"Retirement Crisis"? What retirement crisis?
- Thread starter Nords
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mickeyd
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I wonder where these many retirees live? ...and what brand of cat food they would recommend.
Airstream in the desert, halfway to Vegas.
...or with their kids. My neighbors have his Dad living with them. Didn't save a dime, CAN'T READ ( how does somebody born in this country not learn to read?), and is 70 years old. But he's worked for construction companies all his life, collects decent Social Security, and does odd jobs for supplimental income. Even pays rent to them to help with the mortgage, and watches the dogs when they go away on trips.
Not everyone is lucky enough to have family, but I bet the majority of cases are like the above.
...or with their kids. My neighbors have his Dad living with them. Didn't save a dime, CAN'T READ ( how does somebody born in this country not learn to read?), and is 70 years old. But he's worked for construction companies all his life, collects decent Social Security, and does odd jobs for supplimental income. Even pays rent to them to help with the mortgage, and watches the dogs when they go away on trips.
Not everyone is lucky enough to have family, but I bet the majority of cases are like the above.
[quoteDidn't save a dime, CAN'T READ ( how does somebody born in this country not learn to read?), and is 70 years old.[/quote]
It's not that hard, especially for earlier generations. My father was orphaned at 6 years old -- middle of the depression -- in rural Texas. He was lucky to wind up in a Catholic orphanage where they DID teach him to "read, write, and cypher." But even that didn't last long -- he got TB in 7th grade and was shipped to the Texas State sanitorium. That was the end of his formal education right there.
Siblings who were just a few years older were farmed out... literally, to work the cotton fields or clean other people's houses. They were all smart and hard-working, but never made much money or got much education.
When I'm feeling cranky about my lot in life I think of my Dad's limited opportunities, and that gets me over it pretty darned quick.
It's not that hard, especially for earlier generations. My father was orphaned at 6 years old -- middle of the depression -- in rural Texas. He was lucky to wind up in a Catholic orphanage where they DID teach him to "read, write, and cypher." But even that didn't last long -- he got TB in 7th grade and was shipped to the Texas State sanitorium. That was the end of his formal education right there.
Siblings who were just a few years older were farmed out... literally, to work the cotton fields or clean other people's houses. They were all smart and hard-working, but never made much money or got much education.
When I'm feeling cranky about my lot in life I think of my Dad's limited opportunities, and that gets me over it pretty darned quick.
Telly
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Thanks for the link, Nords.
I found this quote from the article quite odd:
"A survey from Boston-based Financial Research Corp. planned for release this month shows that 61% of the baby boomer respondents said they spend one to eight hours a month planning for retirement, while 39% spend one hour a month or less. The survey was of 648 boomers."
I think the poll respondents answered with what they figured they ought to be doing, rather than what they actually were doing!
I know I didn't spend that amount of time before the event that lead to my EER! Furthermore, none of my peers did, either. Sure there were a few market timers always buzzing about the latest new method of timing, but I would hesitate to call any of their actions "planning for retirement"
I found this quote from the article quite odd:
"A survey from Boston-based Financial Research Corp. planned for release this month shows that 61% of the baby boomer respondents said they spend one to eight hours a month planning for retirement, while 39% spend one hour a month or less. The survey was of 648 boomers."
I think the poll respondents answered with what they figured they ought to be doing, rather than what they actually were doing!
I know I didn't spend that amount of time before the event that lead to my EER! Furthermore, none of my peers did, either. Sure there were a few market timers always buzzing about the latest new method of timing, but I would hesitate to call any of their actions "planning for retirement"
Jeb-NY
Recycles dryer sheets
How many hours a month does it take?
You setup to max out your 401K contribution, write a check once a year for your ROTH and pick a few good funds to DCA in automatically every payday to supplement the 401K and Roth. Increase what you save every year as your salary increases and maybe tweak AA once every few years and live on what's left of your salary.
Seems like if you spend to much time on the process it becomes your hobby and you end up chasing rainbows.
Jeb
You setup to max out your 401K contribution, write a check once a year for your ROTH and pick a few good funds to DCA in automatically every payday to supplement the 401K and Roth. Increase what you save every year as your salary increases and maybe tweak AA once every few years and live on what's left of your salary.
Seems like if you spend to much time on the process it becomes your hobby and you end up chasing rainbows.
Jeb
bssc
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It will be interesting to see how the baby boomers retire since we seem to need more and more toys.
Mr. Chard's comment that " "Between mortgages and real estate values, people are trying to buy more with less; they're not set for retirement" seems to be to be saying that people can't save because real estate. I though real estate was supposed to be an investment.
Mr. Chard's comment that " "Between mortgages and real estate values, people are trying to buy more with less; they're not set for retirement" seems to be to be saying that people can't save because real estate. I though real estate was supposed to be an investment.
Running_Man
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The article contends that retirees ill-prepared is overblown. Then in the article they admit they only were looking at individuals planning for their retirement over the internet. This is hardly a worthy look at the well being of future retirees. How can you attempt to refute common perception that most are not prepared by excluding those that have done nothing?
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