Baby boomers not planning retirement

[lovuian]

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=022374e214e798b4

Big News Network.com Saturday 6th August, 2005 (UPI)

The oldest of the U.S. baby boom generation are approaching age 60, but most are not planning for retirement -- early retirement or otherwise.

In a survey reported in Fortune's 2005 Retirement Guide, 17 percent of the boomers said they would never work for pay again, 6 percent said they were undecided, but the rest want to stay working.

Some 40 percent said they plan to cycle between work and leisure, while 16 percent said they would work part time and 6 percent intend to start their own business.

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They can't afford it and medical insurance is so high!!!

[yorkiemommie1]

1. at my work we all pretty much figure

we'll keep on plugging away.

we range from 35 to the 70s. of the older ones at our school, most own their own homes and have many assets but keep working for the money as well as the companionship that work provides. the teachers get a good deal; they work a 20hr week but are paid full time benefits.

we, as unrepresented aides, get the shaft every time, though every effort is made by management to provide more hours, esp to single women who have no other means of support.

i intend to keep on working because i meet so many interesting people from all over the world, and because of the relaxed working conditions.

i realize that i am very lucky, though.

[Spinzonner]

2. Actually, we've all joined a tontine

[Glorfindel]

3. Yep...and I intend to win!

I quit smoking long ago. Now, if I could just give up beer and lose *ahem* a few pounds...

:beer:

[ogradda]

4. Heh.

You've got a point.

[Gronk Groks]

5. Sorry to burst your ballons folks...

...but the reason we babyboomers can't retire is that we can't afford to. Unlike OUR parents we will probably work till we drop...

You younglings will REALLY have it rough!!! With shrub bankrupting America third world status is only a generation away...

[Straight Shooter]

6. Well, I'm self-employed.

The type of work I do is going to force me to retire because it's physically "hard work," but I want to learn furniture refinishing or something that I enjoy and then earn enough to pay the bills.

In the meantime, I keep saving in my annual IRA and doing without a lot of things that would make life a lot more fun, like eating out and going to the movies or even taking a vacation. Oh, well.

edit: Oh, yeah, and what Gronk Goks said.

[madrchsod]

7. no shit...58 here and looks like

i will die working. i guess i`ll be making up for all the years that i couldn`t work cause they sent my jobs overseas. ya it`s just an illusion for tens of millions of us poor bastards who got fucked over all these years.

[lovuian]

8. Baby Boomers screwed by inflation!!!

and medical insurance!!!

[teryang]

13. Agree, sorry to say...

I will never be able to stop working. Part of the purpose of the monetization of the debt and the false CPI figures is to erode SS payments. As far as a formal pension plan, there isn't any for most boomers. If you think your 401K or IRA is going to do the trick, stand by for the next megafraud from the financial elites.

[Zorra]

9. After republicans terminate Social Security next year, very few boomers

will ever be able to consider retiring.

[fortyfeetunder]

10. and after SS is eliminated, Medicare

we will be literally be working ourselves to death...

[Delphinus]

11. What do you know ...

that I don't know? Why do you say the repukes are going to terminate SS next year?

[Deja Q]

12. So much for jobs opening up for the kiddies.

Whoops! Seems like the price of freedom continues to go up...

[glasalle]

14. age discrimination

Since we are seeing age discrimination from the 40's on up, I worry about even being able to find a job after retirement. There is going to have to be a heck of a worker shortage at that time for employers to be interested in seniors. Besides the youngsters, we will be increasingly competing with foreign guest workers brought in on H1-B, L-1 and J-1 visas, not to mention all the work and jobs going offshore.

[On the Road]

15. I'm 51 and Have Been Planning for Years, Although Not Very Successfully

I have the IRA and company pension, which was changed to a cash balance plan worth only a fraction of what the annuity used to be.

I've spent the last seven years learning how to invest in the stock market with disappointing results, although it's gotten a little better this year.

I bought several cheap rental houses which will be paid for when I'm 66. They're still not cash-flow positive, but hopefully that will change and it will be a worthwhile investment.

Unless Social Security evaporates, I should be OK, although I am a long wasy from feeling secure. It takes a ton of money to retire reasonably well. How so many people can simply not plan is completely beyond me.

[kineneb]

16. had to cash out our retirement to get medical care now

Hubby cashed out all his retirement so he would qualify for MediCal/CMSP to cover his diabetes and renal failure. No private insurance will touch him and my (soon to be ended) job offered no benefits.

So we will live off of his disability and what odd jobs I can do while I care for him. Which just got more difficult...he had to go back into the hospital this morning after I found him writhing on the floor with low glucose/low body temp. Doc thinks he may have an internal infection after his surgery.

We have decided that saving for tomorrow is fruitless, as long as the gov. penalizes the medically indigent for having assets. The choice comes down to medicine and care now or saving for a non-existant future.

[schmuls]

17. may not be able to afford retirement..

at age 57, the earliest I can retire from my job and get full benefits. I keep thinking about the high price of a health care premium before I can collect Medicare! And who knows how high drug costs will go!

[Deja Q]

18. Old news to me; with the economy turning to diarrhea, why retire?

You'd want to keep building up that nest egg, not having a clue that when the walls come a'tumblin' down, it will be gone too.

The execs will still have theirs, however.



So if the corporations were outsourcing, figuring the geezers would retire and jobs would come back for us (and I doubt that very much)... oops to them.

Meanwhile someone with a thick thick accent who calls herself "Michelle" can't seem to get any of the social and cultural norms for whom she is dealing with even remotely correct, despite the stilted delivery of her lines. So she either has far more issues than I or she's operating and livin' in another country. Take your guess; companies generally don't hire the former.

[TrogL]

19. I have no intention of retiring

I'll keep doing my current job until I'm no long competent to do it then I'll probably end up as a security guard.

[latebloomer]

20. I just read you need $300K in savings

for each $1000 per month of retirement income.

WAY beyond most of our grasps.

My savings are nowhere where they need to be, and I still have 2 kids to put thru college.