How long did your parents work?

[Winemaker]

Dad worked as an aircraft mechanic and retired a month after 9/11. He died of leukemia 4 years later at 70. Mom worked as a cashier until I was born, then raised 4 kids, still keeps house. She hasn't been out of the house since Covid began other than about 20 times to church, once churches opened up.

 

[ERObjd]

My dad did 4 years Army right out of HS in 1955, he was 22 when he got out of Army, he then worked as a mechanic for about 20 years,pay was not great and then his knees and back caught up with him. He was a paratrooper in the military and his knees and back bothered him considerably (though he never complained about it) once he was 45 about all he could muster was 20 -30 hr a week as a part time school custodian . He worked that job till age 60 then retired with a small public school pension from that, about 400 per month,his SS he took at age 62 it was about $600 per month. My mom stayed home till us 5 kids were grown, then she worked mostly part time as a nurse aid maybe 30 hrs a week and she baby sat kids some and did some cash only seamtress sewing jobs on the side. Her SS was a bit less than dad's as he did not pay in for many years. This was in Fargo ND.

My parents were fortunate to find an elderly housing unit that charged rent based on income. So they basically lived on my dad's SS and small public school pension and my moms SS . Their rent was about 1/3 of their income. so they paid about 500 a month for rent, maybe 150 for heat and electric. They had a medicare supplement policy that was about $140 a month , they had burial/funeral insurance that was about $20 a month each. Car was an old 81 Caprice insurance maybe $300 per year. They did not have cable or internet,land line phone maybe $50 a month. They probably spent no more than $200 a month on grocery as they ate sr meals that were served at the sr living apartments. They did not drive much other than for groceries .I bet if they drove less than 2000 miles a year. They paid about $3.00 a day for the noon meal that they could eat in or pick it up. Mom said they generally had about $400 a month left over after bills were paid each month and that was more than when they were working with 5 of us kids still in school. It was paycheck to paycheck for sure when they were raising us kids. We never had new clothes, but we never went hungry and we all found part time jobs from about age 12 on mowing snow shoveling, fast food McD BK Hardees grocery. proud of my parents (both now long ago deceased) for raising us on their limited budget. As a kid I kind of took it for granted mostly.As an adult I realized just how much they sacrificed to raise us all.

 

[pjigar]

My dad slowed down work at about 50 after I started working! It is customary in my culture to pay for parents after son starts earning. He had no savings at 50 (normal) but some piled up debt (not normal). I think he stopped working completely at 60 and he in now 70. We were farmers so we can choose how much help to hire and slow down the hands on work. I want to follow my dad's foot print (minus debt) but I have no help coming! I have an intellectually disabled son so I have to plan for his life along with my retirement but I have been blessed to be able to pay for all 3 of us (dad, me and my son).

PS: My mom worked two jobs (home maker and shop keeper) for close to 10 years. She closed the shop after I went to college and became a full time home maker. She enjoyed 15 years of retired life before she passed away at 65.

PPS: Dad started working at 20 so about 30-40 years of work.

 

[exnavynuke]

At ~65 my mom stopped working due to disability. My dad kept working until he was 67 iirc. Both started working in their teens. Both with partial college education. Dad a white collar executive for most of his life, mom in a variety of low-education/skill required positions from bank teller to administrative work. Mom took time off over the years as a stay at home mom and out for disability, but probably had 35-40 years of total work. Dad worked for almost 50 years straight.

I've been working full time since I was 19, part time before that. My goal is to be out of the work force before I'm 50, so no more than 30 years of full-time work.

 

[EastWest Gal]

My dad stopped working at 62 when he became eligible for retiree medical. Mom stopped working in 1957 when my sister was born. Sister is retiring this year at 62.5 so she can get retiree medical. None of my dad’s siblings or their wives worked until 65. Only one quit due to disability. The married sisters never worked.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

My dad did 4 years Army right out of HS in 1955, he was 22 when he got out of Army, he then worked as a mechanic for about 20 years,pay was not great and then his knees and back caught up with him. He was a paratrooper in the military and his knees and back bothered him considerably (though he never complained about it) once he was 45 about all he could muster was 20 -30 hr a week as a part time school custodian . He worked that job till age 60 then retired with a small pension from that about 400 per month,his SS he took at age 62 it was also about $400 per month. My mom stayed home till us 5 kids were grown, then she worked mostly part time as a nurse aid maybe 30 hrs a week and she baby sat kids some and did some cash only seamtress sewing jobs on the side. Her SS was a bit more than my dads about $700 a month. This was in Fargo ND.

Mom grew up 100 miles west of there, on a farm north of Jamestown. Her stepdad lost the place to foreclosure in 1928, and she went to Chicago at age 16 to work as a nanny. Her Chicago clientele included a mobster named Frank Cerone, whose little brother Jack became prominent in the Chicago Outfit. When she got old enough to land a factory job she worked at Stewart-Warner and eventually bought her own home. She had to hire a male lawyer to co-sign the deed because a woman couldn't purchase real estate on her own at the time.

After the war she married Dad and quit working to raise my sister and me. Once we were in high school she went back to work as a nurse's aide at a county nursing home. She retired at 65.

Dad's first job was in CC Camp Evelyn near Munising in the Upper Peninsula. After the CCC he went to Detroit and bounced between factory jobs until he was drafted in 1942. After the war he used his GI bill to study optometry, but he struggled to make a living at it, basically because he was not a natural self-promoter.

Late in life he told me the high point of his professional career was when he saw a boy walking down the street, obviously visually impaired, in the company of a brother or sister. He had them come into his office and determined the boy was severely nearsighted. He made a pair of glasses to correct his vision and, I'm sure, changed his life.

Still, Dad went to work in the Post Office to make ends meet. Back then the PO didn't pay squat, so it was common for employees to have a side gig.

With his Army time counting toward his 30 years working for Uncle Sam, Dad retired from the PO at 58. He took down his optometry shingle about the same time.

 

[Nemo2]

Mom grew up 100 miles west of there, on a farm north of Jamestown. Her stepdad lost the place to foreclosure in 1928, and she went to Chicago at age 16 to work as a nanny.

Not my family, but older friends from Malibu who have since passed: She was one of a zillion kids in a large family, (PA, if I recall correctly), and as a child became friendly with a wealthy childless couple who were about to relocate to CA.

The couple approached her parents and said that they would care for her, educate her, etc, and the parents jumped at the opportunity.

When my late wife & I met her and her husband they lived in a gated community on Sea Level Drive in Malibu, had another (waterfront), home on Salt Spring Island in BC where we lived, owned an apartment building, (she, a tiny woman, said "I've cleaned every wall/floor in the building), and she still periodically babysat neighbors kids....from the mailman to Mel Gibson's, and Demi Moore's....(when the latter first came to see her she asked Demi what she did, and said "I've never heard of you" ).

I recall her saying she never went back east because "She never wanted to be cold again".

When you juxtapose that with many of '"today's" individuals it's to shudder.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Not my family, but older friends from Malibu who have since passed: She was one of a zillion kids in a large family, (PA, if I recall correctly), and as a child became friendly with a wealthy childless couple who were about to relocate to CA.

The couple approached her parents and said that they would care for her, educate her, etc, and the parents jumped at the opportunity.

When my late wife & I met her and her husband they lived in a gated community on Sea Level Drive in Malibu, had another (waterfront), home on Salt Spring Island in BC where we lived, owned an apartment building, (she, a tiny woman, said "I've cleaned every wall/floor in the building), and she still periodically babysat neighbors kids....from the mailman to Mel Gibson's, and Demi Moore's....(when the latter first came to see her she asked Demi what she did, and said "I've never heard of you" ).

I recall her saying she never went back east because "She never wanted to be cold again".

When you juxtapose that with many of '"today's" individuals it's to shudder.

Mom told a story about meeting Benny Goodman once (Mom was a good storyteller). A friend who introduced them told her, "You just shook hands with Benny Goodman." She had no idea who he was.

 

[Nemo2]

Mom told a story about meeting Benny Goodman once (Mom was a good storyteller). A friend who introduced them told her, "You just shook hands with Benny Goodman." She had no idea who he was.

I thought everybody knew him from Roseanne and The Big Lebowski?

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

I thought everybody knew him from Roseanne and The Big Lebowski?

Maybe she didn't recognize him because he wasn't wearing his shooting glasses. And, he was toting a clarinet.