Why work so long?

[oldngray]

You seldom need as much as the experts claim. If your house is paid for and you are debt free you don't need that much from pension. I consider my 401k and investment accounts rainy day/mad money. I haven't needed to touch any of it yet and probably won't until I get hit with unexpected large expenses.

 

[clean hairy]

Don't forget to factor inflation.
My first apartment was $175 per month with electric and water paid and furnished.(Yes, it was MANY years ago!)
Now, that same apartment is $625 per month.

 

[oldupsman]

An interesting life expectancy calculator available free to use and anonymous; here...

http://gosset.wharton.upenn.edu/mortality/perl/CalcForm.html

Mine came out to 83+ years

Mine came out at 88+ years. Glad I retired at 55.. Lots of fun still to be had,
Lord willing of course.

 

[Mugarolla]

Don't forget to factor inflation.
My first apartment was $175 per month with electric and water paid and furnished.(Yes, it was MANY years ago!)
Now, that same apartment is $625 per month.

You were also only making $20K and a retirement check was only 1K per month if you were lucky. Now you're making $80K and a retirement check is around $3K per month.

It is a good point though that things will tend to go up in price and the pension check will not increase.

 

[c23jmp]

July of 2016 525 days than I can go when I want

 

[Brownslave688]

You were also only making $20K and a retirement check was only 1K per month if you were lucky. Now you're making $80K and a retirement check is around $3K per month.

It is a good point though that things will tend to go up in price and the pension check will not increase.

Yeah my father in law had his last kid at almost 50. Tore up his knee pretty bad at work not long after and decided to take the settlement money and retire. 28 years later he's bitching non stop that it must be nice for those people that just retire and don't have to work anymore. His pension is under 1k a month and his wife cleaned him out in the divorce. He's likely got another 15-20 years to live also

 

[clean hairy]

I don't get it why folks put off retirement because they have kids to put through college.
I know times have changed, but I took Student Loans, got a small grant, and did the college work/ study to pay for college, and paid 10 yrs to bring the Student Loan balance to zero.
My Parents did not just say "here you go" and pay for it all.
My Daughter went to Community College to get her 2yr, and took 3 years to do it, she could not afford to do it in 2yrs while working and taking classes.
Sure, my Parents helped with $ to get home for the Holidays, and a few $ here and there.
We helped our Daughter if she was short and had to buy one book she could not afford, and with a bit of $ at times, but I and she both have a great appreciation because it was our $$ that paid for our college.
So, why do Parents owe their Children a College Education?
Please help me understand.

 

[rod]

I don't get it why folks put off retirement because they have kids to put through college.
I know times have changed, but I took Student Loans, got a small grant, and did the college work/ study to pay for college, and paid 10 yrs to bring the Student Loan balance to zero.
My Parents did not just say "here you go" and pay for it all.
My Daughter went to Community College to get her 2yr, and took 3 years to do it, she could not afford to do it in 2yrs while working and taking classes.
Sure, my Parents helped with $ to get home for the Holidays, and a few $ here and there.
We helped our Daughter if she was short and had to buy one book she could not afford, and with a bit of $ at times, but I and she both have a great appreciation because it was our $$ that paid for our college.
So, why do Parents owe their Children a College Education?
Please help me understand.

Now days parents owe their kids EVERYTHING---just ask the kids

 

[Boulevard859710]

March 2025 when I turn 55. I'll have 30 years. Might go 5 more until I'm 60.

 

[smapple]

I don't get it why folks put off retirement because they have kids to put through college.
I know times have changed, but I took Student Loans, got a small grant, and did the college work/ study to pay for college, and paid 10 yrs to bring the Student Loan balance to zero.
My Parents did not just say "here you go" and pay for it all.
My Daughter went to Community College to get her 2yr, and took 3 years to do it, she could not afford to do it in 2yrs while working and taking classes.
Sure, my Parents helped with $ to get home for the Holidays, and a few $ here and there.
We helped our Daughter if she was short and had to buy one book she could not afford, and with a bit of $ at times, but I and she both have a great appreciation because it was our $$ that paid for our college.
So, why do Parents owe their Children a College Education?
Please help me understand.

It's an investment. Unless they've got ungrateful kids or they're just dumb/lazy. Then it's just a waste of money.

 

[scooby0048]

they say you need 80% of your pay for retirement but I think that is way too high if you are smart. Sometimes "LIFE" happens and I hope you don't find out the hard way. All kinds of emergencies can pop up near retirement.

Also Social Security insolvency is projected for 2024-2033, and Medicare for 2026. Guess why Boomers are not retiring...

But retiring at 50 is one of the reasons most of our pension funds are in trouble. Pensions were not set up to pay 30 plus years. The normal retirement age is 65 and the average life expectancy is 78. Pensions are designed to pay 13 to 15 years, not 30 plus. It's a real good life. I can foresee retiring at 62, but I will have 44 years in.

That was always one of my biggest fears, that I wouldn't have had enough put back and that social security would become insolvent. I've also heard that 80% is a good number for retirement but I have also been told to aggressively diversify my savings. One thing that I'm hoping will work is, precious metals. Back when silver was only about $6 an ounce, I bought around 2000 ounces. If silver ever goes back up over $50, I might consider selling it and re-investing it somewhere else just in case social security does fail by the time I reach drawing age.

 

[Mugarolla]

I don't get it why folks put off retirement because they have kids to put through college.
I know times have changed, but I took Student Loans, got a small grant, and did the college work/ study to pay for college, and paid 10 yrs to bring the Student Loan balance to zero.
My Parents did not just say "here you go" and pay for it all.
My Daughter went to Community College to get her 2yr, and took 3 years to do it, she could not afford to do it in 2yrs while working and taking classes.
Sure, my Parents helped with $ to get home for the Holidays, and a few $ here and there.
We helped our Daughter if she was short and had to buy one book she could not afford, and with a bit of $ at times, but I and she both have a great appreciation because it was our $$ that paid for our college.
So, why do Parents owe their Children a College Education?
Please help me understand.

I don't owe my kids anything. I put myself through college with no help from my parents.

I can afford to give them a jumpstart on life, so I choose to. I may just have to work a few more years to make sure that I am set, but again, I don't mind.

I still plan on retiring when I'm 62 and should have plenty of play money and a long retirement.

Although, isn't Obama talking about making community college free? Maybe I'll retire when I'm 55.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

So, why do Parents owe their Children a College Education?

They don't but I have yet to meet a parent of college aged kids who doesn't want to do whatever they can to help them out.

I have two kids. When they were ready for college my ex and I agreed to split their first year 50/50 and subsequent years 1/3 each. My daughter followed the plan and graduated with about $23K in student loan debt. My son didn't, paid for the rest on his own and graduated with his MBA and about $73K in student loan debt. He landed a good job with a solid company and should have the loans paid off in less than 10 years.

I would be hard pressed to choose to work a few more years just so that my kids graduated from college debt free.

 

[Brownslave688]

You know it would be lovely if my wife didn't have 200k in student loans but there's a ton of self satisfaction knowing you did it all by yourself also.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

You know it would be lovely if my wife didn't have 200k in student loans but there's a ton of self satisfaction knowing you did it all by yourself also.

My son will attest to that. While he would love to be debt free, he knows that he worked his butt off and that the loans are an investment in his future.

I thought $73K was bad. I couldn't imagine $200K.

 

[bottomups]

My son will attest to that. While he would love to be debt free, he knows that he worked his butt off and that the loans are an investment in his future.

I thought $73K was bad. I couldn't imagine $200K.

My nephews spouse graduated two years ago with a little over $200k in student loan debt. She is a Physicians Assistant now in Seattle making $130k a year. That much debt doesn't seem so bad with the return on investment.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

My nephews spouse graduated two years ago with a little over $200k in student loan debt. She is a Physicians Assistant now in Seattle making $130k a year. That much debt doesn't seem so bad with the return on investment.

Had she chosen to work in an under served area for a minimum period of time her debt may have been greatly reduced or even wiped out completely.

 

[Brownslave688]

Had she chosen to work in an under served area for a minimum period of time her debt may have been greatly reduced or even wiped out completely.

Not necessarily. The place my wife works wanted to hire 7 people this spring. 5 applied and got hired. 3 backed out because it's a rural area and they got other offers where they are from.

The employees keep telling the owner he needs to change the compensation package. Something obviously isn't working. He says it's worked for the 25 years I've owned the business. I see no reason to change.

 

[Brownslave688]

My nephews spouse graduated two years ago with a little over $200k in student loan debt. She is a Physicians Assistant now in Seattle making $130k a year. That much debt doesn't seem so bad with the return on investment.

It's still tough to swallow when your student loan payment is double your house payment.

 

[rod]

I don't owe my kids anything. I put myself through college with no help from my parents.

I can afford to give them a jumpstart on life, so I choose to. I may just have to work a few more years to make sure that I am set, but again, I don't mind.

I still plan on retiring when I'm 62 and should have plenty of play money and a long retirement.

Although, isn't Obama talking about making community college free? Maybe I'll retire when I'm 55.

I think he says EVERYTHING is going to be free. P.S. For those who are interested "FREE" means anyone who is motivated enough to actually work for a living will be paying for it in tax increases.