Retirement

depends on where you live

in Chandigarh, India you need about $3/day to live in a nice shanty

In Texas, a lot more

 

I take mini retirements. 9 months working, 6 months off. This way I can enjoy my retirement while still in my prime. I plan on working forever.

 

I always hear 80% of your current income.

 

We're gradually reaching the point where you'll have to continue earning income up until the day you die. If you don't ... sucks to be you.

 

Sounds like a good plan. Do you run your own business?

 

Very true. Nobody should count on Social Security and Medicare to remain solvent. Everyone's retirement plan should center around hoping for the best yet planning for the worst.

 

Not only that - pensions, unions, benefits, they're all drying up. Hell, the corporate ladder doesn't even exist anymore.

 

This is why we need to learn from Asian parents. Train your kids to be obedient and make them study. Then they can make loads of money to support you when you're old.

 

A teacher?

 

Agreed. I know people who really think that you can work at Burger King then when you hit 65 you're just set. This may be something worth teaching in highschool.

 

Retirement sucks.

Personally it makes me ill to see a perfectly healthy person in retirement. Especially if I'm paying for it.

It's like seeing 4 healthy people get of a car with a disable sticker in a disable parking spot.

Before you get bent, I said perfectly healthy. And anyway, people don't work as hard as they use to (hard as in physical work). If we're healthy we should be working into our 70s. Period. Paying for people to sit on their ass is what got us into this problem in the first place.

 

It actually depends. Sometimes it's better overall to pay people to retire.
The older/ more experienced worker gets paid a lot to work, easily twice as much as an entry level person, even when they may be less productive.
Plus it helps solve the unemployment problem. When they retire, they left behind an open job for you to fill.

 

Maybe, but just like when literacy hit big, if we all start doing it might not be as valuable.

 

Yes. I do internet marketing and run a few ecommerce stores. When I take time off I still work a few hours per week and let my assistants handle the rest. I can work from anywhere as long as I have my laptop.

 

Depends on a number of factors. I never anticipate retiring, just cutting back (either working part-time at my CPA firm, or teaching).

I'm hoping to never draw from my retirement, but hopefully I'll have SSI and $2M+ in my retirement account.

 

This is funny. I was laid off from a job a few years back. Between my savings, some small business income and my severance, I was able to take well over a year off without sweating money. When I decided it was time to starty looking again, a great job fell into my lap and I jumped back into the working life with new enthusiasm and direction. My extended time off was probably the best time of my adult life. I fished, played some golf, worked around the house, went to movies, took some mini-vacations and just chilled.

I will probably never take that amount of time off of work again but should I find myself unemployed again, I will certainly take a few months off before I even start looking again.