What are you (and others) going to do about retirement?

[Jenny in GA]

I know this is a silly (and somewhat nosy) question, but I have wondered it many times, and the thread about "underemplyment" made me think about it again.

 

I keep hearing that people in their forties and fifties these days have hardly anything in a retirement fund. Who knows, maybe this is an exaggeration, or a misleading statistic.

 

But if there is any truth to it .... what is going to happen in thirty years??? Will these people (and will that be most of us?) be ... what? Living on the streets? All living with our grown children? Working as cashiers when we're 80? All of the above? What will this do to American society at large?

 

And if you don't mind sharing -- What, if anything, do you have saved for retirement? And if you don't have much saved, what, if anything, are your plans?

 

Jenny

[amy g.]

We have a retirement account, but we plan on giving other money to the kids each year after they turn 18 (for tax purposes). My goal is to transfer as much wealth to them as I can before I actually die.

 

We would like to have a multigenerational home here. There are ways that Dh and I can help with farming, cooking, and grandkids even when we are old. That would help us and help our children.

 

I think that lifestyle could benefit the entire family.

[Michelle in AL]

We have some saved. Probably enough to live off of for 2 yrs. That won't get us far though.

 

We also own 1/2 a business/building and hope to sell it for a good chunk of change. We're lucky in that way. That should fund a good part of retirement.

 

We're very lucky we have the business. It causes us to live very frugally now though paying the overhead.

 

If we didn't have those I think we would be working until we're 80. If the business/building go to pot we'll probably be doing that too.

 

I think it's pretty common for older parents to live with children in other countries, I think that's where we're headed too.

 

And to answer your question, I don't think people have saved enough for retirement and many probably haven't saved at all.

[MotherGoose]

I don't know the exact sum, but we are where we should be for our age. We are blessed with a better-than-adequate income. But that doesn't necessarily matter for lots of folks I don't think. Friends with similar incomes don't have much saved because they have too much house, too many/too nice of cars, too many "toys." etc. We have always made saving a priority--pay yourself first. When income increases, lots of people ramp up their spending to match. I drive a 8 yo car and have no plans for a new one. Can't do that--need to ramp up their saving. My husband and I are both savers by nature. I think lots of people could find more to save if they'd cut off the cell phone, get rid of the new cars, toys, etc--based on folks I know that haven't saved enough. Both of my in-laws will rely on social security because they have nothing saved, and their lack of employment is definitely based in part because of their choices and behaviors. Now I know there is a recession and that's not everyone's problem. But they had these problems years ago.

[Daisy]

We put about 16% of our income into retirement every year. We should be doing more because hubby won't draw social security (CA teachers don't pay into ss).

[Tabrett]

I'll admit it.....I don't know. I don't work so I can't save. Dh has work at so many jobs that don't offer retirement. The retirement we did have which wouldn't even get us through a year, we cashed out to pay bills when dh lost his job and we had looming medical bills. We don't make enough money to save for retirement....much less get caught up to where we be at our age.

 

I'm seeing myself as a Wal-mart greeter. I'm not trying to make a joke.

 

We may have some inheritance. I greatly depend on that possibility.

[MindyD]

We have a 401k, dh will get retirement from the military, plus he's just started a civil service job that also has retirement benefits. I actually feel pretty good about where we are. I also would like to have a multi-generational household. If families can get along, I think it's a great situation for everyone. I would be willing to have my parents or mil live with us (okay, mil IF she can have plenty of her own space!). I know a couple of families that look at their home as their retirement. I guess they plan on selling the property one day? Not sure how that works.

I do think our idea of retirement has become skewed. I can't imagine NOT working at something, even when I'm older. It seems like so many people really decline health-wise when they quit working, and I wonder if the two aren't connected somehow. Anyway, a little off topic... :)

[kokotg]

This is one area where being a teacher (or being married to one) has its benefits (pun intended). 5% of DH's pay is whisked away before we ever see it, and if he sticks with it for 30 years, he should get a decent non-stock market dependent pension. I've heard that about SS and teachers in some states, Daisy....we definitely pay SS here, though. We also have a whole life insurance policy that DH's grandfather bought for him when he was 3....it has a nice cash value right now, and if we manage to hold onto it (i.e. we don't have to cash it out for an emergency at some point and, you know, DH doesn't die and we don't get the money that way) it will be a very nice chunk of change eventually. We're lucky that we have that stuff going for us, because saving money aside from that is pretty tough at the moment (and for the foreseeable future).

[Gwenhwyfar]

i have no idea...

 

up until the past couple of years, we didn't have enough income to ever save anything - and now that we do, dh is more interested in what can be done done/gotten *now* than saving for way in the future. i can't really say much; it's not me earning it.

[Alenee]

Our plan 13 years ago was pretty good. We were putting money into retirement, we had some stocks, and the real estate market was great. Buuuuuut...the retirement is gone and the stocks are no more. Because we married young, (I was just turning 20 yo) and had our first child 18 mos later, I will only be 43 yo when my youngest dd graduates hs. I plan to start going back to college in a few years, slowly earning my bachelors of science in nursing.

 

At that point, I hope to get a job and plan to put everything I make into savings. And hopefully, sometime before then, we can begin to put money into retirement again. As it is now, we made some poor decisions financially and then had a lay-off and underemployment for a year. We are still trying to make ends meet. There isn't anything for us to save right now. But my hopes are not dashed! I like the pp's idea of the multi-generational home. ;)

[Suzanne in ABQ]

I know this is a silly (and somewhat nosy) question, but I have wondered it many times, and the thread about "underemplyment" made me think about it again.

 

I keep hearing that people in their forties and fifties these days have hardly anything in a retirement fund. Who knows, maybe this is an exaggeration, or a misleading statistic.

 

But if there is any truth to it .... what is going to happen in thirty years??? Will these people (and will that be most of us?) be ... what? Living on the streets? All living with our grown children? Working as cashiers when we're 80? All of the above? What will this do to American society at large?

 

And if you don't mind sharing -- What, if anything, do you have saved for retirement? And if you don't have much saved, what, if anything, are your plans?

 

Jenny

 

My dh gets a retirement pension from the military (half of his salary at retirement). We also have several retirement accounts (Roth IRAs and 501K). He can do consulting jobs for the government way past retirement age (as long as there is a space program). Our house will be paid off in 7 years, and we will be debt free. We have health insurance for life (again, through the military). We are comfortable with our retirement plans.

[athena1277]

We will probably have to work til we die. Unless our kids have pity on us and take us in.:tongue_smilie:

[dirty ethel rackham]

We don't have a lot in our retirement fund - most of what we put in was before kids when we were both working in our careers - at least not as much as many people in this area. We took a 2/3 pay cut for me to stay home (that sounds like a lot, but I was a consultant in software design making nearly double what dh made at the time.) Dh makes decent money as a civil engineer now that he is in management, but for years, he was paid about 20% less than others with similar education/experience since he works for a government agency.

 

He didn't stress about retirement too much because he has a pension. However, it is the most underfunded pension in the country since our state government has been borrowing from it to fund their pork projects and not making their payments to the fund in years. My husband has been paying his share, though.

 

Due to health issues, I have not been able to add much to the family income and we have had hire help in some areas. We hope to make that change. We are not where we would like to be, but we try not to worry and just take thing as they come.

[Parrothead]

We are underfunded at the present time. I'm hoping that we will have purchased a house and a bit of land and have it paid off prior to dh retiring. At that point we won't need as much in retirement. We also will start putting money into several types of retirement funds by the beginning of 2011.

 

We have a retirement account, but we plan on giving other money to the kids each year after they turn 18 (for tax purposes). My goal is to transfer as much wealth to them as I can before I actually die.

 

We would like to have a multigenerational home here. There are ways that Dh and I can help with farming, cooking, and grandkids even when we are old. That would help us and help our children.

 

I think that lifestyle could benefit the entire family.

Do you have any information about multigenerational households? I've tried looking online but haven't found anything useful.

Edited September 16, 2010 by Parrothead

[TravelingChris]

We will have over 50% of dh's current salary as his first retirement. How much it will actually be depends on when he finally does retire from the AF. Once he does, he will probably get a job that pays abut the same amount he gets today or even more. We will have only one child to finish putting through college and I think we will do fine. We have money in some mutual funds but nothing specifically set aside for retirement other than his actual retirement. Depending on who he ends up working for, he may get another retirement check. We recently got his SS letter than told us how much we would get if he died and we were very pleasantly surprised. I think that if SS pays out anything, we will end up getting quite a bit from them too but we aren't really counting on that.

[....]

We have restarted our retirement account and my husband has a job with a pension. I'm going to have my in-laws live with us...they're in their early 60's, have very low income, don't have health insurance, no retirement/pension, etc.

 

We also follow the Dave Ramsey plan...so we should not have any debt in our mid/late-forties.

[Cera]

We have decided that dh will stay in the military for a minimum of 8 more years to secure his pension (pay at a minimum of 50%) and health care for life for both of us. We also have IRA's and put 10% of his pretax income into what is basically a 401K.

 

I handle the money and have found it much easier to save if everything is automatically deducted from his pay before we ever see it. It doesn't feel like it is available money to spend that way.

[amy g.]

When we bought our house, we intentionally bought a one story with a master on each end of the house. It would work well for two families. We plan to pay it off before we turn 60.

 

I also have some money put away that I could just add to our retirement fund, but instead, I want to use it to remodel our house making it even more desirable us to stay here and have at least one child and her family to live here with us.

 

I want to add a screened in sleeping porch, and stone floors throughout, enlarge the kitchen, finish the 3 car garage for a school room, and the attic for a play room. that will add quite a bit of square feet, which I think will be helpful.

 

My older girls help me a lot, and I would like to help them with meals and childcare when they are mothers. My husband would like nothing more than to be close to and spend time with his grandchildren every day. If we could help them out and also provide them with financial security, I think everybody can win.

 

It makes more sense to invest in them than to just stockpile money that will be heavily taxed when I die. With 5 children, I think at least one of them will want to stay........but maybe we should have one more to be on the safe side.

[Jennifer in MI]

We put about 16% of our income into retirement every year. We should be doing more because hubby won't draw social security (CA teachers don't pay into ss).

 

I didn't know that! Interesting!! My dh and I have opted out of Social Security as a pastor. Makes me a little nervous sometimes. But, I just don't think it's going to be there.

 

Anyway, dh's pension upon retirement is 80% of his salary. So, we need to make up only 20%. But, we still set aside 10% into a retirement account. Plus, we have a couple other investments. Because we'll have our house paid off by then (easily), we're not too worried.

 

I know that it could all fall apart. But, I figure, if I own my house outright, we'll be able to be okay. I also have LOTS of life insurance, long term disability, etc. I feel okay about where we are.

[Barb_]

We've always saved the maximum but when the stock market tanked it took a lot of our savings with it. I sort of joke that I am our retirement fund. Once the kids are older and I go back to work, all of my income will go for retirement. The much touted benefit of compounding interest won't be working in our favor, however, but every little bit counts. If that doesn't work we have 7 children. They won't allow us to starve.

 

Barb

[Jennifer in MI]

We've always saved the maximum but when the stock market tanked it took a lot of our savings with it. I sort of joke that I am our retirement fund. Once the kids are older and I go back to work, all of my income will go for retirement. The much touted benefit of compounding interest won't be working in our favor, however, but every little bit counts. If that doesn't work we have 7 children. They won't allow us to starve.

 

Barb

 

My mom always said that she was our life insurance. My parents never had enough to invest. My mom stayed home with us. If dad died, she could use her Master's degree and earn enough for the family. Luckily, that was never tested.

 

Dh and I always joke that our smart kids will keep us out of poverty when we're older!! LOL

[Liz CA]

We'll be working until we drop. Unless we make a fortune inside of a few years, we will not retire and I am not sure I would want to either.

[Barb_]

My mom always said that she was our life insurance. My parents never had enough to invest. My mom stayed home with us. If dad died, she could use her Master's degree and earn enough for the family. Luckily, that was never tested.

 

Dh and I always joke that our smart kids will keep us out of poverty when we're older!! LOL

 

Yeah, we've decided they're going to have to pass us around. 7-8 weeks with each kid every year. Seriously, I know there are a lot of others around our age in the same boat. We also lost every bit of equity in our house (80-100K) when real estate fell. I don't think about it much though, so I'm either at peace that it will all work out or I'm having serious denial issues :tongue_smilie: