Goofy Retirement Plans

[Chuckanut]

I think we have all heard retirement plans from other people that just make us shake our head in disbelief. Well, I have two that I heard of that struck me as down right goofy.

The first was simple. My ex neighbor spent every penny he ever made. His plan was to inherit his parents collection of gold coins, sell them, and live off of the proceeds. He has been overjoyed for the past few years as gold has gone up and up and up. Until a few weeks ago, when his parents informed him they have been selling off the gold coins, little by little, to pay their retirement expenses. Apparently it never occurred to him that his parents might need the money themselves.

The second is also interesting in that so far it is working! An acquaintance had nothing approaching retirement except for his SS checks. However, he is a great conversationalist, has a warm personality, and is a 'silver fox'. He found a woman in another part of the country who has a paid for house, her deceased husband's ample pension, and some other savings. After several flights back and forth across the country to meet and spend time with each other they married (in less than 3 months.) According to him, she lets him keep his SS money and spend it anyway he likes, while she provides him food and shelter, and their car.

 

[flyfishnevada]

My aunt always thought she'd inherit my grandmother's money and never really planned for much else. She died in her late sixties a few years back, ironically enough in my grandmother's house, and my grandmother is still going strong at 96. The way my grandmother set up her trust, my aunt's kids won't get a dime, either.

My friend's mom retired on SS, and about a hundred thousand from the sale of her home and business. She doesn't own a car or a house and lives half the year in India with her master (she's heavily into new age spirituality stuff) and half the year in a kind of commune here in the States. I don't get it, but it works for her.

 

[tmm99]

My friend's mom retired on SS, and about a hundred thousand from the sale of her home and business. She doesn't own a car or a house and lives half the year in India with her master.

For a second, I thought you were referring to her husband as her "master".

 

[W2R]

I think we have all heard retirement plans from other people that just make us shake our head in disbelief. Well, I have two that I heard of that struck me as down right goofy.

The first was simple. My ex neighbor spent every penny he ever made. His plan was to inherit his parents collection of gold coins, sell them, and live off of the proceeds. He has been overjoyed for the past few years as gold has gone up and up and up. Until a few weeks ago, when his parents informed him they have been selling off the gold coins, little by little, to pay their retirement expenses. Apparently it never occurred to him that his parents might need the money themselves.

Oof!! Yet another example of why counting on an inheritance is not a good practice, generally speaking. Had he not counted on that inheritance, he would have saved some of that money and he would have his own retirement nestegg.

The second is also interesting in that so far it is working! An acquaintance had nothing approaching retirement except for his SS checks. However, he is a great conversationalist, has a warm personality, and is a 'silver fox'. He found a woman in another part of the country who has a paid for house, her deceased husband's ample pension, and some other savings. After several flights back and forth across the country to meet and spend time with each other they married (in less than 3 months.) According to him, she lets him keep his SS money and spend it anyway he likes, while she provides him food and shelter, and their car.

I think a lot of single men have thought of this plan and I also think it often works. At first thought it seems as though a retired woman would be fooling herself if she went along with it. On the other hand, people have been fooling themselves for centuries.

I would suspect that this "silver fox" strategy isn't limited to men, and some women have this retirement "plan" as well. When one is retirement age and dating, it does seem to be reasonable for each partner to expect the other to have the means to support themselves.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I would suspect that this "silver fox" strategy isn't limited to men, and some women have this retirement "plan" as well.

The Sugar-Daddy/Sugar_Mamma hunt goes on for many. And it's not limited to retired people.

But, it seems that for many, that's their retirement plan - Find a sugar_daddy.

 

[braumeister]

I would imagine there are a great many unusual retirement plans. This is one I always have to shake my head when I read about it:

The Gentlemen Host Program - volunteer dance hosts for cruise lines

 

[Packman]

I would imagine there are a great many unusual retirement plans. This is one I always have to shake my head when I read about it:

The Gentlemen Host Program - volunteer dance hosts for cruise lines

I can't even imagine how many of these guys land a sugar-mama, in short order. Heck of a deal for a single guy that likes to dance.

 

[unclemick]

I knew a guy ,one of my ex bosses, divorced who did that in the 1980's.

heh heh heh - I guess it still works.

 

[easysurfer]

I know a lot of folks who have a retiement plan of "I'll start thinking about retirement when I hit 50"

 

[GregLee]

A very great problem for some (many?) people, especially as they age, is loneliness. If you are poor, yet can be a friend to someone well off who really needs a friend, I don't see the problem with making a deal, so long as both parties are reasonably careful. (I'm not suggesting that the "gentlemen dancers" are necessarily poor.)

 

[clifp]

A very great problem for some (many?) people, especially as they age, is loneliness. If you are poor, yet can be a friend to someone well off who really needs a friend, I don't see the problem with making a deal, so long as both parties are reasonably careful. (I'm not suggesting that the "gentlemen dancers" are necessarily poor.)

Quite a few female dancers make good money. Although the income stream tends to slow down once they hit 40.

 

[chinaco]

I would imagine there are a great many unusual retirement plans. This is one I always have to shake my head when I read about it:

The Gentlemen Host Program - volunteer dance hosts for cruise lines

There was a movie about that with Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon... "Out to Sea".

Out to Sea (1997) - IMDb

 

[chris2008]

The biggest problem some men/ladies would have in using the silver fox strategy:
They need to develop a personality that attracts a partner of independent means permanently.

 

[Moscyn]

I have a lot of friends and acquaintances who don't have any retirement plans because they tell me they will work till they die. I hope they are gainfully employed at old age.

 

[mystang52]

My wife's uncle had a succesful "career" as one of those dance hosts, and through that married his own sugar mama. She died a few years later, left all her money to her kids, and he is now destitute.

 

[okapi]

Knew a guy who always said "I want to meet a rich old widow.One foot in the grave,the other on a banana peel".Men always choose between Ginger or Maryanne on Gilligans Island,I always picked Mrs. Howell(Lovie).She had the cash.

 

[Nords]

Goofy Retirement Plans

I guess it's time once again to trot out that moldy golden oldie:
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f29/retire-on-500-a-14426.html

 

[harley]

I have a lot of friends and acquaintances who don't have any retirement plans because they tell me they will work till they die. I hope they are gainfully employed at old age.

I have a number of friends who say the same thing. They refuse to consider the possibility of poor health messing that plan up. The only thing I can think of that is worse than being old, unhealthy, poor and needing to work is to be old, unhealthy, poor, and unable to work. I'd at least be buying lottery tickets.

 

[Gearhead Jim]

Brother, age 59.
Intelligent and friendly, but divorced and never held a really decent job in his life.
Got fired from latest job in January.
Lives aboard a small sailboat on the east coast.
The plan:

Collect unemployment until it runs out . Do odd jobs and get paid cash.
When unemployment stops, collect very small pension from job held 10 years ago.
Take SS at age 62.

For medical, I presume he is under Medicaid but don't want to ask. Medicare at 65.

My biggest financial nightmare is that some day I'll get a call from one of our sisters saying "Our brother has a disease that will be fatal if he doesn't have the $200,000 operation that the government won't pay for. Do we pay up, or let him die?"

 

[flyfishnevada]

Brother, age 59.
Intelligent and friendly, but divorced and never held a really decent job in his life.
Got fired from latest job in January.
Lives aboard a small sailboat on the east coast.
The plan:

Collect unemployment until it runs out . Do odd jobs and get paid cash.
When unemployment stops, collect very small pension from job held 10 years ago.
Take SS at age 62.

For medical, I presume he is under Medicaid but don't want to ask. Medicare at 65.

My biggest financial nightmare is that some day I'll get a call from one of our sisters saying "Our brother has a disease that will be fatal if he doesn't have the $200,000 operation that the government won't pay for. Do we pay up, or let him die?"

I'd bet a lot of people do this kind of thing. Especially with unemployment so high. Honestly, we've got an extensive system of safety nets in this country that would allow a person to live like this with little consequence. Of course, you then are at the whim of some bureaucrat when things go bad, like in your nightmare above, and you're never going to be really independent or well off.

 

[freebird5825]

The biggest problem some men/ladies would have in using the silver fox strategy:
They need to develop a personality that attracts a partner of independent means permanently.

This reminds me of a lengthy and very direct discussion my trust attorney had with me after I was widowed...a woman "in my position" must beware the gold-diggers.
He had several female clients who got taken to the cleaners by an unscrupulous "gentleman caller". He made sure all my assets were recorded, transferred and tightly locked into the Trust. I retain direct and complete control over my assets.
Bring on the roses and champagne...

 

[Nords]

My biggest financial nightmare is that some day I'll get a call from one of our sisters saying "Our brother has a disease that will be fatal if he doesn't have the $200,000 operation that the government won't pay for. Do we pay up, or let him die?"

Thousands of people die all over the world every day from that problem, and presumably at least one of them is more valuable to the world's human capital than our siblings. Yet we not only wouldn't pay $200K for their surgery and wouldn't work 3-4 years longer to pay for it-- we don't even care who they are or what they could have accomplished after surviving it.

The difference is that (1) they're our sibling, and (2) society makes us somehow feel guilty for not "helping" family.

All of our lengthy healthcare discussions on this board start out supremely logical and based on sound financial analysis. But in the end it comes down to "Fine-- now you can test this system with your kid or your elderly grandmother. Let us know how it works out."

I'm afraid I don't have a solution for this question either. I suspect it's because it's not a logic problem but rather an emotional trap. My first approximation of an answer would be "Fine, let's each of us deposit our share into an escrow account until we reach $200K"...

 

[GregLee]

The difference is that (1) they're our sibling, and (2) society makes us somehow feel guilty for not "helping" family.

It's more biological than social or psychological. Organisms are evolved to preserve their genetic lines.

 

[bbbamI]

The second is also interesting in that so far it is working! An acquaintance had nothing approaching retirement except for his SS checks. However, he is a great conversationalist, has a warm personality, and is a 'silver fox'.

When I think of a 'silver fox', I think of a man like you just described. In addition to this, I think of a 'yes' man.

That would drive me bonkers. If I ever find myself single, they can just move on down the line. I ain't interested.

 

[old woman]

When the silver fox loses their health with the sugar mama or sugar daddy still want them?

The fox might be fun when he can dance and take care of a few chores to earn his keep but when he isn't so fun and requires care I don't want to be the nurse with a purse.