Retirement plans

LissaC

LissaC

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I know this discussion may sound weird coming from a 30 year old, but bear with me here :laugh:

I have been working full time since I was 20. These last professional years have been incredibly rewarding but also intense. And while I love working, I once found myself feeling totally exhausted, wondering what I would do when I retire.

In fact, I always knew the answer. My passion is for literature and words but I felt I couldn't find a good job with a degree in literature so I settled for another degree instead. And I always knew I would want to go back to college and study the subjects I love. Assuming I have the energy and the money, I want to retire and go back to college and study literature. I've always loved learning I got along well with formal schooling. I'd be happy to spend my retirement years in college, and also reading and writing. I'm also saving a couple trips to take later in life. Now I'm young and full of energy, and this is the best time backpack Iran or trek Costa Rica's natural parks. When I'm old, I want to explore Europe at a leisurely pace.

Whatever happens, I don't want to sit home doing nothing all day. And if I do ever have children, I expect them to be fully functional autonomous adults by the time I retire.

And you, what are your retirement plans?
 
I'll never be able to retire so we have made no plans at all.
I've been made redundant 13 times and as a result we have absolutely no savings and are both on low wages so no chance of saving now. No time to get a worthy amount put aside... I'm 51 now.
No work pension etc so simply a case of carrying on till I drop and hoping the wife will be comfy on any payout she gets.
If things had been different we would have liked to move too somewhere near the coast. She loves seaside towns and I love beach fishing.
 
Peloquin said:
I'll never be able to retire so we have made no plans at all.
I've been made redundant 13 times and as a result we have absolutely no savings and are both on low wages so no chance of saving now. No time to get a worthy amount put aside... I'm 51 now.
No work pension etc so simply a case of carrying on till I drop and hoping the wife will be comfy on any payout she gets.
If things had been different we would have liked to move too somewhere near the coast. She loves seaside towns and I love beach fishing.
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Will you not get the new State pension at retirement age? Its a lot higher than the state pension I get. I'm not saying its riches but its better than it was.
 
I am sorry to hear that Peloquin :( Let me clarify that I live in a country where there are mandatory retirement contributions and based on our contributions we get a retirement pension paid by the government when we retire. With people living longer and fewer babies being born our social security is at stake and there's a real risk that the social security won't have enough money to pay pensions to my generation when we retire, but I don't want to think about that.
 
Morning Glory said:
Will you not get the new State pension at retirement age? Its a lot higher than the state pension I get. I'm not saying its riches but its better than it was.
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I should get state pension if it's still going then but for what you get it's better to stay working if possible.
LissaC said:
I am sorry to hear that Peloquin :( Let me clarify that I live in a country where there are mandatory retirement contributions and based on our contributions we get a retirement pension paid by the government when we retire. With people living longer and fewer babies being born our social security is at stake and there's a real risk that the social security won't have enough money to pay pensions to my generation when we retire, but I don't want to think about that.
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It's something I realised a few years ago and accept.
I don't tend to have time of work, in fact I haven't had a day off this year yet apart from a few weekends. I don't like holidays (wife goes away with her mate usually) so I just tend to keep working.
No big deal.
 
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LissaC said:
I know this discussion may sound weird coming from a 30 year old, but bear with me here :laugh:

I have been working full time since I was 20. These last professional years have been incredibly rewarding but also intense. And while I love working, I once found myself feeling totally exhausted, wondering what I would do when I retire.

In fact, I always knew the answer. My passion is for literature and words but I felt I couldn't find a good job with a degree in literature so I settled for another degree instead. And I always knew I would want to go back to college and study the subjects I love. Assuming I have the energy and the money, I want to retire and go back to college and study literature. I've always loved learning I got along well with formal schooling. I'd be happy to spend my retirement years in college, and also reading and writing. I'm also saving a couple trips to take later in life. Now I'm young and full of energy, and this is the best time backpack Iran or trek Costa Rica's natural parks. When I'm old, I want to explore Europe at a leisurely pace.

Whatever happens, I don't want to sit home doing nothing all day. And if I do ever have children, I expect them to be fully functional autonomous adults by the time I retire.

And you, what are your retirement plans?
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Wow, you brought up a very meaningful and considerate subject, LissaC. I just had a long conversation with my mom (in her 80's). She is reluctant to go on taking care of financial matters etc. Her mother worked as a landlord until her 90's but mom is steadily losing weight and becoming frail, she's often tired and experiencing memory issues (clear thoughts but problems remembering everyday words and speaking on the phone), so she should take care of herself, rest and enjoy life for her remaining years. Same-aged stepdad is mentally in a better condition but starts to develop physical problems. We went through some outsourcing plans and I promised to participate more in everyday chores - which is easy as we live in the same apartment building.

I feel ashamed comparing my everyday life with Peloquin's weekdays. I've always had an easy life being a housewife, dealing with easy-peasy real estate matters and studying this and that, so I haven't earned a right to retire (despite RA which keeps me from physical exertion). For my defence, I must add that during my life in the rose garden, I haven't escaped bad luck and harsh realities of life. I guess I'll just keep on studying and making (homespun) art if my potential design company doesn't take to succeed when I graduate (I have to continue my design studies next semester because I had skipped some compulsory seminars during the pandemic). If I make it as an entrepreneur, I'll go on planning and sketching for as long as I can move (the computer mouse). Sometimes I dream of designing world-famous textile patterns, making technical innovations or solving the meaning of life.

When my hubby (a middle-grade teacher) retires, I plan to work remotely part time so we can be nicely-clad (100% cotton, linen, silk and wool) shiny happy people: give a penny to charity, spend longer periods at the countryside, expand our garden, take local trips and trips to nearby European cities (museums, cafes and architectural sites), see Canadian giant sequoias, visit New Orleans and Santiago de Chile, spend a few weeks each year at exotic five star hotels or Caribbean cruises, take a peak at wineries and British pubs and lie flat on Spanish/Portuguese beaches or balconies drinking beer and eating olives, take mutual language or cooking classes, play Pinochle, read novels, scientific journals and gossip magazines, sip bubbly or hot toddies, surf on the internet and play GeoGuessr, join several cultural societies/unions, go to weekly concerts, plays and movies and spend time with our adult children. Probably we'll just end up being fat, broke, ugly, sick and tired, watch television (or other contemporary broadcasts) 24/7, fill sudokus for intellectual stimulus and maybe get an annual (Christmas) card from our kids 🤔. Frankly, it's better not to make too precise plans as you never know what happens. Live to the moment; seize the day(?). But frankly, it wasn't all tongue-in-cheek: I wish we can check a few points from my previous to-do list.
 
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Being self employed, retirement has never really been in my plans..I don't count years employed, or years until retiremet.. ..I do have savings and stuff, and could probably stop now, but I couldn't imagine just waking up one morning and saying "that's it...I'm done"...retirement isn't an objective..I'll just do what I do until I can't do it any more..and to be able to keep doing it is my reward..
 
Oh, what a subject. I can (and have) blabbed about this before on here goes:

I've been working for some kind of actual paycheck (probably illegally) since I was 9yo. You read that right. At 9, I started weekend work at a tree nursery, worked about 15 hours over the weekend, and starting in the Spring, I began working 20-25 hours a week. That was in addition to the work around our little farm, and schoolwork, and then my dad hired me out for a lot of odd jobs. My parents believed that a busy kid was a kid who wouldn't find trouble, so they worked us kids like indentured servants.

At 19, started regular adult full-time work. I've been downsized twice, for less than a month each time, I've always been salaried, and I've worked about every situation, from corporate, government, self-employed, to startup, consultant, contractor.

I hate work. I can't overstate that enough. If I could murder work in its sleep, it would be dead and buried, then I'd dig it back up and murder it again.

People always say, "You just need to find a job you like," but that's not it. No matter what the job, I hate the idea that my time belongs to somebody else, or is driven by something else. If I want to get up and do eff-all all day, that's what I want, and even if I'm Chief SuperModel Naughty Bits Inspector, I'm going to resent having to get up and be at the office at 9AM to inspect those bits.

Retirement:

I'm 55, my wife is 58. Her health isn't great, as I've detailed before, and judging from her family history, she's also on the fast-track to dementia. She already requires a certain level of caregiving. Healthcare figures prominently in our retirement plans, both funding it and procuring it.

Our plan is to retire at 59...60 at the very latest, only because I reach 20 years with my current employer five weeks after my 60th birthday, and there may be some incentive to officially retiring from my employer, as opposed to just taking my pension and 401(k) savings as a lump sum at 19.5 years.

My wife, due to her health, is self-employed, but didn't/doesn't earn much - she's one of those who works for the love of it. I think maybe she's an alien or something. 👽

Even though we've discussed plans around activities and locations, we're still up in the air, as the last couple of weeks have made clear. We're going to Florida next month to scope out a retirement area, as MrsT has waxed poetic about the advantages of a warm weather 55+ community lifestyle (something I strongly oppose, but when has that ever mattered? :laugh:). Then, a couple of weeks ago, she said she thought she'd rather retire to rural Pennsylvania (ancestral home of her family), and then this weekend, she said she'd hate giving up all the German fests here, so she'd be just happy to stay put where we are, and today...she doesn't want rural, she wants to move into town.

So who knows at this point? Florida in July, and we were supposed to check out North Carolina in December, but then she changed that to Pennsylvania in November.

Either way, wherever we end up, the plan is to spend our time traveling (mainly Europe) as much as we can afford. Right now, projections suggest that we could probably fund 3-4 months in Europe a year, as long as we're not trying to hang out with the Windsors at Sandringham or Balmoral. :laugh:

We'd either do that in one shot, or break it into two, though I like the idea of one plane ride over. Some years, we'd probably go somewhere stateside, or Canada, or a Mediterranean cruise, that sort of thing. If everything holds steady, we should be financially comfortable, though by no means wealthy.

That's Retirement Part 1. Retirement Part 2 is when we get too old/feeble/cranky to travel much, and then we'll just ride out our days wherever we are, going to the diner for the 4PM Early Bird Special, and boring younger people with our, "You know, in our day, we..." stories.
 
Hemulen said:
Frankly, it's better not to make too precise plans as you never know what happens.
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So true. You can't predict what will happen, 'health wise' in particular. My partner has developed dementia and I'm pretty much a full time carer now (and it will become more so). Its impossible to go on holiday really, due to his condition. I never predicted that would happen... even a day trip is stressful now.

I'm not complaining. I have a good pension and can afford good food and home comforts, which is more than many people in this country or on this planet can.
 
TastyReuben . . . PA is decent so far as taxing retirement income.
PA state income tax is on your gross - i.e. no deductions for IRA. Roth, 401K, etc.
but after retirement, no tax on pensions, social security or withdrawals from IRA/Roth/etc.
school taxes are outrageous - based on RE value.
local taxes tend to the reasonable side. I pay less in local RE tax - which includes trash & recycle pickup - than garbage pick up in NJ cost me...

if you've escaped taxing on your gross in OH, having it also come out tax free is a bonus.
PA still nails you on capital gains, dividends and interest....
for some portion, I stick to PA muni's so they are both Fed and Pa tax free...

however, the whole state is expensive, corrupt, crooked. costs in the metro areas are out of this world.
but other than that one can enjoy the play.
 
A question close to my heart, and as I'm new here, didn't expect to come across.

My wife and I are heading for our fifties really quickly, and we have a teen daughter, so there are a few years of schooling remaining.

I'd love to jack it in now, it might sound extreme, but I'd be happy enough to move to Bulgaria right now, the cost of living is so much cheaper. The language is a barrier...

If you own a house, you can rent it out, and live in a lower cost location on the rental income.

Part of the plans to get away from the nine to five grind is to create a side hustle, hence my youtube channel.
 
I'm 58, and my plans are to keep working until the day I die, and then figure out a way to keep on working after that. :laugh:

I'm fortunate that my job is one I really like, and at the moment I really like my boss, too. I am closing in on 30 years with Ford, though I started as a contract employee in 1988. The pension benefits increase at the 30 year mark, so that's when I might start thinking more seriously about it.

But, every time I return from a long break from work, I tell myself, "I could do this full-time!" My 8 days in Greece had me thinking that way. But, of course, I won't have the income to afford to travel without my full income, so this is part of the decision.

Retirement will become a more realistic option at some point in the future:
  • At some point, my kids will move out and get established, and I won't have to spend half my income (roughly) supporting them. This alone is the big reason I can't retire now.
  • Once that happens we can:
    • Downsize our house, or
    • It will take so long for my kids to move out that I will have paid off my current house by then. :laugh:
One thing I have seen some people do that I think would be ideal would be to retire, start collecting a pension, and then work part-time somewhere (maybe for Ford? Maybe in the kitchen at a restaurant?) I know there are some parameters to what's allowed (how many hours you can work, for example, to keep collecting your retirement money).

I guess the bottom line is that I'm one of those weird people who likes working. That could change if I end up with a horrible boss (which happened a few years ago). Ford does occasionally give incentives to retire, like big cash payments (upwards of a full year's salary), but nothing they offer now is worth missing that 30-year mark. That, and my kids are still around, so...no retirement plans for me just yet.
 
The Late Night Gourmet said:
I'm 58, and my plans are to keep working until the day I die, and then figure out a way to keep on working after that. :laugh:

I'm fortunate that my job is one I really like, and at the moment I really like my boss, too. I am closing in on 30 years with Ford, though I started as a contract employee in 1988. The pension benefits increase at the 30 year mark, so that's when I might start thinking more seriously about it.

But, every time I return from a long break from work, I tell myself, "I could do this full-time!" My 8 days in Greece had me thinking that way. But, of course, I won't have the income to afford to travel without my full income, so this is part of the decision.

Retirement will become a more realistic option at some point in the future:
  • At some point, my kids will move out and get established, and I won't have to spend half my income (roughly) supporting them. This alone is the big reason I can't retire now.
  • Once that happens we can:
    • Downsize our house, or
    • It will take so long for my kids to move out that I will have paid off my current house by then. :laugh:
One thing I have seen some people do that I think would be ideal would be to retire, start collecting a pension, and then work part-time somewhere (maybe for Ford? Maybe in the kitchen at a restaurant?) I know there are some parameters to what's allowed (how many hours you can work, for example, to keep collecting your retirement money).

I guess the bottom line is that I'm one of those weird people who likes working. That could change if I end up with a horrible boss (which happened a few years ago). Ford does occasionally give incentives to retire, like big cash payments (upwards of a full year's salary), but nothing they offer now is worth missing that 30-year mark. That, and my kids are still around, so...no retirement plans for me just yet.
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I too am one of those weird creatures who loves to work. Don't get me wrong, I've had jobs I hated, and even when I'm doing work I love there are some days when I'd rather self immolate than sit and work, but most days I love working, and it's a huge part of my identity. I don't tie my love of work to a company or an occupation (I enjoyed working even when I was in working in a call center!), I tie it to the kind of work I do, to doing work that require me to use my mental facculties (my imagination, my attention to detail, my fast thinking), and to the non-material rewards I get from work: feeling useful, being recognized and respected, feeling proud of myself when I solve complex problems, having goals I can achieve, etc. I'm also incredibly grateful that work has allowed me to build a somewhat stable, materially secure life for myself, I'm not greedy but as long as I can pay the bills comfortably I am good.

Like you I like the idea of working forever, but the kind of work I do and enjoy may not be the kind of work that suits me in the long run. I'm an adrenaline junkie and I love running multiple threads at the same time, being pulled in different directions, priorities changing throughout the day, people going crazy and chaos everywhere :laugh: I think about work a lot, and often there's things going on at work that I can't ignore when I'm away from my work, simply because I feel responsible for the work I do and want to make sure everything runs smoothly. Which works well because I'm 30, but I can't imagine 60 year old enjoying solving work problems at 9PM on a friday. And I do worry about taking the place of younger people in the workplace. Our labor market is small, most companies are understaffed, and every single person who is in the workforce is occupying a place that could belong to someone else...I wouldn't want to be a 70 year old taking employment opportunities away from younger people who have their entire lives to build.
 
well, your income sources will be
social security
pension
401k/IRA
investment account(s)
if you have rental properties/residuals/etc - that's a whole new 'business' game.
that kind of business income is not affected by age....

as a US citizen you are required to file federal taxes regardless of where in the universe you are living.
generally you get an offset/credit in tax due for any local taxes you are required to pay.
moving somewhere with no tax . . . sounds great except you'll still pay Federal exactly as if you are living in the country.... boo-hiss....

if you earn more than roughly 1/2 your social security benefit, you lose dollar-for-dollar of that benefit - until you reach your 'full retirement age' - after that you can earn and much as you want . . .
I have heard but never investigated . . . after you reach full retirement age, you get all the 'penalty' back. but don't deposit that in the bank without checking.

the biggie for US citizens is Medicare - Medicare pays for zip comma zero medical expenses incurred outside the country. and many countries require you to carry/show ability to pay megabucks for healthcare before they will grant a resident permit.
 
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