Financial experts suggest working until 70

[Dtail]

With the relocation, I meant relocating for the new job.

It sounds like it was something you would have done.

Oh sorry..
Yes indeed, i was looking for work in Boston, LA, Ohio and FLA besides my area where I lived, but to no avail.
I am truly not sure what I would have done next if I definitively needed to work.

 

[kcowan]

This led me to a myriad of calculators plus Bogleheads. Then stopped looking, so the discoveries and calculations "decided" for me and felt I can do this retirement thing NOW.
We were already cutting down our expenses for possible retirement at 62.
We relocated to FLA from HCOL in the NE. We already felt strong about moving to FLA, so not as big a decision that others would have about relocating.

I had the option of launching a new startup and decided that 7 years was more than I was prepared to commit. It is ironic that sometimes circumstances force a decision that turns out to be fortuitous! (It would have been an early competitor to Uber.)

It took us 5 years to stumble upon the low COL relocation. I struggled to keep the portfolio growing above market by trading during those years. So I was not really retired. Working from home.

When we discovered the COL in Mexico, I was able to go with a value-oriented passive dividend portfolio and still have lots of buffer. After ten years, we are into Blow That Dough!

(We seriously considered FLA but decided against it because we are Canadian. Plus being from PNW, we love mountains.)

 

[Dtail]

I had the option of launching a new startup and decided that 7 years was more than I was prepared to commit. It is ironic that sometimes circumstances force a decision that turns out to be fortuitous! (It would have been an early competitor to Uber.)

It took us 5 years to stumble upon the low COL relocation. I struggled to keep the portfolio growing above market by trading during those years. So I was not really retired. Working from home.

When we discovered the COL in Mexico, I was able to go with a value-oriented passive dividend portfolio and still have lots of buffer. After ten years, we are into Blow That Dough!

(We seriously considered FLA but decided against it because we are Canadian. Plus being from PNW, we love mountains.)

I believe many Canadians come here for the winter to play golf.
Is there an anti Canadian vibe in FLA, or a different reference?

 

[aaronc879]

70? maybe if you have a cushy office job. I will have a hard enough time working until late 50's or so doing hard labor after 3 hip surgeries including a total hip replacement.

 

[Bigdawg]

Yup.
I imagine being a Stanford researcher at 70 is a whole lot more feasible than being a 70 year old mason.

The few older mason's I know (three, aged late 50's and two in early 60's) started the daily grind grunt work at a young age. By age 40 give or take all three had their own business and were only laying brick/block maybe 10-20% of the time. By 50-55 they weren't laying any brick/block but were watching their much younger crew do all the hard work. Isn't that the way it is suppose to work? I worked hard turning wrenches on the flight line until my early 30's. Now it is all office work getting paid about three times as much. If you start a grunt job in your 20's and you are still working that same grunt job in your late 50's/early 60's, you are foolish. Most people move up the ladder. The store cleark/cashier moves up to assistant manager, then manager, etc... The young mechanic after a few years runs the shift then maybe becomes a Quality Assurance rep, etc... We learn/progress from birth to age 18-22 then what? We just stagnate and stay in the same grunt job until we are 70?

 

[aaronc879]

The few older mason's I know (three, aged late 50's and two in early 60's) started the daily grind grunt work at a young age. By age 40 give or take all three had their own business and were only laying brick/block maybe 10-20% of the time. By 50-55 they weren't laying any brick/block but were watching their much younger crew do all the hard work. Isn't that the way it is suppose to work? I worked hard turning wrenches on the flight line until my early 30's. Now it is all office work getting paid about three times as much. If you start a grunt job in your 20's and you are still working that same grunt job in your late 50's/early 60's, you are foolish. Most people move up the ladder. The store cleark/cashier moves up to assistant manager, then manager, etc... The young mechanic after a few years runs the shift then maybe becomes a Quality Assurance rep, etc... We learn/progress from birth to age 18-22 then what? We just stagnate and stay in the same grunt job until we are 70?

Very few factory, mill, warehouse jobs have the type of upward mobility your describe. Nearly all will do the same heavy labor type job their entire career. Maybe 5% or less will move into a supervisor/manager position.

 

[MRG]

Very few factory, mill, warehouse jobs have the type of upward mobility your describe. Nearly all will do the same heavy labor type job their entire career. Maybe 5% or less will move into a supervisor/manager position.

+1
I spent 10 years in sawmills and logging. Even when I had a management position I was expected to fill in. Had to teach the newbies how to lift properly and run chainsaws. I was also qualified in the mill as a lumber inspector, if there were no qualified production workers available I would fill in. Green lumber sucks! Maybe 10-30K board feet, you physically handle daily, sometimes multiple times. On a good day that's probably 250,000 pounds some of it 200 pounds apiece or more.

There was an older guy, I was hired to replace when he retired. They didn't put him on the line, he couldn't do it anymore. He did small dry pieces of walnut.

Honestly if I'd stayed past my 20's I wouldn't have been able to hold up past 40-50. That's being optimistic, one bad move and you're out for a long time.

 

[aaronc879]

+1
I spent 10 years in sawmills and logging. Even when I had a management position I was expected to fill in. Had to teach the newbies how to lift properly and run chainsaws. I was also qualified in the mill as a lumber inspector, if there were no qualified production workers available I would fill in. Green lumber sucks! Maybe 10-30K board feet, you physically handle daily, sometimes multiple times. On a good day that's probably 250,000 pounds some of it 200 pounds apiece or more.

There was an older guy, I was hired to replace when he retired. They didn't put him on the line, he couldn't do it anymore. He did small dry pieces of walnut.

Honestly if I'd stayed past my 20's I wouldn't have been able to hold up past 40-50. That's being optimistic, one bad move and you're out for a long time.

I work in a union paper converting company. Everything is based on seniority so most of the older people choose the least physical jobs but there aren't enough for all the 50+ workers. If you can't do your job they can't just put you on a easier job. You have to get restrictions from a doctor saying you can't perform certain things. If YOU say you can't do it but your doctor doesn't give you restrictions then you are out of luck. You either do the job(painfully) or you quit/get fired.

 

[gerntz]

What is their criteria for "financial expert"?

 

[Bigdawg]

Very few factory, mill, warehouse jobs have the type of upward mobility your describe. Nearly all will do the same heavy labor type job their entire career. Maybe 5% or less will move into a supervisor/manager position.

of course we call all give examples to support either position. We also know that careers are limited in many parts of the country (rural WV as an example). I just don't buy the excuses. Too many examples of people who worked for and "got out" of those depressed areas. Show me someone who is 50-60-70 and working in a rough job (construction, mason, logging, etc...) and I will look back on their life and point out to you things they could of and should have done differently. Many times things happen that get someone stuck in that life/career. Divorce, family member health issue, etc... I understand that. I remember a close friend of mine snickering when I told him that I joined the military. Ten ranks later and a nice pension check and he is is awe. He actually said "wish I would have joined with you". My 67 yr old neighbor started in the mail room. He is doing just fine. Don't know the exact size of his stash but to support what he has it has to be mid 7 figures.

 

[meierlde]

Note that the mason example cited involves starting a small business, and as noted running the business. This is of course possible in a large number of trades in construction, and repair. Note that the days of manual carrying things up ladders are dieing out due to the number of folks with back injuries. You can add a hoist to a scaffold to get materials to where they are needed. Also in the case of masons there are now brick laying robots, the only question is are the economical?

 

[kcowan]

I believe many Canadians come here for the winter to play golf.
Is there an anti Canadian vibe in FLA, or a different reference?

No, we spent a month each year after retirement, one on the east side and one on the west side. But, at the time, the estate laws were onerous for resident aliens (that have been fixed since). At that time, only $60k was protected. A lot of our friends go to Palm Springs and Scottsdale to golf and play tennis.

We bought in Mexico in 2007 and the estate law was not fixed until 2011. COL is higher in Florida:
Compare Tampa to PV

 

[Dtail]

No, we spent a month each year after retirement, one on the east side and one on the west side. But, at the time, the estate laws were onerous for resident aliens (that have been fixed since). At that time, only $60k was protected. A lot of our friends go to Palm Springs and Scottsdale to golf and play tennis.

We bought in Mexico in 2007 and the estate law was not fixed until 2011. COL is higher in Florida:
Compare Tampa to PV

Okay that's good. Decent diversity where I live, so good to hear no negative reason.
We seriously considered Mexico, but would have to be full time and just couldn't pull the trigger.
Hope to have long visits though.