For the over 55 set .........

[Stinky The Clown]

.... show of hands ..... how many of your are scared shitless about retirement since the market took a dump?

How many of you now plan to postpone retirement?

How many of you are already retired and scared out of your wits?

I worry .....

[notadmblnd]

1. I just plan on dropping dead before I get to retirement.

I have about 2 more years till my son is grown, then I'm good to go.

I'm only 50, unemployed and not feeling good about anything today.

[Thickasabrick]

24. Awwww...I'd give you a heart if I had one. Hope things get better

for you. :hug:

[notadmblnd]

34. I now have two.. if it was you.. Thanks. if it was someone else, thank you too.

don't feel sorry for me, it's just a mood. I'm sure in a couple of days I'll be wondering why I was feeling so gloomy and feel silly over it. Maybe I need some... maybe I need some sunshine? I think I have some left over visits to the tanning salon. I bought them back when I had a couple of bucks.. Maybe that will help me feel better?

[Thickasabrick]

37. It wasn't me but I'm happy someone is spreading the "love". I'm

not feeling sorry for you- I've just been exactly where you are. Tanning bed sounds like a great idea. I wonder if my neighborhood one will run a recession special! I know they aren't good for you but I do it a few times in the spring just to "jump start" spring. Hang in there - things will get better.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. What is this "retirement" of which you speak?

[DesertFlower]

3. i'm 67. hubby is 61.

because he's been with the company for almost 40 years will get a pension. a few years ago we put everything in the 401k into stable value fund.

the thing that worries me the most is a long term illness. we have a policy covering him, but i can't get coverage.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. Meow...... things aren't looking like I thought they would, that's for

sure.

[glowing]

5. My mother is.. and I told her she's got 10yrs to rebuild her retirement..

and no matter what, she would NEVER end up on the street or uncared for... If we all must live together, we must.. Its lunacy for her to even think that she would be forgotten to her own misery. Family and friends and community is something we must strengthen.. AND fuck D.C. and wallstreet.

[silverweb]

6. I'm not scared...

...but I have no plans for retirement at all. I'll probably be working until I keel over at my computer.

[leftyclimber]

7. Hell, Stinky,

I'm 37 and I'm worried about it. My 401(k) is now a 101(k) ... or maybe even a 51(k). I can't even bear to look anymore.

My folks have lost everything due to an unscrupulous stock broker and are probably going to lose their house pretty soon; my dad, who has rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia, is working more hours than his body can take; and my mom is going to work full-time while putting off hip replacement surgery because of insufficient insurance.

I'm hoping they can hang on to their house long enough for me to get out of school and get a place where they can move in with me and my SO.

Me, I'm planning to work until I die.

:hug:

[marmar]

11. Fellow GenXer here.....I too am planning on working until I kick over.

:hurts:

[femmocrat]

8. My tale of woe.....

I can't retire because I would lose my health care benefits. That's the only reason.

I could probably manage fine on my pension and SS, but without health care, I'm stuck.

Too old to work, too young to qualify for Medicare. It sux.

[grilled onions]

9. Disability Got To Me Before I Could Fret Over Retirement

But it sure has put a cramp on whatever life style I could have dreamed up. Going out these days means a doctor appt,drug store or groceries. Entertainment is watching movies at home that others own. No cable,no vacation dreams,no big plans. Medications take a lot of it and utilities and taxes take the rest. But at the same time we are luckier then many. We do have a roof over our heads and it doesn't leak(at this time)and our pantry is full. You learn to accept the hand that is dealt and try to help others in any way you can. It's not always in the way of money but there are many others in need and you find creative ways to help each other.

[DesertFlower]

14. i understand.

i became disabled when i was 48. i'm 67 now. a good day is when i can get out for a few hours. fortunately hubby still works. he has a good job and we're okay financially, but there's nothing like having your health.

[Richard D]

10. I don't plan on retiring

Ever. So not too worried. I hope to die doing the work I love to do.

[spanone]

12. not scared shitless, but highly concerned....

[pink-o]

13. I never had much money invested in a 401K cuz I never made enough

not to live paycheck to paycheck for most of my working life! For the last 10 years, there's been a better cushion, but not enough for me to retire until I'm either 75 or 80.

Good thing I'm obsessive about my health and will be able to work for longer (how sad is that, really??) but I better keep the job I have because I can guarantee if I was searching now, I'd be passed over every time for someone 25 years younger (I'm 54, BTW). You're not supposed to discriminate against age, but we all know someone who's been told they're "overqualified" or some other code word.

So not only can we not retire, we can't even find better work to see us into our dotage!!

[gratefultobelib]

15. I have to give credit to our Public School Retirement system here in Missouri. My husband

and I are both retirees and are in good shape. We have money in the stock market but haven't had to draw on it too much, thank goodness. Then there are our 4 grown children who occasionally:rofl: need our help!

[Faygo Kid]

16. Hell, I'm scared shitless about employment. Just a few more years, please!!

Layoffs coming in two weeks at work. I think I will be OK, but as DeGaulle said, "The graveyards are filled with indispensable men."

I take nothing for granted. Retirement should be the least of anybody's worries aged 55-62.

[Uben]

17. I'm retired, and I worry.....

....for those who have been planning for years to be able to finally spend a few years doing what they want to do instead of what someone else wants them to do! The finest thing about retirement is control of your time......doing what YOU want to do WHEN you want to do it! This crisis conveniently hits just as the boomers are about to retire. We have known for years that we are probably going to get screwed out of our SSI benefits, so we put a little extra back to compensate, only to find it cut in half by a failed market. When it rains, it pours, and to be honest, it feels like it's raining piss. Through no fault of our own, our future is now as uncertain as the economy.

I

[TahitiNut]

18. I'm happy as long as I have a warm refrigerator box ... and internet.

:dunce:

[greenbird]

19. No retirement for us

We lost what we had a few years ago and realized that we'd be working 'til we dropped. It felt sickeningly scary then, especially in comparison to others our age who had retirement accounts, pensions, etc. . . . but now we are watching people we know - people who were "set" - inching closer and closer to where we're at. It's weird. I mean, we didn't follow the rules. They did. And we're both ending up in the same place. Weird.

[blues90]

20. I'm always worried about it .

I am 60 and haven't had a job since feb 2006 just sold some stuff and worked a bit where I could find it , just odd jobs that I could do. I spent years since 1985 suffering with anxiety and panic attacks on every med one could get on through that time and they only made it worse. But losing that last job and going through years of everyday searching for any job finally made me hit the wall to the point of a break down and now I am on disability and living as cheap as possible. Something inside me died where none of the things that i used to enjoy brought joy anymore and I fear now they never will again . I am just trying to get through each day and breath in and out and this does not get easier no matter what I try to do to get out of it. I really wonder how much longer I have got or can take it. I never would have thought that just getting out the door to go to a store would require hours of the test of ones will and nerve but it does.

I know I am far from alone , it is not about me but everyone who has lost their way and can't see a future.

[scarletwoman]

21. I'm not scared, who knows what's ahead?

I'll be 60 this November, I just want to hang on to my job for as long as possible. My house is paid off, my expenses are relatively low, I think I could make it on Social Security if I can keep working until the biggest benefits kick in (age 72?).

They just better not fuck with Social Security.

I've never participated in the 401k casino. Gambling isn't "saving", it's just gambling. I think it's one of the biggest cons ever perpetrated on the working class.

sw

[alfredo]

22. Not worried. What will be will be.

[cliffordu]

23. Not me. I live next to the bone anyhow, and lost all my retirement due to illness...

I got nothing...but I live in the woods, so....

I can live on squirrel meat and wild carrots....

And lots of twigs and leaves for filler.......

[southernyankeebelle]

25. Scared is an understatement

Well I quit work one and a half yrs ago because of health reasons. I tried to get disability but they turned me down. Yet I knew a retired colonel that got 100% disability for high blood pressure. I don't get it. But I didn't fight it because come Oct I can apply for early social security retirement. I won't have to cry about it because it's mine and I earned it. What little I will make a month I can take $100.00 a month for my granddaughters college education when its time for her to go. I only collected unemployment 1 time in the all the time I worked. It last 3 weeks until I got a job. Yes I am scared to death. But I come to the point I believe you can only have so much power that you can handle. We were never rich and we had a little money in the bank but from time to time had to fix things for the house and car and things like that. Now we are helping our son with his bills. It is very hard. We are supporting 2 households and all we are trying to do is make it til I can apply for my retirement and in another year our double wide trailer will be paid for. That house needs a lot of repairs. Hopefully, things stable off for everyone. I pray every day and night for all the people I don't even know. We are all in this together I know. But take a deep breath you only have so much control. The rest is in gods hands

[SammyWinstonJack]

48. You earned your disability payment too and shouldn't have been turned down.

x( I know several people who are on 100% disability and I can't figure how they managed that. :shrug:

[SammyWinstonJack]

49. My husband is 57 has been unemployed since Oct health problem are keeping him from working

and he is trying to get SS disability which won't pay the bills and with his 'luck' he'll probably be turned down, even though his cardiologist strongly suggested that he be on it. We have some savings but it's disappearing rapidly. I'll have to find some kind of job, at 55, probably as a Walmart greeter. :-( Yeah, the future looks real rosy.

[unapatriciated]

63. Yes you earned your disability...

re-apply most get turned down the first time. My son did and I helped him re-apply when he turned 18.
He is permanently disabled due to an illness similar to Lupus. He is now 30 and well enough after a long battles with active Dermatomyositis, to attend college in hopes of going into graphic arts.

[michreject]

26. I retired 2 years ago

at 54. I'm not worried................yet.

[handmade34]

27. movin' in with my kids once they get jobs...

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

28. Not worried

as I feel I am already retired--even though I work a full 40-hour week, and often more. Retirement is a state of mind.

[POAS]

29. 63 and worried

Savings in the shitter.

Company on the brink of disaster.

Health history includes cancer.

Scared doesn't cover it!

[Turbineguy]

30. I was retired

now I'm working again. When I'm 65 or so, I'll look at retiring again. I just have to remind myself that I'm better off than many and I should have been better prepared since I knew what was going to happen. I'm not really scared shitless and quite frankly, have a fair amount of hope for a brighter future for all of us.

[The River]

31. What Me Worry?

2.7 years to go. I have a hollow tree in a
National Park all ready to move in to. I'll subsist
on stolen pic-a-nick baskets.

[Dervill Crow]

32. I'm hoping to be employed until I die.

My dad was retired at 55; not me. I'm not smart enough to have built up enough retirement, and it probably would not have mattered anyway. :shrug:

[rurallib]

33. I am retired, but probably not for much longer

Would you like fries with that.

I have been through a lot in my life, but this is the first time I am honestly scared.
I don't even know where to go to find a job. Any help?

[emilyg]

35. I'm 70 and terrified.

[Individualist]

36. Retired and worried

65, divorced, no children and no one to help if I get in a serious financial bind.

[doc03]

38. I will turn 62 a year from now and have been planing

to retire. There is no way of knowing what will happen in the next few months. Some of my pension will come from the PBGC, if it even exists by then. The biggest part of my pension comes from the former owner of my company and they are also in trouble and there is a good chance that pension will also be dumpped on the PBGC. I am due another small pension from a Union Pension Trust, it has lost a lot of its assets in this mess and it is not backed by the PBGC. At the present time if we retire at 62 our health insurance is partially paid by the company and the steel business is worse than it has been in decades so that is questionable. Also at this time if you receive a pension from the PBGC you get a 65% tax credit on the premiums, that could fall apart to. I still plan on retiring next March if everything doesn't collapse by then.

[jillan]

39. Can I cry on your shoulder? I retired from --------

Bank of America.

I hated that stupid job, but hung in there for the benefits.

2/3 of my retirement funds went to a great Superbowl Party - and they didn't even invite me :(

[lamp_shade]

40. Nest egg is half what it was 9 months ago. Me worry? Yup. I'm 62.

[onethatcares]

41. I plan to retire like a mobster

go to a bank, use a firearm to rob it, sit outside and wait for arrest, plead guilty to Federal Time and take up some kind of craft while serving out the 20 year sentence.:hide:

[Tracer]

42. My "retirement" fund is worth half of what it was 6 months ago.

But there is nothing that I can do about that -- so why spend my days worrying about it?

As for retirement itself, I happen to like working. But I'm lucky enough to work for myself at a job that isn't demanding and also pays the bills.

However, if my customers decide to cut back, it will be another story.

[old mark]

43. I am retired for nearly 2 years now, I'm having no problems at all,

and not anticipating much of a downturn in my daily life.
Our "extra" money is in money market funds, not 401K's etc, and has been pretty stable. I think by the time I apply for Social Security this August, the economy may already be improving, at least in sectors.

People have a lot of confidence in Obama and that means a lot, which is why the Publicans are trying to tear him down.

mark

[trof]

44. 67, retired, worried

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

45. Retirement? What money for retirement? BTW...Friskies Prime Filets look better than the IAMS.

[Stinky The Clown]

53. I didn't want to appear concerned with extravagance ......

......... but what the hell ......

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

56. Yummy. BTW....

It's actually half the price of IAMS and about twice as much food. My kitties love the turkey and chicken.

And for that special occasion... Sheba Alaskan King Crab

[Vinca]

46. Fortunately we have simple needs and never planned to retire.

None of the retirement fantasies appeal to me. I have no desire to live in a McMansion on a golf course or travel the country in a luxurious RV or spend part of the year in the north and part of the year in the south. You'll find me in the garden growing my own food.

[proud2BlibKansan]

47. Me

I won't be retiring this year after all. :cry:

[peacefreak]

50. Retirement?

No such thing. Up until October I had a job that I loved, had worked in the same field for 20 years. The business closed & I've been on unemployment since. It certainly isn't enough to keep body & soul together. My rent takes 3/4 of the check & the rest goes to food & the bill of the month. Health care? Lost that as well.
I'm hoping that the Stimulus Bill will retrain me for something. Right now I'm living real close to the ground.

[SammyWinstonJack]

51. !

:hug:

[peacefreak]

55. Thank you

& right back to you.:hug: From what I've read up-thread you've got your hands full, too. Unfortunately I don't think my story is that uncommon. There's a lot of us in the same boat right now.

[SammyWinstonJack]

57. There are a lot of us in the same boat, unfortunately.

:-(

[Arkansas Granny]

52. Definitely concerned, but not scared shitless. I have a few years to work yet

and my employer has assured me that I can keep my job as long as I want, even if I want to go to part time status after retirement. My retirement account took a big hit, but I'm hoping that it will recover at least part of it's value in the next few years. My health is good and my living expenses are low. I'm in a better situation than some I know.

[DailyGrind51]

54. What is "retirement"?

I have to work to retain my health coverage and pay my ever-increasing utility bills. "Death" will be my retirement!

[femmocrat]

59. It's terrible, isn't it?

I know they will find me keeled over at my desk someday!

I would retire yesterday if it wasn't for health care. Some bright, energetic, young person who really needs a start could have my job and build a life. It just makes no sense to me.

:(

[a kennedy]

58. retired here, and if the market doesn't rebound pretty soon....

I'm gonna be working part time, if there is a pt job available..... :cry: :cry: :cry:

[DFW]

60. The only thing that forced my dad into retirement was death

I fear I will end up doing something similar.

His idea of retirement was going into Washington 4 days a week instead of 5.
That was at age 77! He never made it to 79. Pancreatic cancer will do that to you.

[SammyWinstonJack]

61. !

:hug:

[DFW]

64. He was the opposite of a type A personality, but....

He WAS what you might call "dedicated."

[madmom]

62. We are both retired and we would be doing ok if our son could find a job. We are helping him and

his family out with bills, and of course daughter in college. If all we had to worry about was ourselves we'd be ok.:shrug:

[lunatica]

65. I've used up my retirement while out of a job and to get out of debt

Since 2005. Forced to retire early due to my mother's life threatening illness plus the onset of Dementia. While having to take care of her for two years I had to use my 403B to get by which included paying a 10% penalty because I was under 59 and a half years old. During that time I had to use credit cards too. I talked my son into moving in with us to help out. In 2007 I got a part time job, then another part time job. Now it looks like I'm pretty secure in these jobs (at least for now) so I'm using the diminished 403B funds to pay off the credit card bills so I can reduce my monthly outflow.

I consider myself lucky to have had the nest egg to fall back on. I would look ridiculous pushing my 83 year old mother around in a shopping cart while homeless.

I'm 60 now.

[havocmom]

66. Retirement?

it's looking down the business end of my gun, I think.

[Justpat]

67. My husband and I lost everything last time the market crashed.

We lost every penny we had in 401's and stock market. (fucking Merrill Lynch)

Husband is 69, I'm 61. We figure we have to work till we drop dead.

Is this a great country or what?


We are heavy into the concept of the faith the size of a mustard seed thing right now
in an attempt to turn things around. Wish us luck.


:hi: