Retirement

[Miss Bea]

I’m noticing good ideas on retirement in a thread on personal loans. Both my husband and I are retired. On not a lot of money, by the world’s standards. We have our Social Security, some union retirement funds for both of us, and he bought land to sell for our retirement. And it has worked. We should not care much when we are bare bones, in our 90’s! 

No morgage, land taxes are there, but not bad. 

We also both  have 401k’s that are not impressive, but for us, nice. 

We both can do what is important to us. 

Are there plans or ideas you’d like to share? 

Edited January 11, 2019 by Miss Bea

[GrumpysWife]

@Miss Bea Are there plans or ideas you’d like to share? 

 Don't make any loans. They are bad for your budget. 😙

[Krusso]

I am contributing for my 401 K Plan, the max that is matched by my employer. So 10% of my annual income goes to that account. Besides ss contributions I am obliged to contribute to a pension plan. We re financed our house for 15 years to match with my early retirement (62) if the law does not change. Since the houses where I live are more expensive than the national average, we will be able to buy a smaller house in Florida in 15 years if this system lasts. If it does not, and hopefully wont , we do not have to worry about it. The worse scenario is to move to another country where the cost of living is lower and does not have a high crime rate. I moved from a different country already. Moving again would not bother me as long as it is warm and sunny. All the countries in that classification need help in the English field. And there are safe and cheaper countries close to US. Panama and Costa Rica are only two examples. There are websites for retirees that want to move to more affordable places. I checked  a few already. Anyway compared with the rest of the planet , being in US is not bad at all.  

[Sheep]

Well I'm retired too. It's been a year now, although I still work as a replacement from time to time if someone wants a day off. I never wanted to stop completely. I'm not in the US though, so no 401k's here. We have RRSP's (registered retirement savings plan), which look roughly the same. Even if I wasn't still working once in a while, I still think the Canadian government treats us retirees well here. Of course, I still have to watch my expenses and stay out of debt (so far I'm succeeding), but I'm mostly comfortable. Thank you for bringing up the subject @Miss Bea.

[trottigy]

I'm saving up, but Deb and I are 2 to 7 years away - depending on how well we save. For us the key is having the house paid off first. Half of our expenses are related to the mortgage and with it gone we should be ok. 

[Miss Bea]

We built the house we live in. It’s been a long job, but, we don’t owe anyone. I shop resale shops as much as possible. I know how to stretch money. From days gone by...

We don’t really travel, though, my granddaughter is heading for Germany to go to a university, and my daughter would like me to come and see her before she leaves. They live in Canada. 

I have a good service car, enough money to take care of my needs, and a bit to share. 

With the system as tenuous as it is, I’m feeling that we should be is in a situation where, if the need be, we can pay off anything we owe from money we have. Right now, there is a bit on my car, and my husband just bought a new truck. He’s good with money, and, it is close to being paid off. 

I used to hope Jehovah would retire with the systems end. Now, all I want to do is live to see it! 

[Tortuga]

22 hours ago, trottigy said:

I'm saving up, but Deb and I are 2 to 7 years away - depending on how well we save. For us the key is having the house paid off first. Half of our expenses are related to the mortgage and with it gone we should be ok. 

Think about seeing a fee based financial adviser, they may have some suggestions on the best way to reach your goal. I saw an adviser to ensure I was preparing for my retirement and found out that I could retire several years sooner than I had planned. I'm glad I talked to him! 

[Krusso]

Just to add to the topic, I am working up a case of a teacher in my state. The person worked 18 years and the salary used in calculation was $ 72,138.66. The monthly benefit is $ 2.621.03. Meaning his salary is reduced to less than 50% of what he used to make. This is actually a little better than social security. If am not mistaken your income will be slightly above 1/3 of your last salary. It is a great stimulus to simplify. Anyway you do not have another option.