Posted on 10/16/2006 4:26:06 AM PDT by shrinkermd
"...He’s not alone. According to a 2005 study by the Boston College Center on Aging and Work, traditional retirement where employees totally stop working may never happen for most baby boomers. Instead, the study suggests that 50%-66% of retirees will be vying for bridge jobs, parttime or short duration work for at least five years after retirement...
(Excerpt) Read more at epaper.investors.com ...
The average size home for a family of four was, I think, 936 sq. ft. There was one car in the family. The mother stayed home to take car of the children. There was one radio in the home, later for the extravagant a TV with a 12 inch circular screen. There were no fishing boats (just a fishing pole), the man of the house had a toolbox, not a machine shop. The wife collected fresh vegetables from the garden and canned them. And on and on. If you want to do that, you can probably live on one income.
Why is it a pipe dream? Eliminate socialist tax-and-redistribute schemes, and tax bills would fall sharply, boosting take-home pay and saving ability substantially. There are very few areas of the country where a decent little house can't be had for $125,000. In a lot of areas it's less, and in areas where it's significantly more pay scales are generally a lot higher too. A two-income couple living on one income should be able to save $125,000 in 5 years, if they make an effort. For lower wage-earners this will mean putting in overtime or a second part-time job, but that's easy to do when you don't have children to take care of.
People, wait till your job description gets redefined into something that you can no longer do, whether it's because of age or health or whatever. HR knows this, it's how they trim the workforce. You'll be forced to retire, then the people in HR will get a big bonus. (And then the bustards go to hell, but that's a topic for the religious threads.)
Best of luck, Robin Hood!
Bump to add my 2-cents later.
Easily - most families back in the '50s didn't have 2 or 3 vehicles, they didn't live in 2500 sq. ft houses, they didn't have boats, snowmobiles, motorcycles and vacation homes, they didn't have televisions in every room, their kids didn't have cell phones or $200 designer shoes and bedrooms stuffed with every conceivable product imaginable, kids weren't given thousands of dollars worth of toys every birthday and Christmas, women didn't get their nails done every week, people didn't have lawn services or nannies, people didn't eat out 5 times a week, closets weren't bursting to the seams with hundreds of articles of clothing that will never be worn, closet shelves weren't lined with 40 pairs of shoes, people didn't cook at home with every luxury food item from anywhere on the planet available at the local grocery store, everyone didn't have the "top of the line" appliances and electronics and cars didn't cost 1/2 of the average yearly income.
That's just for starters.
There are two old guys where I work that "retired"..both for about a year. They both said that they about went nuts.
I retired 5 years ago and don't work and I haven't gone nuts. I don't have any serious hobbies but love to read, listen to music, visit with neighbors and do the small things I never had time to do while working. I get up early and go to bed early and am leading a very enjoyable and peaceful life. Retirement is what you make of it and what you expect from it. I learned very quickly that the stress involved in keeping busy is not always worth it.
OK. I'll add the pill as well!
However, for another thread a long time ago, I invested significant time in researching the ages of women having abortions and as it turns out even women in their late 20's and early thirties were aborting in the early 70's. Could have been a third or forth child.
Socialism is not the answer to anything. Freedom to decide how you are going to live your life is the key. She should thank God Almighty that she lives in America.
And to the poster who said I needed a new accountant, if you knew what the gross was that I paid the 123k in taxes on, you'd be asking me for his phone number.
I think I'll need a bridge job if I want to keep living.
My parents retired at about 60 and dad just died at 85 and mom is still living at 87. They don't have hobbies, just lots of friends and family and a good nest egg. So don't expect to die two years after you retire unless you want to.
Retire as soon as you can and enjoy a committment free life of leisure. Hope you saved for it though.
First, the part in bold will never happen. Next, you expect 2 working people to pay $25,000 per year OVER what their other expenses are for a house when they are in their lowest earning years. Even if their housing was half of their income (which wouldn't qualify for a mortgage, I believe), you're talking a combined income of $50,000 per year for two people in their early 20's. The median income for ALL Americans is only $42,000.
This says nothing of paying back student loans, or furthering their education. I'm not saying this can NEVER be done. But it is unlikely.
I'll have to find something to keep from being bored to death.
I solved that problem when I retired. I read and am now an expert on any subject you can bring up. I am now probably the smartest retiree on earth now.
Heh...by the time I retire, the guvmint will be taxing IRA and 401k withdrawals at about 60%.
Maybe so - but the peak year for abortions was in 1990. That wasn't the Baby Boomers (most of them were 40 or close to it) - that was Gen X having THOSE abortions.
Yeah, I read...and do a lot of computer stuff. I'll need something (in addition to gardening) to get myself off the couch and out of the house.
It's 12:33 EST.
I'd call you a cynic, if I didn't agree with you so much. I've got 34 paydays left until I retire (but whose counting). And then I'm out of there on the Friday before my 62nd birthday. And I don't trust anyone who works in HR anywhere.
Like I say, I don't trust any of them. And I work for a GOOD company. They keep you around as long as they need you, then sayonara, baby.
Fortunately, they have me stacked up with 5 years worth of projects, so I think I'll make it before they're "done with me". I hope.
school teachers were suddenly replaced by semi-retired older people.
And I thought I was a dreamer. LOL
Then, along came feminism and convinced women that they couldn't be fulfilled unless they had a career, and within a few years, the work force roughly doubled.
Productivity didn't double though, and the new norm became that you had to have two salaries coming in to survive.
If you don't have a strong reason to get out of bed in the
morning the END seems to catch up with you much sooner.
Not necessarily. I'm doing quite well 5 years after retirement and just take life slow and easy with as little stress as possible. I made friends and have a great family and am enjoying the little things in life now that I never had time for while working. I have no hobbies and simple interests and find those interests enough. If stress of any kind begins to creep into my life I make immediate and deliberate changes to get rid of it. That's the killer.
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