My wife was an RN for a group of family practitioners.
She took advantage of their 401K program and maximized her 401 payroll contributions. She even took advantage of an Sep IRA with the doctor she worked for.
In the 3+ decades that she worked for the group, not a single other nurse, receptionist or nurse asst. took advantage of the program. They said they could not afford it.
Yet, they could afford to stop at Starbucks every morning for coffee and breakfast to go before they came to work.
She took her lunch to work, and the other women went out to lunch. She tried to point out to the younger workers, by forgoing Starbucks in the morning and bringing lunch, they could max out on their 401k’s
Now, the reality is hitting those women as they are in their 60s or near 60 with minimal or zero $’s in a 401k or IRA.
If they are still married, most of the husbands did the same not contributing to their 401k’s.
My wife started collecting SS at age 62 and worked out plans with her company to stay under the max $’ she could make without penalties. She worked until she was in her early 70’s and worked out deals after she was 65 to get paid for the cost of what her medical program would cost the corporation. She put that into her 401K which allowed a larger percent donation past age 65.
We took out lines of credits versus student loans. So we and our adult children are not faced with that problem.
Now, we are in the process of obtaining a Reverse Mortgage
to continue to live the house we love and with great neighbors.
When some people carp and say we are lucky, my wife say, “Yes, but God helps those who help themselves. He didn’t save and fund our 401k’s and IRAs, we did.”
Our adult sons do the same as their mother did. They get coffee at their offices or work places and bring their lunches. They maximize their 401 k’s and IRA’s.
Now, we are in the process of obtaining a Reverse Mortgage
to continue to live the house we love and with great neighbors.
Just an FYI on reverse mortgages. I’m sure you’re doing your due diligence on it, but watch the fine print. Some less than scrupulous companies out there.
I was always a saver, but needed to get in tune with Dave Ramsey in order to win my wife over. We got aggressive in the last 5 years and are on plan to hit retirement comfortably. Am touting this to all my kids and they are at least turning their ship now and not waiting until cold reality is staring them in the face. It's the 60+ workers who didn't plan and can't retire that I feel for...