Retire?




I've spent a lot of time recently thinking about what a Casey Freeland retirement is going to look like.

I think among my regular readers and commenters the financial spectrum is probably covered. Some of you are fairly set and close to or in your retirement years, and some of you are selling appliances to make rent and retirement is a word you have heard and you are aware that billionaires and movie stars do this thing.

I'm somewhere in the middle. I have a mysterious malady called a 401K, but I'd have to put my entire salary in it for the next twenty years to make it a viable retirement option.

In short, there is no plan, there is no reassurance, there is no date, no age and most certainly no golden f'in watch.

Maybe this should bother me more than it does.

All the investment firm commercials talk about retirement like it should be a done deal, as if we could make a phone call to them and somehow suddenly have a couple million at age 55 or so. I realize they are trying to sell me on their services, but it all seems so uncertain save for a very, very few.

If I started at 18, sure. I'm smart enough to understand the financial impact of compounding interest.

But I didn't. Most don't I think.

Most of us spend most of what we make.

Most of us don't plan.

Most of us are way too busy living life and learning as we go.

And usually by the time we have the wisdom to save a little, it's too late to save enough.

So, what does my retirement look like? Barring a best-seller or smashing Lotto ticket, it looks a lot like my life right now with more grey hair and back problems.

Which is pretty cool, come to think.

What are your plans?

Casey

Comments

  1. My plan is passive income. I took a class called Financial Freedom Principles and it changed my whole brain. I've been to and seen a lot of different seminars about how to get rich, but this is the cheapest one and EASILY the best one around. In fact, I'm paying to take my nephew to it at the end of the month so he can take advantage of his youth (since compounding interest favors the young).

    Passive income in the form of rent, or note payments or potentially iPhone/iPad app sales (those are a little too active for my preference).

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  2. I don't have my retirement planned. I might live on my pension and stay somewhere quiet with whoever I fancy. I might become a grouch, but heck, we cannot determine the future.

    I like being a grouchy bast***

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  3. I'm a little like you, Casey - I have some scraps of a UK pension and the germ on an NZ superannuation but not enough to mean anything long term.

    Negative equity in the UK crash years back and emigrating mid-life took almost everything we saved and we will need to cater for three of us going forward - one will need assisted living od some sort ongoing.

    We're minded to keep things simple and get by on as little as we can. Once the kids have gone, one idea is to keep a small property but rent it while we go and do mission work until we're too old to do so. Otherwise, it'll most likely be work until I drop.

    Beyond that, we trust that His provision will be enough.

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  4. I didn't plan. I changed jobs so often and moved so often and never once thought about that someday thing so far in the future. Today I live on my social security and hubby's social security disability. It is fortunate we both like a quiet little life or one of us would have to work still. It would have to be me because hubby cannot work. He tried it a couple times in the years I have been with him. Bipolar Disorder is not a fun way to live. All the years I worked social security was taken out of my paychecks and now I want it to be available for me till I die. Lots of people who have large incomes and invest in retirement plans and stocks and bonds have a way of looking down at seniors who do not have a huge retirement they can live on. I have to say that I am so happy that money is not the center of my life. Is not the measure of my life success. Enough money to live my little life is reward enough for me.

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  5. Well, Shadow, you're going to live forever, so no worries.

    You know, Buzz, I really think I could benefit from a simplification of my life. Unfortunately that would mean no so much time online, and I don't want to give that up. Maybe I could find some other simplification. :)

    What a wonderful attitude TB. I have deep respect for what you have made important in your life.

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  6. What? I should have a plan?

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  7. You know, like plan what your old-person drink of choice will be, what your store-clerk affectation will be (honey, sweetie, etc.), what loopy fashion you're going to hold on to, what pastel color to put in your hair, that type of planning. :)

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  8. I'm not planning to retire. Unless I write a bestseller.

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  9. I am 52 years old and was able to retire recently for two reasons-- 1st, I do not have kids. Money is not the reason I didn't have them but you sure have a lot more of it to save if you don't. And 2nd, I married a former accountant who DID plan and got me focused on that when I was in my late 20s. I know I am VERY lucky and appreciate his guidance immensely.

    That said, hubby is 70 and still working by choice. He likes his job A LOT and can't imagine not working so that adds a bit to the financial security "pot" as well.

    We have a nice life but we don't live large by any means. Health insurance was and continues to be our biggest retirement expense and concern.

    But, I know for certain, when the time comes, I will leave Los Angeles and it's insane cost of living and move to a small town somewhere for a life that is simple, easy, and very downsized. (We live in LA now because of hubby's work.) If, by then, I need a job as a greeter at WalMart to make ends meet, that's okay with me too.

    Cheers, jj

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  10. That's wonderful Joanna. Security is something we all crave and it sounds like you have a lot of it.

    Yes, children are phenomenally expensive. And worth every penny, of course. But you're right, adding up those dollars is daunting.

    Thanks for reading.

    Casey

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