Everyone I know is laid off by age 55

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is why so many older teachers are holding on. It’s not that they can’t do anything else. It’s that no one is hiring 55 year olds in any field.

Don't say that. 65 year old CPA looking for my one last gig.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^yep, financial plan is to retire before 59. If we can still get work, we will. But, we assume that we will stop in a few years. We hope to have about $2.6mil in just retirement accounts in about 3 to 4 years. Our mortgage is smallish (less than $200K), no other loans. College will be funded to about $140k per child.

Do you mean 2.6m each?

[Anonymous]

I work in market research and yes, there's age discrimination because certain customers don't want an "old" person telling them what younger demographics want (like the desirable 18-35s).

[Anonymous]

I didn’t know 55 was the magic number, but I’ve been worried about it since I neared 40. Saved a lot and aimed for early retirement. House will be paid off in a few years. Savings amount is good.

Health insurance is the main issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t know 55 was the magic number, but I’ve been worried about it since I neared 40. Saved a lot and aimed for early retirement. House will be paid off in a few years. Savings amount is good.

Health insurance is the main issue.

I am in the same boat as you where health insurance is the main issue and I've saved a lot and lived below my means. I'm the poster from above who works in market research. My DH works in sales, where obviously there is less certainty overall (most of his earnings aren't guaranteed) and age discrimination is an issue, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^yep, financial plan is to retire before 59. If we can still get work, we will. But, we assume that we will stop in a few years. We hope to have about $2.6mil in just retirement accounts in about 3 to 4 years. Our mortgage is smallish (less than $200K), no other loans. College will be funded to about $140k per child.

Do you mean 2.6m each?

$140k per child. Is that a joke. My two kids are in out of state - state schools with merit aid in 2021 and all in costs around $150k each for a degree.

I’d they went Syracuse, Villanova, Fordham or Gerorgetown be more like 300k a kid.

Fordham is tell parents with kids in middle school to have 400k saved for college each kid!

[Anonymous]

I wasn’t in high risk high reward IT career. I am out at 52. So don’t feel secure that only those are affected by ageism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t know 55 was the magic number, but I’ve been worried about it since I neared 40. Saved a lot and aimed for early retirement. House will be paid off in a few years. Savings amount is good.

Health insurance is the main issue.

What are your ages and your NW. if you are still working with all those savings then you can pay for health care out of pocket for 10 yrs right…not ideal but still.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^yep, financial plan is to retire before 59. If we can still get work, we will. But, we assume that we will stop in a few years. We hope to have about $2.6mil in just retirement accounts in about 3 to 4 years. Our mortgage is smallish (less than $200K), no other loans. College will be funded to about $140k per child.

Do you mean 2.6m each?

$140k per child. Is that a joke. My two kids are in out of state - state schools with merit aid in 2021 and all in costs around $150k each for a degree.

I’d they went Syracuse, Villanova, Fordham or Gerorgetown be more like 300k a kid.

Fordham is tell parents with kids in middle school to have 400k saved for college each kid!

For one thing, kids can go in state. For another, kids can take out a loan for the difference. That would $40K when they graduate. That's not *that* much.

There is absolutely no way I am paying for $400k college degree. The kid can go to community college for two years, then transfer, if needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^yep, financial plan is to retire before 59. If we can still get work, we will. But, we assume that we will stop in a few years. We hope to have about $2.6mil in just retirement accounts in about 3 to 4 years. Our mortgage is smallish (less than $200K), no other loans. College will be funded to about $140k per child.

Do you mean 2.6m each?

$140k per child. Is that a joke. My two kids are in out of state - state schools with merit aid in 2021 and all in costs around $150k each for a degree.

I’d they went Syracuse, Villanova, Fordham or Gerorgetown be more like 300k a kid.

Fordham is tell parents with kids in middle school to have 400k saved for college each kid!

For one thing, kids can go in state. For another, kids can take out a loan for the difference. That would $40K when they graduate. That's not *that* much.

There is absolutely no way I am paying for $400k college degree. The kid can go to community college for two years, then transfer, if needed.

In state is like 120K at university of Maryland right now for a four year degree. It doubles every 10 years. Your 11 year old senior year alone will cost 60K. Kids cant take out a 40K loan Very limited loans they can take out. PLUS loans parent is on the hook for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^yep, financial plan is to retire before 59. If we can still get work, we will. But, we assume that we will stop in a few years. We hope to have about $2.6mil in just retirement accounts in about 3 to 4 years. Our mortgage is smallish (less than $200K), no other loans. College will be funded to about $140k per child.

Do you mean 2.6m each?

Not sure if that was me but based on recent calculations and projections, we should have more like $3mil+ combined when DH hits 59.

We have private health insurance now. It is expensive, but we don't have any other huge loans. PITI is like $2200 or so. We've run the numbers with our financial advisor who thinks this is totally doable.

As for college, $160K per child is fine for in state. If my kids want to go out of state, then they will have to get a loan for the difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^yep, financial plan is to retire before 59. If we can still get work, we will. But, we assume that we will stop in a few years. We hope to have about $2.6mil in just retirement accounts in about 3 to 4 years. Our mortgage is smallish (less than $200K), no other loans. College will be funded to about $140k per child.

Do you mean 2.6m each?

$140k per child. Is that a joke. My two kids are in out of state - state schools with merit aid in 2021 and all in costs around $150k each for a degree.

I’d they went Syracuse, Villanova, Fordham or Gerorgetown be more like 300k a kid.

Fordham is tell parents with kids in middle school to have 400k saved for college each kid!

For one thing, kids can go in state. For another, kids can take out a loan for the difference. That would $40K when they graduate. That's not *that* much.

There is absolutely no way I am paying for $400k college degree. The kid can go to community college for two years, then transfer, if needed.

In state is like 120K at university of Maryland right now for a four year degree. It doubles every 10 years. Your 11 year old senior year alone will cost 60K. Kids cant take out a 40K loan Very limited loans they can take out. PLUS loans parent is on the hook for.

My kids are HS aged. Not worried about the loans. We also have a lot of equity in the house, and a bit of inherited money that is just enough to pay for college (but not much else).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^yep, financial plan is to retire before 59. If we can still get work, we will. But, we assume that we will stop in a few years. We hope to have about $2.6mil in just retirement accounts in about 3 to 4 years. Our mortgage is smallish (less than $200K), no other loans. College will be funded to about $140k per child.

Do you mean 2.6m each?

$140k per child. Is that a joke. My two kids are in out of state - state schools with merit aid in 2021 and all in costs around $150k each for a degree.

I’d they went Syracuse, Villanova, Fordham or Gerorgetown be more like 300k a kid.

Fordham is tell parents with kids in middle school to have 400k saved for college each kid!

For one thing, kids can go in state. For another, kids can take out a loan for the difference. That would $40K when they graduate. That's not *that* much.

There is absolutely no way I am paying for $400k college degree. The kid can go to community college for two years, then transfer, if needed.

This works only if the community college is of good quality. It worked well back in the 80s but today’s community colleges are often underfunded. My friends’ kids have struggled to get the necessary prerequisite courses for transferring to a four-year college. The ones they got are not of the same quality as the ones at the four year. Better plan is to go for merit aid or qualify for an athletic scholarship the family makes too much to get sufficient financial aid.

[Anonymous]

529s are way overrated. Just keep saving in the brokerage account to maintain flexibility and if it comes to it just cash flow the college costs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wasn’t in high risk high reward IT career. I am out at 52. So don’t feel secure that only those are affected by ageism.

Same here. Booted at 50. Salary was not high, $155k. Been a year. Not even close.