Anyone else eager to retire?

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I am so happy to hear this. My advice was general, to all, I am just thinking aloud really. I am pleased though to see your and other posts - how to retire on a limited budget and be happy. I think sometimes older people fall prey to anxiety much like physical illnesses. Of course getting old is stressful and painful, but I am not convinced it is overwhelmingly or paralyzingly painful. We are free to choose how we do it. Again I am talking more to myself here. I have a regular group of older women in my yoga class who are really inspiring. They all know each other through some book club that they have too. They eat lunch after yoga - I go back to work. Most of them seem quite happy. Good balance too, tree pose is not out of bounds. I am talking women in their 70s, 80s. One of them is blind to boot.
 
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One year ago when I turned 62. Best decision I ever made. Finances are still tight, but the stress and negative environment are gone and my health is much better, physical and spiritual.
 
Anyone wanna come out of retirement to clean toilets? Yeah, I didn’t think so 😠
 
A part time job makes sense for a retiree - you can pull in, what, $800-1000 a month, just working like 2-3 days a week at minimum wage. No one is going to hire you to do brain surgery, let’s face it. I would approach this with pretty low expectations. Something mindless, not too stressful, leave it at that. Preferably something you actually enjoy and are good at. That income covers your groceries, plus a little to your taxes or whatever, cat food. Plus it forces a schedule on you - you build the rest of your week around that. I think this is quite beneficial to a lot of people who feel cut loose or isolated from society, lack direction in retirement etc.
 
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To continue your current standard of living when you retire, you should receive 80% of your pre-retirement income in retirement. Make $100,000 a year today? Make $80,000 a year in retirement.

For most middle income people, Social Security will provide 25% to 40% of your retirement income. Your employer retirement plan and other savings you set aside need to then replace the missing 40% to 55%.

If you are in reasonable health expect to live into your early 80s.

Of course, you can retire on less than 80% replacement income, but that would mean reducing your standard of living accordingly. Hard to live another 20 years on, say 50%, of what you use to make when working full time.
 
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We all know about the ant and the grasshopper, right? I admit to being a life-long grasshopper. Perhaps the comments on this thread should only be aimed at grasshoppers. Winter is coming, to continue the metaphor. My gentle advice to my fellow grasshoppers is to channel your inner ant to the point where you have something approaching a comprehensive reasonable, realistic game plan for retirement in place. Then let it go, manage it from afar, overcome (aufheben) your inner ant: ascend, blossom into a true ‘Über-Heuschrecke‘.
 

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www.thebalance.com
Half of the decline is due to the aging of America, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. These demographic changes affected the labor force even before the recession. As baby boomers reach retirement age, they leave the labor force. They don’t need a job. Others stay home to care for ailing parents or spouses, or claim disability themselves. Since they represent such a large percentage of the population, that will have a major impact on the labor force participation rate. It’s a big reason why it may never regain its past levels, no matter how strong the job market is.

Second, 24 percent of the unemployed have been without a job for six months or more. Only 10 percent of these long-term unemployed find a job each month. It became so frustrating that many dropped out of the labor force. They may never return. They don’t have updated skills and employers aren’t willing to take a chance with them.

Third, millions who left the labor force were between the ages of 25 and 54. That’s prime earning years. Some were students who stayed in school longer. The Atlanta Fed estimated that contributed a 0.5 point drop in the participation rate. Fewer of those students worked while they were in school. But anyone who wasn’t employed during their prime earning years may never get a chance to recover their careers.

Despite improving job opportunities, some older workers were unable to return to the labor force. That’s called structural unemployment. That’s when the skills of would-be workers no longer match what employers need. The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas found that demand for middle-skilled jobs has declined between 1996 and 2016. Middle-skilled jobs involve routine tasks that are easier to automate. Demand has increased for both low-skilled service jobs and high-skilled analytical or managerial positions. Both of those are more difficult to replace with a machine or computer.
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When are American businesses (and the RCC) going to acknowledge and help these individuals?
 
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Have something to do lined up before you retire.

I made some good choices in life and was able to retire at 50. It’s 4 years later and I’m climbing the walls because I didn’t think about what I would do when I retired.

Human beings need the structure that comes with employment.
 
FollowChrist34 said:
We should eliminate all taxes on withdrawals from 401ks after 65 -
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The catch on that is that some people forwent the deduction on the 401k with a Roth 401k just to buy that already . . . retroactive tax refunds, perhaps?

As for me, I put away hard enough and early enough that if I had to I could retire now, although it wouldn’t be the retirement I want. The house and cars are paid for, and I have a lingering bit of student loan only because they offered me a “consolidation” that gave me a two-point-something rate . . . it would be silly to pay off instead of investing . . .

One more doubling of the market, and I can safely retire with the retirement I want. And if I end up disabled and unable to work, the combination of the disability benefits and what I can safely draw would also leave me comfortable.

If I die, the insurance is enough to keep my wife comfortable until she can safely draw on my retirement . . .

If I could, I’d retire tomorrow. I’d do something else, but without the need for it to pay enough . . . it would be a matter of choosing which . . .

I used to give my economics classes spreadsheets showing the accumulation from $2,000 a year starting at 21and ending at 65, assuming historical market returns.

The contributions from 21 to 30 are worth about the same at 65 as those from 31-65; there is no replacing that extra time to compound. (in fact, when I look at my own accounts now, it is unlikely I’ll again see a year in which I make as much as my retirement accounts . . . [unless I go to work for someone else full time] . . . but I need to be sure that there is still enough to draw on in the case of a 50% market drop before i feel comfortable . . . )

hawk
 
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Anyone need a caretaker for their Estate?
 
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Sure, I can always use some help around my estate

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