Retirement Calculators

[Pete J]

Has anyone ever tried an online retirement calculator and not left feeling depressed? With all the talk of social security going away and long term health care costs, it's a wonder how anyone can retire. No matter how old I say I'll work, or how much more money I tell the calculator I'll put away each month, they all say it's not enough.

I think maybe I'll create a happy calculator. Any inputs you provide will give you positive feedback like "good start", "keep going", "great job", etc.

Just a rant, that's all.

[Tom]

I've found that retirement is a state of mind.  It definitely has nothing to do with money.  When I did all my retirement planning, gasoline was30-50 cents a gallon, haircuts 75 cents to a dollar, bread 30 cents a loaf, milk $1 a gallon and you could actually afford to buy fish in the store.  Who would ever plan for $2 fuel and $15 haircuts.   :D

[WH_Conley]

Who wants to retire and just sit around and corrode. Besides in line with Tom's post I don't think you can put away enough to beat inflation. Sold house used to live in town a few months back, paid out of debt. My wife said "Now you gonna slow down a little" I said "Sure, I don't expect the farm next to us to be on the market for a few months anyhow". She won't even talk to me about the subject anymore. Back to the original post, I think most of those calculators are designed by companies with a vested interest in you keeping putting money in them. Personally I like real estate, only one tiny problem, figuring out how to pay for it. Do your own calculations, those things will make you pull your hair out. I'll shut up now.

[DonE911]

Being young ( 34 ) the most depressing thing is the fact that Social Security may very well be a thing of the past... even if I live long enough to collect it.  Now I have to pay into it to support the Baby Boomers in their retirement years. Nothing against the Baby Boomers just a generalization for reference.
I suppose my kids will be paying into the Generation X retires, although that generation may never collect when the time comes.

I think I'll just invest my post tax dollars in myself and provide for my own retirement.....  if Social Security is still around then it will be gravy...   ofcousrse I might work until the day i drop also...

If I die poor, I wont do it with my hand out.

[Bruce_A]

The baby boomers have paid in more than they will ever draw out, at 34 you need to go aways before you start to pay for any of them.  With a general fund set up the way it is, we'll never have enough for a tax and spend government.

[Paschale]

You know, it's hard not to feel depressed when thinking about that stuff, but the way I look at it, at least when you're checking those online calculators out, you're way further along than most people.  Too many people aren't even considering retirement at all.  I may always "come up short" on those sorts of calculators, but just by the very fact that I'm realizing I'm coming up short, I'm still better off.  Basically, just makes me want to strive a little harder.  We don't have much pension stuff at work, so it's pretty much on us to plan for our future.  I do what I can, I guess, but when I get depressed, sometimes I just think how many people out there haven't even thought about it at all.   :

[etat]

I never thought much about retirement until back in 86 when I filed bankruptcy.  Although it seemed like the worst thing that could have ever happened to me financially, it changed my life in a way.  Up until then my credit ratings was up there with the best of em.  I always believed in paying off loans early and trying to save some interest. One thing I didn't do, was ever build up any savings.


After the bankruptcy which was mostly medical bills I managed to hang on to my little ole acre of land, my Mobil home which I reaffirmed during the bankruptcy and continued to pay for, and my ole pickup truck which I probably oughta just went ahead and let em have.

There was this one finance company that I had done business with for years.  I went and talked to em and they told me if I'd reaffirm and go ahead and pay em what I owed em they'd still do business with me if I got in a tight. I kept hammering at it til I paid em off too.

About 6 months or so later things went bad, it was winter time and I went to em and asked em for a small loan.  They wouldn't even talk to me, and turned me down.  

That was the year the highway patrol bought my kids Christmas.  I didn't ask em to but somehow they found out what a tight I was in and played Santa Clause.  I'm still very thankful for that for my kids sake, even though at the time I was feeling like a failure.  

I SWORE to myself I'd get back on my feet.  I SWORE I'd never be broke again.  I SWORE me and my family would never go hungry again.  I SWORE it.

When work picked back up, I was working at a factory at the time as was my wife, we started saving 10 percent.  From that day forward in our minds that 10 percent didn't exist.  Yep, it was hard, especially at first, but as years went by and raises and things kicked in it finally got a bit easier.  The ONLY time I, or we have EVER touched it was when we bought this place.  We borrowed against it, and paid it back.

I KNEW interest accounts weren't ever gonna build it up like I wanted so I put it in retirement mutual funds.  The first few years it was doubling about ever 3 or 4 years.  It did take a heck of a loss after the first of the millennium but as what money it did lose was money it had made I left it alone.

From there it sorta held steady a few years.  Then I roofed a local investment bankers house.  The guy had a excellent reputation of making a bit of money.  I investigated him a bit and talked to a bunch of people.  I decided to move the money and turn it over to him, again in a retirement account consisting of  mutual funds.  

I guess I been doing fairly well cause he's made back what I lost, and then some.  Again, I don't touch the money, ever. To me it doesn't exist.  I will say I haven't added to it in the last few years while I been building my house, mostly because I consider that an investment too.

Hopefully next year we'll completely finish this house and can start back adding to it.

My plan is, if it don't go plumb to heck, is a few years or so before I actually get ready to retire is to get him to move the money out of the mutual funds into some type of interest drawing account that will be completely safe.

It starts out slow, saving that is.  For a long long time it'll be a few dollars.  Then one day you'll notice it's hundreds of dollars.  The day will come that it'll turn into thousands.  That may take years, but ya gotta keep hammering. Along about then is when lots a people I've known mess up.  They draw out the money, and spend it.  You've got to leave it alone.  Live yer life like it ain't there.  Don't depend on the government.  Depend on yourself.  It ain't never too late to start.

I ain't never checked an online calculator.  I'll do what I can, the best I can, and try to adjust my lifestyle accordingly.  

I LIKE what  DonE911 said.

If I die poor, I wont do it with my hand out.

 

[J_T]

I beleave Tom is right it is a state of mind .I fixed the 15 dollar hair cut got me a set of pet clippers ;D 19 bucks even came with a vedio :D, I don't drink milk and cut down on my driving .Wish I could come up with a cheap way to get electric and I would be set . We raise most of our food and put it up for the winter I don't like all them posions they put in store bought food. : Don't like much being able to do what I want to . Key thing is I don't want to do much just eat good and enjoy life.

[DanG]

I retired on a small pension this year. My income went down drastically. My outgo went down, too. ;D  I ain't driving my dually 350+ miles per week. I ain't buyin' a big cup of coffee every morning for $1 a pop. I ain't spending $6-$10 per day on lunches. I also AIN'T payin' 12 grand a year in income taxes!  Add all this up, and I ain't all that far from breaking even.  If you factor in the fun I'm having, and the stress I don't have, I'm way ahead.

[TN_man]

Let us keep poor in perspective. A poor American is a rich man in many other countries. The main thing is to be content and not trying to keep up with the next guy. I moved to the place we live now for a reason. One of the poorest counties in Tenn. The people here don't have much and they seem to accept you for the way you are. I don't feel like I have to go change clothes before I leave the farm to run into town. I remember one time my son and I went to watch a H.S. football game and when we got there I looked down and here my son was in shorts and chore boots on. He didn't even think anything about it and I don't know that to many people even noticed, except the visiting team's fans probably thought that that confirmed that we were abunch of hicks. :D Oh well, we probably are. "Godliness with contentment is great gain"

[EdK]

I think the general American concept of "retirement" doesn't really fit the typical Forestryforum personality anyways. My grandfather "retired" at 65 however 24 years later at 89 years old he roofed his small barn. Sure it took him all summer long. My grandmother had a hip replacement at 90 and when I went to visit her the day she arrived home I walked into the kitchen to the sight of her in a walker wet mopping the kitchen floor while wiping the sweat from her brow.  ;D

My wife's side lived the more typical late 20th century lifestyle. Her dad retired early at 55, watched 7 years worth of TV and was gone by 62  :'(

I'm not saying don't plan but my retirement calculator includes more than just financial instruments. The land, buildings, trees, tractors and more should serve to augment the fixed/lower income and keep me occupied which I hope and pray also pays health dividends and some degree of longevity.

Of course nothing is forever and if things do eventually fall apart they are still assets after all... it's just that when my time's up I'd rather have it be somewhere out on the "back 40" rather than in front of a TV!

[Ed_K]

 I've decided that, if you didn't retire by the yr 2000 you never will  :(. Cides if you ever smelled sawdust, you'll have to keep workin to keep smellin that sweet smell  8).

[Pete J]

I tend to think about things like retirement as a means of crossing over from having to work to support the home and family, to working at things you want to do, without regard to how much it pays. I don't consider it the day I stop working, I consider it the day I don't have to work. It's all in the future for me anyway, I've got 25 more years to go at least.
Like I said, it was just a rant against retirement calculators.

[EdK]

I don't consider it the day I stop working, I consider it the day I don't have to work.

I hear you. I wasn't trying to paint the attitudes and expectations of the forum members with a broad brush. If anything I was trying to be upbeat in suggesting that maybe standard calculations are for standard people.

My grandparents didn't "have" to work either. maybe its just that when you've been doing it that long you can't stop  8)

[DanG]

I guess there's folks who can't reconcile my feelings on this subject, but I just can't picture life without some sort of struggle to justify what I have.  I don't buy lottery tickets, because I wouldn't want to live without the "power" of earning. If it was all just handed to me, I just don't think I could appreciate it and enjoy it.  I guess what I'm saying is, my joy comes from accomplishing, rather than having.

[SwampDonkey]

Talking about social security in USA or Old aged pension in Canada. In Canada that came out in the 60's and folks like my grandfather paid very little into it because they retired about then. He was getting way more in pension than he had paid into it, and spent it as fast as he could so he didn't bank any that might affect his pension 'supplement'. This was more money per month that he ever made working and had all kinds of money to live on in those years. Now I've paid into it for over 20 years and my alotment is a lousy $450/month, that wouldn't even pay rent, let alone food, insurance etc. How is this fair?  Any of these banks that show you the calculations on your savings , and how it grows when starting early vs starting late only calculate the interest at 6+%, and the last 15 years savings investment has been under 5%, last 10 years less than 1 %. Just goes to show ya that what you retire with is what principle you have. Don't count on anyone else's contribution to the pot. Banks and government are making money, not cherities.  ;)

cheers

[Ianab]

Gotta agree that the retirement calculators are set up by insurance companies with a vested interest in you giving them your money...
Will I retire with $500k saved for my retirement... not a chance
Will I own my house, a late model car. a sawmill.and some cash in the bank.. yup

As others have said the idea of 'retirement' may be becoming obsolete. If I'm able to I will be 'working' into my 70s, whether it's computer 'archeology'  or woodworking or whatever. Maybe I'll be the old bearded guy that specialises in recovering those family pictures from old Cds made under windows XP  ;)

Look back 20 years.. is the present day what was prediced then?

ahh.. too much philosophy for one night

ian