interesting article on retirement

[Anonymous]

will it exist? probably. in its current form? incredibly unlikely.

they have to make tweaks to it to make it financially feasible in the future, unless you think it is reasonable for 50% of your children's paychecks to go toward SS and Medicare.

It was never intended to be as large as it is or used for as long as it is (life expectancy). And with the the Boomers retiring? Yeah, it's about to get ugly.

[Anonymous]

retirement at 50 is a scam and only the a hole boomers will slurp that down without feeling guilty.

[Anonymous]

wait, where did we say people were retiring at 50? the only person I knew who could do that was my uncle who was in international investments for his career and made millions.

my dad "retired" at 55 from the schools, but went on to get a part-time job, which he recently was let go from in favor of someone younger with no experience. He hasn't been able to find anything since - no one wants to hire anyone in their 60s who they might have to pay more than the minimum for.

Welcome to the new economy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nobody retires if all they have is $7,000 a year plus social security. Those folks live with their kids and work until they drop.

My ILs retired on $500,000 almost 20 years ago. They have almost that much left in their nest egg. My MIL thinks the concern about retirement savings is way overblown. I say it's because she's happy living on $36K a year. I'm the first to say that that is not my idea of retirement. At all.

Do they own their home? My parents probably have about that, but they own their home and car, no debt at all. They don't live hand-to-mouth by any means (cruises every other year, home decorating, eating out). Both get SS and Medicare.

Yes, they own their own home and car, no debt. I guess I just don't get how a couple can afford cruises on 40K a year. Maybe part of it is that their taxes, utilities, food bills, etc. are all much lower than ours?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Um, people! Half of US households make under $50,000 a year. Forty percent make under $40k. Twenty percent under $20k.

Assuming the $50k folks can retire on an income of $40,000 (80 percent of pre-retirement income) and that there will be two recipients of SS at $15k a piece, they will have an income of $37k - pretty close to $40k.

Yes, it's "unheard" of in DC to to live on so little, but Half of the United States DOES!

Yes, we live in a bubble here!

One important retirement assumption is that you want to maintain a certain living standard. In fact you can retire on much less, if you curb your spending commensurately.

http://catosdomain.com/?attachment_id=9643

Okay, stepping off of my box now. It baffles me why folks don't get this.

We own our home outright. It's worth a bit more than $700,000. Our county and town taxes are $9,800 a year, so if we had $35K to work with, 30% of it is gone to real estate taxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One important retirement assumption is that you want to maintain a certain living standard. In fact you can retire on much less, if you curb your spending commensurately.

http://catosdomain.com/?attachment_id=9643

Okay, stepping off of my box now. It baffles me why folks don't get this.

Why in the world after busting my hump for 40 years would I want to retire and live on much less? I spend most of my money on daycare, retirement and college savings and groceries for teenage boys. When do I get to live?

[Anonymous]

Why in the world after busting your hump for 40 years would you want to continue working for the rest of your life just to be able to buy a latte every morning?

Once you eliminate child-related expenses, college savings, retirement savings, mortgage and health care (since you're on Medicare), you can live pretty well on a LOT less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One important retirement assumption is that you want to maintain a certain living standard. In fact you can retire on much less, if you curb your spending commensurately.

http://catosdomain.com/?attachment_id=9643

Okay, stepping off of my box now. It baffles me why folks don't get this.

Why in the world after busting my hump for 40 years would I want to retire and live on much less? I spend most of my money on daycare, retirement and college savings and groceries for teenage boys. When do I get to live?

No one is telling you to live on less - just that some people do live on less. You can live on whatever retirement you have saved. If that is a lot - awesome.

[Anonymous]

Do people really get by on just Medicare? Don't most have supplemental insurance and have to pay for medications and stuff? I'm just saying, I don't think health expenses go to zero. They may drop, but not go away entirely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do people really get by on just Medicare? Don't most have supplemental insurance and have to pay for medications and stuff? I'm just saying, I don't think health expenses go to zero. They may drop, but not go away entirely.

As far as I know - people have (or would like to have) supplemental insurance. Although some companies are getting rid of this benefit for their retirees.

[Anonymous]

Medigap coverage doesn't cost that much, and as long as you choose the right Medicare drug coverage plan (the one that covers the drugs you take) Rx are very cheap.

[Anonymous]

We own our home outright. It's worth a bit more than $700,000. Our county and town taxes are $9,800 a year, so if we had $35K to work with, 30% of it is gone to real estate taxes.

You can sell your home, and buy a $150,000 home in West Va, still own it outright, and pay $1,500 a year in real estate taxes. And have more $ to retire on. No one is MAKING you live in your $700,000 home. It's YOUR CHOICE to live in a high cost of living area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why in the world after busting your hump for 40 years would you want to continue working for the rest of your life just to be able to buy a latte every morning?

Once you eliminate child-related expenses, college savings, retirement savings, mortgage and health care (since you're on Medicare), you can live pretty well on a LOT less.

You still need Medigap insurance. We net $218,000 a year. Living on $36 a year, even with social security, medicare and not saving for college or retirement, would mean a huge drop in SOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We own our home outright. It's worth a bit more than $700,000. Our county and town taxes are $9,800 a year, so if we had $35K to work with, 30% of it is gone to real estate taxes.

You can sell your home, and buy a $150,000 home in West Va, still own it outright, and pay $1,500 a year in real estate taxes. And have more $ to retire on. No one is MAKING you live in your $700,000 home. It's YOUR CHOICE to live in a high cost of living area.

Is that really a great retirement? To live in this area with so much free stuff to do and little time to do it, between work and raising kids, and then move to W. VA, where there's much less to do, especially if one is not the outdoorsy type?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We own our home outright. It's worth a bit more than $700,000. Our county and town taxes are $9,800 a year, so if we had $35K to work with, 30% of it is gone to real estate taxes.

You can sell your home, and buy a $150,000 home in West Va, still own it outright, and pay $1,500 a year in real estate taxes. And have more $ to retire on. No one is MAKING you live in your $700,000 home. It's YOUR CHOICE to live in a high cost of living area.

Is that really a great retirement? To live in this area with so much free stuff to do and little time to do it, between work and raising kids, and then move to W. VA, where there's much less to do, especially if one is not the outdoorsy type?

There are other less expensive places. West Virginia is not the only one. You could even downsize here in the DC area. I'm definitely planning to look around for a cheaper area when I retire.