What's retirement look like for you?

[treestarfae]

Will you be broke? Happily traveling the world sans kids?

[Laura Corin]

Well..... it mostly looks distant.  Husband's income is a small fraction of what it was a few years ago.  We will both carry on working until at least our late sixties, probably longer if we can still get jobs.  We are lucky in that we have an (accidental) rental property that provides a small income.

 

So - supporting ourselves, I hope, but not travelling the world.  We've done that though, so no regrets.

 

L

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

Not broke but not traveling the world.

 

I do want to add my personal retirement will be no cooking. Maybe an occasional meal but it will be far and few between.

[Pawz4me]

Our plan is to downsize to a smaller house or townhouse and travel the U.S. and Canada in our RV.  Right now the only real obstacles are medical/insurance costs and the housing market.  But at least the housing market is beginning to show signs of improving.  We'd really like for the value of our house to go back up before we put it on the market.

[Chris in VA]

We are blessed to be an Episcopalian clergy family. We get a healthy pension. House will be paid off, but I don't want to live there, so we'll be looking around for where to live. (Currently we live in a rectory but get an equity allowance so we use it towards our own house in the Northern Neck of VA.)

[Halcyon]

Retirement???? What's that?

[DawnM]

DH, the accountant, has it all mapped out.

 

In some ways I regret quitting my job.  I got a healthy retirement with health insurance.   I worked for 16 years, but some of those were part time, do I think I have credit for about 13 total.   I need 20 min. to get the full benefits.  However, we would need to move back to CA for me to work there to get them.

 

But DH says we will be fine with his retirement.

[Mommyfaithe]

Retirement???? What's that?

My parent never retired. My mom started a business in her 50's. Dad joined her in her venture when he turned 62. They worked together every day until he got sick and passed away at 83. I think he stopped working 6 months before he passed. His favorite line was " when you lay down, you stay down" He firmly belived working was good for the soul and he luved his advice. They loved what they did, had a large circle of friends and kept busy, busy, busy. They never really got old....even though my mom was 82 when she passed, and dad was 83.

 

I would hope dh and I will be able to sell his plumbing business and perhaps start a new venture which is less stress involved.... Or one of our kids will take over our business and we can still begin a new venture. Financially, we have almost no real liquid retirement funds, but we do have some properties which could be sold or rented. I am hoping we could move out of our current behemoth money trap house and into an apartment or town house in town so I do not have so much grounds work to do. Working in a community garden or back porch gardening would fulfill my gardening needs.

 

I also plan on spending time with my kids and their lives. We seem so disjointed right now. I am still raising young ones and my twenty year olds are busy building their lives. It would be nice to spend some real quality time with them and rebuild the close relationships we had while they were home and homeschooling.

 

 

 

I would also like to go back to school and study just for the heck of it.

[Heather in Neverland]

I will be 62 by the time all my kids have graduated college. After that I would like to go into full time mission work. I would go nutty if I didn't have something to keep me busy. I will work in some capacity until the end.

[Night Elf]

Oh my, we're going to be such boring retired people. DH has a retirement fund so we should be okay financially. He'll be retiring in 10 years. We're not the traveling type of people, so I really don't know what we're going to do with ourselves.

[Rosie_0801]

I've decided to become a senator rather than be broke. 

[Pawz4me]

there is no college aid for families who have 401ks rather than pension.

 

As far as federal need-based aid (FAFSA), qualified retirement accounts such as IRAs and 401Ks aren't considered when determining a family's EFC.

 

I *believe* that schools who use the CSS profile may take parents' retirement savings into consideration when calculating student aid.

 

Our kids won't qualify for need-based aid.  But that's because of DH's income and because we have substantial assets that aren't protected (i.e., aren't in qualified retirement accounts).

[Wheres Toto]

I'd love to do the RV traveling around the country.  Dh is 13 years old than me so when I"m 55, he'll be 68.  So if we are really lucky, I'll get to retire early and we'll be able to afford some adventures.

 

I just returned to full time work and I plan to retire from this company, if possible.  I have no desire to search for a job again, and I have great benefits, great salary and it's a decent place to work in other ways, plus close enough to home for me to go home on lunch.

[edelweiss]

If we live long enough to see our children graduate college and be out on their own, we will likely start traveling a lot.  DH would like to start spending 3-6 months each year visiting various places in Europe.  He has his own company and will likely flex his schedule based on what we want to do.  Not sure when DH would actually retire.

[Ottakee]

Well, we don't know as our retirement funds are not likely going to be enough to really keep us going even though we are debt free. Also, with 3 special needs kids we will most likely have 2 or all 3 still living with us.

 

What I would LOVE to do would be part time mission/charity work and do some traveling. Things like to go Florida for a few months and volunteer at Make A Wish village and then maybe head up north for the summer and help out at a youth camp or continue our work with foster care to some degree.

 

Then again, I want to keep horse back riding and having horses at home and traveling widely just don't mesh well.

[Ripley]

I retired at 37.  I homeschool and volunteer in the community, we travel and my finances are comfortable and steady.  My pension disappeared a few months after I retired, but I have investments and spousal support.  I'll also have a portion of my ex-husband's pension (if it's still around) and retirement funds once he retires. He's eligible at 44 but plans to work until at least 50, which is when our youngest will either graduate or otherwise be escorted off of the family dole. 

 

We'll spend our 50s tooling around - traveling, family, hobbies - then get back to work at some point with a simple low-stress jobs that give us somewhere to go and some pocket money.  I want to water the plants at Home Depot and he wants to walk dogs LOL. We plan to be involved grandparents, as involved as the kids will have us.  Whether that's free caretaking or just showing up for baseball games and dance recitals.

 

If ever I need to return to work, I had a career that would be relatively easy to break back into. 

[Susan in TN]

Not broke but not traveling the world.

.

Same here. Actually, I'm guessing we will be in better financial shape at retirement than we are now assuming ALL our kids are not dependent on us. :D I have skills that lend themselves to post-retirement income so if I am in good health and can get free-lance work, we might be able to afford some travel.

[alef]

Spending as much time with grandkids as possible! I've already done my traveling, I'm hoping dh will be able to do a bit more with the kids when they are teenagers. We won't be rich but unless the stock market totally crashes and our 401K savings go poof we should have a moderate nest egg.

[Murphy101]

Non existent. With the exception if exactly 3 people, everyone I've ever known has worked til they dropped. I don't think it realistic to think it will be any different for my dh and myself.

[Mommyfaithe]

Non existent. With the exception if exactly 3 people, everyone I've ever known has worked til they dropped. I don't think it realistic to think it will be any different for my dh and myself.

I am REALLY trying to think of this as a good thing...as long as we don't drop too early. Lol!

Work is a good thing...it keeps people young and viable. Play is a good thing too....all things in their place.

 

I am Truly trying not to be bitter about the hand of cards we were dealt, and then how we played them. It is difficult when you learn that you really were dealt a crummy hand, and then played the wrong cards anyway....but, que' cera!! Here we are, and I am bound and determined not to stress over the inevitable, or get bitter and shriveled. Life is to lived and enjoyed no matter what the circumstance. I plan to not waste another minute worrying about dropping dead....that will happen when it happens....hopefully while I am doing something that makes me happy.

 

Oh,Ii hate these threads...I am not sure why I open them....they make me feel bad about my own life....oh,I i retired at 25 and am financially stable, have a lovely trust fund from Daddy ...life is a peach pie.

 

I hate the " how many degrees do you have?" threads too....they make me feel like a dumb@ss....lol!

 

I never realized I was so petty!

 

Ok...staying out of financial and aren't I the smart cookie threads from now on.....

 

Learn something new about myself every day!! LOL!

[Aspasia]

My dh loves working. I don't see him retiring before he turns 70. Of course, he's only 30 now, so I guess you never know. Whenever we do retire, we plan to travel a little bit, maybe 2-3 big trips a year, and otherwise enjoy our kids and grand kids.

[BigMamaBird]

My Dh has a pension through his work, so God willing and the creek don't rise, we should be able to live comfortably.  Not extravagantly.  He projects that we'll be getting about what we're making now.  So adjust for inflation and assume the house is paid off, we'll be okay.

[*lifeoftheparty*]

DH was military and is now federal government; technically he can retire at 55 and get a (smaller) pension, but he'll probably work until at least 65 and get the full pension. We'll have the pension payments and TSP savings to live off of, and possibly rental income from the house we are in now, that we plan to rent out in a few years. And hey, if it's still out there, we'll get SS- but I'm not holding my breath.

 

I don't worry about retirement. As long as the government doesn't collapse :-/ we'll be fine.

 

Right now, I don't ever plan on going back to work, but I'm open to the possibility that I might want something to do when the kids are out of the house. I could see myself being very happy working at Whole Foods :) But I could also work for the government if I had/wanted to.

 

We are doing lots of domestic travel now, while we have kids, and I fully intend to do lots of international travel when our kids are grown.

 

*I* would love (LOVE) to get an RV and spend the winters at the Fort Wilderness campground at Disney World when we retire. DH says no way is he spending 3 months at Disney World- but I've got 33 years to wear him down ;)

 

So, that's what retirement for us looks like- BUT, I'm only 32, and I realize all kinds of stuff could happen between now and then ;)

[Luckymama]

I lost both my parents in the last years. My portion of their estate means that we will be fine financially, with dh's earnings and our own savings, until at least 95. Dh is a CFP and runs our scenarios once a month.

 

Yes, we are now well-off after years of dh building his business and watching every single penny. I would give it all back to have my parents here.

[Murphy101]

I don't think I'm bitter. I do get very angry and frustrated at a society that refuses to pay living wages to the majority of its citizens while admonishing the same citizens to save for retirement, healthcare, put kids through college and and and.

 

Working in and of itself doesn't upset either of us.

[Kari C in SC]

We own 7 rental properties. Hopefully, we will pay them off in roughly 10 years. Wanting to add one or two more during that time. Once they are paid for, my dh will retire. He may go work part time at Lowes because he loves that type of thing. If it goes as planned, he will be about 53 and I will be 52. I say we need to add another rental or two so we do have travel money. While this all sounds grand and great... It came at a price. We invested our son's life insurance into rental properties. Without his gift to us, this would not be possible. We started with that and grew it to more. With the hopes of selling houses back to our younger kids at very low prices and then being able to take them and their families on trips. When it is all said and done, I hope some day to be able to tell my grandchildren that their Uncle Timmy helped give them these gifts.

[ChocolateReignRemix]

We are private industry workers. There is no retirement w/pension and healthcare, just 401K..Obamacare will be taxing our investments at a rate higher than inflation starting in 2014, and there is no college aid for families who have 401ks rather than pension.

 

The bolded makes no sense for a variety of reasons.

[lllll]

..

[sunnyday]

just 401K..Obamacare will be taxing our investments at a rate higher than inflation starting in 2014

 

If you are talking about the 3.8% Medicare tax that will kick in for 2013 starting with the April 2014 tax deadline, that is a tax on investment *income*, and it applies only to couples with adjusted gross income (that's after pre-tax deductions like health care costs and retirement contributions) above $250k. So if you sell stock for a gain, or earn a dividend or bond coupon that is *not* in a protected 401(k) or IRA, then (assuming it's a long-term gain) instead of paying something like 28% of that income as you'd do for regular salary, you'll pay 15% + 3.8%.

 

I'm sorry if this is affecting your retirement plans. :( You might want to talk to your accountant about better tax-managing your investments, so that you don't incur capital gains outside of tax-advantaged accounts like your 401(k).

[Murphy101]

The bolded makes no sense for a variety of reasons.

No it doesn't but it's not uncommon even now to see similar situations. For example, many banks are changing more in fees than the low interest the account gets. To the point that sometimes a client is literally paying them to take their money when it comes down to end result. Begs the question of why use the stupid bank when you make more off your money leaving it in a mattress.

 

For many, they don't have much choice now that many employers are refusing to pay except as direct deposit or debit cards (with fees for usage of course), which I think should be illegal. Not that anyone cares what I think.

[ChocolateReignRemix]

No it doesn't but it's not uncommon even now to see similar situations. For example, many banks are changing more in fees than the low interest the account gets. To the point that sometimes a client is literally paying them to take their money when it comes down to end result. Begs the question of why use the stupid bank when you make more off your money leaving it in a mattress.

 

For many, they don't have much choice now that many employers are refusing to pay except as direct deposit or debit cards (with fees for usage of course), which I think should be illegal. Not that anyone cares what I think.

Those are not similar situations to what Heigh Ho described, with the difference being that the banks are providing various services for those fees AND that consumers do have a variety of options when dealing with banks.

 

I agree that the bolded is an issue, but paying by check when someone does not have a bank account also creates a burden due to check cashing fees.

 

[ChocolateReignRemix]

Non existent. With the exception if exactly 3 people, everyone I've ever known has worked til they dropped. I don't think it realistic to think it will be any different for my dh and myself.

 

Wait.  In your entire life, you have not known more than 3 people who retired?  I am not sure I buy that, as I grew up in a less than affluent area and have known many who have retired over the years.

[Murphy101]

Not necessarily. Some banks have a flat fee just for having the account. Even if it's $5 a month, that can be more than any interest they would earn even if all they do is put the money in and don't touch it again.

 

But anyways... I'm not looking to argue the point. I was simply noting that yes, stupid interests and fees that discourage what used to be smart money management do not make sense.

[Murphy101]

Wait. In your entire life, you have not known more than 3 people who retired? I am not sure I buy that, as I grew up in a less than affluent area and have known many who have retired over the years.

I'm not asking you to buy it or not. :/

 

But that's what I know. My dh has a set of grandparents that retired and one of the grandparents on the other side semi-retired. That's it. I don't know anyone else that has ever retired. My dad has one foot in the grave and still isn't retired in his mid 70s. We've paid his property taxes this year bc he couldn't make enough to cover it.

 

I know some who were retired from whatever job (usually not by choice), but that doesn't mean they can retire. All of them still need to work, preferably full time or their "retirement" is actually disability because they can't work. And many of them aren't making it very well. They sure don't think they have retired.

[SKL]

We might be broke because we're traveling the world now.  ;)

 

I honestly don't know with confidence.  So much can happen with the economy, tax policy, health, family.  Then again, it might never feel like time to stop working.

 

When I picture retirement, I picture myself being lucky enough to wake up when I want, read what I like as I sip my coffee and listen to lovely music, enjoy my backyard, put a little time into my health, enjoy a little soul-nourishing travel, hopefully see my kids and grandkids and not lose my eyesight, hearing, or memory.  ;)

[Soror]

I hope to do a lot of traveling but to live close to at least some of my kids and see them often. I think we'd like to continue working but to be able to do volunteer work or work we really enjoy on our own time table.

[ChocolateReignRemix]

I'm not asking you to buy it or not. :/

 

But that's what I know. My dh has a set of grandparents that retired and one of the grandparents on the other side semi-retired. That's it. I don't know anyone else that has ever retired. My dad has one foot in the grave and still isn't retired in his mid 70s. We've paid his property taxes this year bc he couldn't make enough to cover it.

 

I know some who were retired from whatever job (usually not by choice), but that doesn't mean they can retire. All of them still need to work, preferably full time or their "retirement" is actually disability because they can't work. And many of them aren't making it very well. They sure don't think they have retired.

 

You must live in a very small pocket of the country that is completely different than national demographics.

 

[Susan in TN]

Oh, I nearly forgot about the pension that dh is eligible for.  As he has been notified, it will amount to about $27 per month.  In 20 years, we'll be able to have an extravagant meal at McDonalds with that small fortune!  :lol:

[G5052]

Oh gosh, no idea.

 

A lot depends on the finances of course, and there is way too much unpredictability. I could be in a bad way, or I could be sitting pretty. Or somewhere in between.  My dream would be some work (because I enjoy my paid gigs), some travel.  I could see moving to a smaller place.

 

Homeschooling will be over in less than five years, and that is my first milestone.  I plan to continue working and doing more volunteer work then.

 

[Parrothead]

Retire? I don't see that happening. I'm just now back in school and have rejoined the workforce (part time). I'll be looking at graduate school in 3 years then on to a new career. Dh has to retire from his current job at 57. He is back in school also. At 57he will start a new career working for himself. He will need to do quite a bit of traveling. We will probably spend summers together traveling outside the country. But the rest of the time we will be working.

[LucyStoner]

We've both been saving for retirement since we married at age 21. We started with some of the money we were given as a wedding present.

 

Our sizable retirement accounts are not a consideration in my husband's financial aid for college now so whoever said that their 401k would bar their children from financial aid is misinformed.

 

We are still 30 years from a low average retirement age so it is hard to say what it will look like. I do know that barring the unforeseen we will not draw down or dip into our retirement accounts. We've managed to get through job loss, illness and family death without going there so far. That said who knows what will happen to the markets in the period just before we retire and who is to say that we will be of able body. Anything could happen.

[Venia]

No clue. I have a pretty great job that I hope to stay at until that time comes (most likely forced rather than voluntary). I have good benefits and a nice pension building up that should not leave me utterly broke in my old age. That said, my DH stopped working about 5 years ago to be a stay home parent and we lost most of his 401K in the stock market crash. He is 18 years older as well. I worry about caring for him as he ages as well as assisting our two children as they become adults. Im not seeing retirement as an ultimate goal at all. I am happy now; supporting my family and being successful and productive through my work and raising kiddos. I've never aspired to travel or live out any grand experiences, so I plan to just take each day as it comes.

[Myeightkiddies]

I'm already retired from my career.  Full retirement won't happen until I am much older as my youngest is only 6.  My husband and I would like to find a group of friends to travel with once my son gets older.  Financially, we usually invest in real estate, houses and land.  We'll rent the houses and sell the land once it increases in value.  We've done this for over 20 years. Stay busy, mainly.

[elegantlion]

I've had my retirement, if you can consider homeschooling and parenting retirement. Like Chucki, I'm back in school, will finish a BA about age 50 or 51. Hopefully I can go for my MA and find a job in my field that requires some travel. Ideally, I'd like to relocate to a different region of the country. 

 

Quit work and retire? IDK if ever. 

[Um_2_4]

Well, I have let's say 15 years of homeschooling left. DH will retire from his primary job in 5-10 years. After that he will most likely take consultant jobs as he would like, which means he will be traveling and that is fine with me. As it is now having him home disrupts our school work :laugh: .

 

When I finish homeschooling, I hope to be busy helping with grandbabies/visiting DC. We might travel some, more if DC end up needing to travel to find work, etc. 

 

Baring the complete collapse of the US Govt (which would imply a whole other host of issues), we will be fine financially. Living large, no. Able to help kids get a start, yes hopefully.

[Liz CA]

We will be working till we drop but it's not a burden if you are doing something you love.

[Joanne]

There is no retirement for me. I will have to work until I can not work anymore.

[MomtoCandJ]

What's retirement?? Ok joking aside I really don't think we will have much saved. We plan on selling our home, buying an RV and traveling (which we are hoping will be cheaper). We are not depending on social security for retirement. We were told in school that we probably won't have it, that we are paying in for our grandparents and maybe parents.

[Murphy101]

You must live in a very small pocket of the country that is completely different than national demographics.

 

*eyeroll*

 

Knew I shouldn't have bothered.

[Guest]

I'll be 65 when little ds is 21. I already have trouble finding work and mostly do "odd jobs" under the table now, after having been fired for obviously age-related issues and seen the dismissive comments that employers use to avoid being sued.

 

I'm okay with being poor, but I don't like the thought of the loss of autonomy that might come with moving into a son and daughter-in-law's spare bedroom if I can't afford to rent my own home or don't have the physical strength to maintain it.

 

I'm very glad that I already travelled when I was young and I encourage my children to do so as well. My grandparents planned on travelling when they retired, but his kidneys failed and she fell and wound up with a chronic back injury so it never happened.