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Anybody else have no serious plans to save for retirement?
No serious plans here.... I'm saving so I can have FUN!!!! I'm saving so we can get in our car and travel, stay at decent motels and hotels and eat out, and not worry over every cent.
I'm saving so I can spend real time at the library poring over old newspapers looking for ancestral information, and to be able to spend the money getting copies of old documents (birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates).
I'm saving, so I can volunteer time at local pet shelters, and also so I can afford to take good care of my aging pets.
I'm saving so I can have $16 a pound filet mignon when I want, and not have to eat dog food.
And I'm saving so I can go to my local quilt store and buy what ever fabric I need for whatever quilt I want to make....
BUT, by the same token -- I'm enjoying right now. I'm still looking for and paying for copies of birth certs, if I can find them. I just spent 4K on a new sewing machine, because I love to quilt -- and it's a workhorse that will tide me over for 10 or more years.
And when I want filet mignon, I get it. And great lump crabmeat to make my own crab cakes. (You want to follow Mary Ann Esposito's recipe for crabcakes -- holy cow, they are GOOD....)
If you don't want to save, don't save. But why come here and act like we're the weird ones? Why try to start trouble?
Honey, the fable about the ant and the grasshopper is from ancient Greece.... this is something humanity has been struggling with forEVER. So I have a hunch maybe you think you SHOULD save, but aren't willing to make any "sacrifices" and don't want to see that you don't really have to sacrifice anything by saving for tomorrow.
I see no reason why I'd want to stop working at 60, serious health issues are dealt with by having health insurance and applying for disability if you do become disabled. Disability can occur at any point in your life.
Your reasoning is solid as far as it goes; I see only one flaw in it (and someone else already pointed this out). That flaw is the fact that if you apply for, and receive, disability, you will be living on very little money and I don't think it will be very pleasant.
OP you should ask those over 65 with no retirement savings if they regret not saving? My guess is that you would receive an overwhelming YES.
Yes, because the question is essentially asking people if they'd like to win the lotto. You'd get the same answer if you asked people in their 40's if they wish they saved more when they were in their 20's and 30's.
User,
Is your job sedentary in nature? You can't assume you won't get some chronic illness and will have to leave the workforce. 40% of working adults leave for disability and those checks are very small to try to live off.
My current work is not sedentary, but I would never plan on doing what I'm doing now when I'm 60. its not like you can really predict what sort of work is going to be around in 20~30 years anyways, the job market 30 years ago was a lot different than today.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nurider2002
I find it interesting that people assume they will have the option to keep working until the day they die. In in most companies interest to weed out older workers to save costs. Older workers tend to be paid more because of their experience and time served and, cost more in health care related expenses so, its in most businesses interest to get rid of older workers at a certain point.
I find it interesting that people assume that the only way to make a living is to get a job.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Texas User
What kind of work do you?
Originally, software developer. At the moment I'm self-employed and getting more and more involved with business.
If you don't want to save, don't save. But why come here and act like we're the weird ones? Why try to start trouble?
Hmm...how ironic. I don't know? Good thing I didn't suggest people saving for retirement our in any sense "weird", on the other hand many people have suggested all sorts of things about those that don't save for retirement.
Perhaps, you didn't read the OP but....it was asking if there is anybody else that doesn't care about saving for retirement.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallysmom
So I have a hunch maybe you think you SHOULD save, but aren't willing to make any "sacrifices" and don't want to see that you don't really have to sacrifice anything by saving for tomorrow.
To say it again, I'm not talking about saving in general but rather saving for the act of retirement. For example, the accounts one utilizes for this end can't be effectively used for other purposes.
Although I don't save much for retirement, I do have a liquid emergency fund with more than a years living costs, I save for health costs (in a HSA), and have other assets. I have no problem saving for the things I find useful, the issue is that I don't find the notion of retirement useful for myself.
Your reasoning is solid as far as it goes; I see only one flaw in it (and someone else already pointed this out). That flaw is the fact that if you apply for, and receive, disability, you will be living on very little money and I don't think it will be very pleasant.
I can be perfectly happy with little money, the disability payments I'd receive would be sufficient to support me.
Also, I do have some retirement savings from past employment and I'm sure there will be more in the future, but it will be no where near enough to support a traditional retirement.
Yeah, my Dad retired about a year ago at 73, he liked working, but said he was just getting too tired day in and out. I actually asked him about retirement this weekend and if he liked it and what it was like. He said you won't really know what its like until you pass 70, because he said he found his energy level dropped fairly significantly at about 70, and he is a very active man. I still expect to retire somewhere in my 60s...
I think this would be a reason to save up some. Would someone in this case be covered in disability? Just for being tired?
This might be one thing to consider as those of us who are younger don't know what it would be (and feel) like to be over 70.
I think as our health could potentially deteriorate, it might be a good idea to have an option to retire or semi retire at least.
I think this would be a reason to save up some. Would someone in this case be covered in disability? Just for being tired? This might be one thing to consider as those of us who are younger don't know what it would be (and feel) like to be over 70.
I think as our health could potentially deteriorate, it might be a good idea to have an option to retire or semi retire at least.
60 is the maximum age to apply for disability. Just being "tired" is not enough to qualify, there has to be some chronic medical condition contributing to the symptom.
Honestly, whe you look at those that are well to do-like Barbara Walters, Warren Buffet etc. these folks are old and they are still working. Maybe he has a master plan that will keep him happy and working. If so-more power to him
Well, I suppose if someone doesn't like work then retirement makes perfect sense. But for people that enjoy what they do, what's the purpose?
I liked my job just fine, but I wanted to travel without worrying about work priorities, or trying to plan a trip around co-workers' schedules, or trying to plan a trip to fit into a specific two or three week period of time. Moreover, I wanted to be able to pick up and go whereever and whenever I wanted without having to ask permission first. I also wanted to live in the adult playground that is Las Vegas rather than Wonk City, aka Washington, D.C., where I had been for 25 years.
For example, in a couple of months, my wife and I are planning to spend "summer" in South America. We will be visiting Costa Rica, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil. We'll be gone for about six weeks. That is just not something that we could have accomplished had we both still been working. Moreover, this is in addition to earlier trips this year to Italy and a domestic trip back to Maryland and D.C. Not to mention a trip next week to St. George, UT and Zion National Park.
I also enjoy getting up each day and knowing that the time is mine to do with as I wish. Yesterday I played poker for five hours and "earned" $1,132. (So maybe I do still have a part-time job! )
Now, unlike others, I am not going to try and talk you out of your no-need-to-save-for-retirement-because-I-am-never-going-to-retire frame of mind. To each his own. But you asked why someone who enjoyed their job would want to retire and I gave you my reasons.
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Just one flaw in the reasoning
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