found is while they were off the radar at their old job as far as performance , now they were under the microscope of some grunt supervisor watching their every move .
they got crappy pay , little benefits and with no seniority they got the worst days and hours .
so they traded one stress for another.
so no one can generalize about expenses in retirement being higher or lower for others then working .
in fact our expenses are about to take a big jump as we become snow birds
so it depends what one wants from their retirement and what their budget is .
most of us back in to a life our budget supports .
for some they may hate the life or location they have to live . but it is what it is.
my dad was forced to leave nyc and move a thousand miles away to live a decent life .
his grand kids barely knew him as he was a stop over in a once a year or twice a year vacation
I expect that our entertainment/activity/travel/dining out expenses will go way up once we retire and start drawing on our retirement funds. But other big expenses like saving for retirement, helping the kids pay for college, covering car maintenance/insurance for the kids while they are in school, our mortgage payments, etc will be behind us.
no doubt once one isn’t raising a family expenses should be less .
but our kids were out for a decade when we retired so we were still working as a couple for many years so we saw once we were home daily we were spending far more then when we were stuck at work all day .
the kids were no longer part of that comparison.
travel , entertainment, eating out and bringing in increased big time , we wanted a more high end car so our car budget jumped a lot , we now have expensive long term care insurance premiums .
starting next year we want to be snow birds
so our budget easily exceeds the old working one
Last edited by mathjak107; 05-05-2024 at 08:46 AM..
I agree with what Ms Ghilarducci says about there being almost a 2-tier retirement reality in our country. I live in a community of about 5000 with many, many retirees, probably like 70% here are retirees, and even here in an upper middle class neighborhood of retirees there seem to be 2 classes. There are those for whom money isn't much of an issue, I mean it's never discussed at ALL by some folks, and there are a cohort that complains about our annual HOA fee increase of 5%. For many years 5% meant ~$5/month, and they would complain loud and long about a $5/month increase. I'm glad we moved to a lower COL state after we retired, as it has changed us from the latter group to the former. Had I stayed in northern CA, I suspect I would still be one of those howling about the annual increase. It is possible for people in some parts of the country to change their quality of life in retirement by moving. Obviously not everyone WANTS to move, and that's one of those choices where everyone has to look at their priorities and what they perceive as necessary vs. what they perceive as the desirable outcome.
While MJ's parents moved to increase their style of living in retirement, he laments their loss of closeness with his kids, but being able to afford the retirement you envisioned is important to them, and only they can balance that against the frequency of grandkid visits to judge how that affects their happiness in retirement. I have a great lady friend who is balancing this decision right now. She and hubby moved here to live in retirement because it provided such an improved lifestyle for their income, but now she is considering moving back to where her grandkids are, after 15 years here. She really wants to be near them as her need for an active retirement lifestyle wanes in her late 70s, so she's going to move back in a couple years. The lower COL here has set her up nicely to live on her savings for the last quarter. This could be a 2-phase retirement strategy for those who struggle with these conflicting priorities.
There are also those who will complain about anything and everything including the very slightest increase in fees, taxes and things of that nature, even if they can very well afford it.
I know a retired transplant here who acts like the world is going to end if there is the tiniest increase in any fees he has to pay. He owns a small business here, a farm in the county, an AirB&B and still has a million dollar plus home in CA. Both he and his wife have large pensions as well. Currently they are cruising for about a month and traveling in the U.S.
Sometimes those that complain the loudest are the most affluent, but unless you know them, you might assume they are hard up for money.
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