Reply to Does everyone on DCUM max out retirement?

Forum Index » Money and Finances

Reply to "Does everyone on DCUM max out retirement?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]White collar employees planning on working forever are in for a rude awakening.  A layoff or firing after 47 or so is probably the end for your career, and especially if you're used to making a lot of money.  Plan for the worst; hope for the best.[/quote]

True true true. For myself, my husband, many cousins, friends, neighbors. People don't easily talk about this but dig a little deeper and you will see. We went from 300k to $200k and now both looking - DH is 50 and I am 46. Yeah.[/quote]

This exactly. Grew up in a family were person after person was laid off in their 50s, never to be re employed at the same level/salary that they were employed at earlier. And these were people in the STEM fields that DCUM covets so much. For me that's what lit the fire to start investing for retirement in full as soon as I graduated law school -- to the IRS max not just whatever an employer match may be. I've seen too many people say - they'll catch up on retirement -- after the kids are out of daycare; or after their college is funded; or after the kids are out of the house; or after they've graduated college -- only to be in their 50s when their kids graduate and as they turn their attention to their own retirement savings, there is a recession or they're laid off 2 years later never to land the same salary again. And this isn't just an engineering phenomenon, I've seen it in law, in finance, basically in any field besides medicine since practices value older/experienced MDs. I say plan as if you WILL be pushed out in your 50s. That way if you are and you can only land a 100k or 140k job after being at a 200 or 250k salary earlier -- you'll just have to use that 100k or 140k or whatever to live and not have to worry about retirement savings bc what you had previously put into your retirement savings for the first 25-30 years of your career will continue to grow.

And to the person say -- no white collar person retires. There's a difference between not retiring and not PLANNING to retire. If you want to work until you're 90 because you love your job so much, who am I to say you shouldn't. But plan as if you'll be pushed out in your 50s because unless you are self employed, there is no guarantee that your employer is keeping you for an additional 4 decades.

And to the person saying -- oh it's easy, everyone can consult. Let's not paint a rosier picture than reality. For every one person who goes out to consult and raises their HHI from 250k to 500k and kicks themselves for not having gone independent 2 decades earlier, there are at least 10 people who are consulting and bringing in 1 or 2 projects a year at a 75-100k HHI -- when they were previously making 150k+ -- oh and now they're buying their own benefits. For these people, it is SO much easier if their consulting work just has to cover their living expenses because their retirement principal was invested over the prior 25-30 years.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics