Early Retirement & Financial Independence Community - View Single Post - Scott Burns on "retirement income realities"

SteveR · 05-01-2007, 11:17 AM

I am wondering if the drop in income is more an artifact of generational income differences than a true reduction in income over time; which is what many folks are reading into the table. A retired couple age 80+ are going to be from the late Great Depression era and will have had (relative) lower incomes than those who have recently stopped working at age 50ish.

My parents retired at 65 and lived on a small pension and SS. Their income before retirement was twice that of their retirement income but was never over $40k (combined) up to their retirement. My brother and his wife and me and my wife had combined incomes more than twice my parents combinded pre-retirement income.

I don't doubt the reduction in expenses over time as I have seen it first hand with my mother and my long term projections on expenses also reduce in steps over the next 30+years. Our income will adjust to meet our expenses so our income will also reduce as we age. Health issues might adjust this higher but with medical insurance the out of pocket expenses would still not create a large income need to fund the expense.

My $0.02

05-01-2007, 11:17 AM	#18
SteveR Moderator Emeritus Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 2,674	I am wondering if the drop in income is more an artifact of generational income differences than a true reduction in income over time; which is what many folks are reading into the table. A retired couple age 80+ are going to be from the late Great Depression era and will have had (relative) lower incomes than those who have recently stopped working at age 50ish. My parents retired at 65 and lived on a small pension and SS. Their income before retirement was twice that of their retirement income but was never over $40k (combined) up to their retirement. My brother and his wife and me and my wife had combined incomes more than twice my parents combinded pre-retirement income. I don't doubt the reduction in expenses over time as I have seen it first hand with my mother and my long term projections on expenses also reduce in steps over the next 30+years. Our income will adjust to meet our expenses so our income will also reduce as we age. Health issues might adjust this higher but with medical insurance the out of pocket expenses would still not create a large income need to fund the expense. My $0.02 __________________ Work? I don't have time to work....I'm retired.