Retirement?

My mother's a retired CPA in her early 70s, and her only sibling is a couple-years-older bachelor brother. Dude's odd, let me tell you. Smart -- he was a real-live rocket scientist who's got a couple of heavily classified patents to his name -- but odd. He's always been a borderline hoarder, but now that he's long retired he's really running with it.

Anyway, when he hit the magic RMD age a few years ago, my mother was all over him about it. "You've got to do this!" she'd yell. "You've got to!" But he still couldn't bring himself to do it. You read that right ... he actually paid the penalties (equivalent to a 50% marginal tax rate on whatever he was supposed to withdraw) because he couldn't bring himself to touch the money. And he did that more than once.

 

That is a great point, but I just don't know anyone, or very few, in that circumstance.
Most people are know are over-leveraged, in my opinion. They're often middle-middle class earners living like upper-middle class earners.
They're incorrectly focused on college savings for children, for which there are a lot of funding options, rather than retirement savings, for which there are limited options.

I don't think most people save enough.

 

When I was in my 30s, I think my identity was very tied to my work. I had a high profile job in my specialty. I was big on the speaker circuit, wrote articles for trade publications and went to lots of conferences even if I wasn't speaking. Much of my social life involved people from work. Although I'm speaking at conferences again after a break for a few years, I accept fewer requests and frequently don't stay for the entire conference. Very little of my life is connected to work. At one time it would have been inconceivable to not be striving for some Big Job, much less walk away. Now I won't look back.

When I moved to South Florida it was with the intent it would be my home after retirement. I thought it would be Asheville, NC until I lived there for three years. As odd as it may be in Palm Beach County, it suits me. I actually think the other place I could live is back in Minneapolis. If I wasn't working, I wouldn't have to go outside when there was a foot of snow or it was - 10 degrees outside.

 

I'd like to loosen the purse strings a little, but there is some longevity in the family (grandmothers who died at 94 and 90, and a father who turns 90 in May). And my finances are it. There's no second income now, and there will be no second Social Security check coming to the house in a few years. It's all on me. And I'll keep pouring 25 percent into the 401(k) as long as I can.

 

Well said.
I have some money in a public pension and am simply waiting for the appropriate time to roll it into another long-term savings mechanism.
Conservative estimates place California's unfunded public pension liability around $200 billion. That's a pretty big matzo ball hanging out there.
Opponents of Social Security warned of the problems with the plan before it passed, and almost everything they have predicted has come true or is coming true.
I am not planning to rely on SS in any way, but I factor it in as possible income in some scenarios.

I left journalism at 37, and this is one of the reasons I left. I was not making enough to ensure financial stability for myself into the second half of life.
That's not the only reason I left, but it was one of my considerations.

 

I was fortunate enough to have some 20 years in at my old place before the pension was frozen. The resultant nest egg changed the long-term outlook -- although I certainly wouldn't want to be dipping into it at age 58.

 

62, going on 63. Two more years, no more than three. Still might work for one of my current employers on a part-time (June 1-mid-August) basis, but the year I turn 66 I will active my SSI, at a much-higher rate than at 62.

House will be paid off shortly, Micro Jr. will be out of college, I can get MediCare, and I'll also still get health-care benefits covered through my wife's job, as she plans to go for 4-5 more years and then gets coverage and early-retirement benefits after that.

Shouldn't have to touch my annuity and IRAs until I legally have to. I started retirement saving in my mid-20s and sure don't regret that now.

Looking forward to it. I can keep busy, and I'm easily entertained.

 

If you find yourself in West Palm and this chunky bald white guy shuffles over and asks if he might have your little salad dressing cup -- "just to complete my collection" -- I'd suggest: A) giving it to him when you're done; and B) doing everything in your power to avoid actual conversation with him. Because that dude, who's my uncle, is weird, and before you know it he's going to be going on and on about which vintage of Craftsman crescent wrenches is the best/hardest to find.

 

God that sucks for you all. My father recently retired after 30 years working at a university, and the Ohio Public Retirees system is doing well (as far as I've read and he tells me, anyway). He also worked about 20 years before that at a factory and is going to start pulling Social Security in a few years. I'm glad he's going to get it before it's gone. I'm certainly not planning on it seeing it by the time I'm that age.

 

I've got seven years paid into CalPERS, which is going to crumble.
California's retirement fund is in big trouble

They loosened the reigns to allow wild speculative investments during financial boom years. Now the long-term repercussions come back to haunt.

 

Sorry, eight years in CalPERS.