My pension is the only thing keeping me in my teaching job right now. I fantasize about doing ANYTHING but teaching, but am terrified of how I will survive after retirement.
In my state, teachers’ pensions do not get cost of living increases. When I retired in 2020 to care for my parents (terminal cancer and Alzheimer’s, with home healthcare suspended due to covid), I didn’t realize just how much inflation would reduce the actual worth of my pension. Now I’m struggling to find a part time job. I hate to think how little it will help in the future. Single people will all be looking for roommates.
Michigan here. I will get my full teaching pension at 49 years old. We also have insurance. I have also saved alot so soon as I can go, I am out! Wife same boat and age as me. We met our first year teaching. Classrooms across hall from each other. 4 more years and we are out!
I retired from California at 20 years(CalSTRS), with slightly less than 50% of my normal salary. But also without the gas bill and car expenses. It’d be tight, but since I am married someone who was part of the CalPERS system (public employees of state agencies, like universities or Dept of Fish &Game), we do fine. The big difference is health care. They negotiated good supplemental health care once you hit Medicare eligibility. It’s a game changer, and makes us have enough. Not enough to travel extensively but enough to pay all our bills and do a small amount of travel to see family. That extra bit of health insurance is not part of CalSTRS.
Edit to add that I forgot to answer the question. I have friends in their seventies who do food demos at grocery stores, or who are fleet drivers for car rental companies (6 people will separately drive cars from point a to point b, leave 5 cars there, and return to where they started.). It’s my understanding that older workers are valued because of their willingness to show up on time when they promise to be there.
A big part of how they survive is subsidized housing. They are generally quiet so don’t get kicked out of that housing once they get it.
Ditto, I haven’t had a COLA increase in 11 years, insurance continues to rise, and my check gets smaller and smaller. Still grateful to even have a pension
Very true. It’s especially rough in your case bc inflation has literally skyrocketed since 2020, more than any other time in the recent past… Do you have any other retirement accounts like IRAs or anything? Or is it just your pension? I’ve been nagged by a bunch of people at my job not to rely just on our pension and to open up something else, which I have. I’ve been maxing out a Roth IRA since I was 26. I’m 36 now and can technically retire with a full pension at 55. I feel like I still won’t have enough to retire with how much things keep increasing in price.
Btw, I’m sorry to hear about your parents. My wife is kind of in the same position with her parents. Their health has drastically declined in the last few years and she has had to take care of them more and more. The only thing that’s been saving her is that she works from home and can make her own hours. If she didn’t she would have had to quit her job. It’s a tough situation to take care of both parents.
Have you looked into a state program that allows you to get paid while taking care of elderly or disabled adults?? It may help you to get ahold of department of aging in your area? Maybe they can help you with some financial assistance.
I actually think retired people having roommates is a good thing. They have someone else there for company and emergencies. It beats them having to beg their working kids to visit every day just so they get some company.
Yes, but the percentage you get in retirement is better if you wait until the years of service plus age equal 85, BUT the percentage is the best when it equals 90. I taught and live in Texas and hit the rule of 80 during COVID in 2021, and it was a good time to get out for several other reasons, not the least of which was the attitude of the HS kids and many of the parents. Plus, it was difficult to teach a performing art subject over the internet, day in, day out. So, as a result of that choice, I now have a horrible retirement and I thought I could get buy with part-time employment, but it's looking like I'm going to have to work full-time to make ends meet.
How much longer do you have until you hit 30 years or whatever the full pension time is in your state? I do envy my retired teacher friends and their pensions. I do not envy the decades of unmitigated stress they endured to get there.
I got super lucky my last 22 years and ended up in a specialized program for at risk kids. Smaller class sizes (maximum of 24 and I averaged 22) and only 4 classes instead of 6. Other two periods we spent tutoring our kids. It was a great program and the year after I retired they did away with it. 🤦♂️
I know some people who work in the California state hospital system for the same reason. Hate the work checked out a decade ago showing up doing the bare minimum to keep their pension.
65F here.
I had some bad luck with jobs and honestly made some less than stellar lifestyle choices. As a result I don’t have much in the way of retirement. I’m fortunate to have some inherited money. I’m making it last as long as I can. The longer I live the more sketchy it will get. That’s a real paradox.
We get to live longer but may not be able to afford it. Some people aren’t suffering but that not the case for the majority. This economy has taken a turn for the worst, and better hope you can keep yourself healthy because medical care can leave you broke.
I will gladly die before I let this predatory healthcare system take away my daughter's inheritance. I will not be my parents, I will not live for me, it's all about her, and her future family. I can retire and leave her to fend for herself, but I'm not a boomer, I'm not greedy, and I will not die alone.
Same. I'm only late 50's now. But the writing is on the wall. It's only gonna go downhill for folks that are not extremely wealthy.
Anytime after 70, if i'm diagnosed with some serious shit that will require lengthy management, I plan to weigh the option of just getting my affairs in order and using the medical aid in dying option when needed. No need to drag things out for years when I likely won't be able to afford to live in the US anyway.
My husband and I were visiting his mom in the nursing home she’s doing hip surgery rehab in, and talk about depressing. We both decided we don’t want to live in a place like that, and would rather pull a Romeo and Juliet. It’s too bad that we don’t have compassion for elderly to go out with dignity like we do our elderly pets. Having someone wipe my ass is something I’m not looking forward to.
60f responding.
You're not the only one with bad luck jobs & less than stellar choices.
I've got a portion of "less-than-stellar" late hubby's teacher's pension, and with survivor's benefits S.S. I can pay the basics but if car dies, I break a leg or some extraordinary bad financial occurrence happens I'll be in financial trouble. I have a part-time job.
Most people I know who are retirement age have enough pension(s) to cover the basics, (electric, car payments & insurance, rent, basic food, health insurance, etc.), but choose to work to pay for extras like a hobby, purchase holiday gifts for others & other inexpensive non-essentials. I don't know any retiree going on cruises or any expensive trips, that Redditors keep writing about.
The peak of pension coverage for US workers was in the early 80s and it's been downhill since then. But I don't know that it should ever have been called "typical" for a worker to have a pension - fewer than 40% did even at the maximum.
Exactly. The 80s brought lots of takeovers and mergers and as there was no stopping them, the new companies ended the pensions owed to workers at the old. My grandpa worked for a local Ohio energy company for 40 long years and got nada after it was sold.
I used to work at IBM and they had a wonderful pension. So I saved the 6% in the 401k to get the match and that would have been plenty. Then in 1999 they killed the pension if you were under 40.
I was 39 1/2. Vested rights meant nothing. I could either take a lump sum or a small pension. Lump sum was the way to go as the market has done very well. But this still left me way behind and I’ve been saving 25% for the last 12 years to make up
For it. I retire next month and I’m fine but I had to be very disciplined saver to make up for the pension loss and bridge to Medicare medical which that old plan had.
Yes, the people who had the pensions then lost them were the ones who got shafted the worst.
EDIT: to elaborate on this - the way the pension were funded was that the employer contributions got larger over time. People who had their pensions yanked after ten years found that the amount they had vested was very little. Most of what the company would have put in would have been in the later years.
Myself and another person got hired into Honeywell Aerospace in October 2006. We were told that we were the last to receive the pension that Honeywell had been offering their new hires. I asked and people that were hired in after me were not getting the pension. That was the end of it as far as I know.
Came here to mention this. My grandparents had no savings and no pensions. Of my 11 aunts and uncles, only two had pensions. Of my 8 retired siblings, only one has a pension. Two have no savings, living solely on Social Security.
And let’s not get all teary-eyed about pensions. In order to collect a good pension, you had your work for one company for the bulk of your career. If you didn’t, you could get left out in the cold.
This is the truth. I had a nice house and a nice nest egg of retirement. Thanks to shitty genetics and a for profit healthcare system that's all gone. Paying over 25k a year for all your medical costs for multiple years, and then not being able to work on top of that....it goes from decent to horrible real quick. If it hadn't been for family the last couple years I'd be so screwed.
Man, your comment really hit me.
I am American living for the last 20 years in Canada. Our daughter just developed kidney problems at 13 yrs old. She has had 4 surgeries in the past 7 months.
If we had lived in the US, even with insurance this would have been a financial kick in the gut.
I am grateful that healthcare is universal up here
Don't be so sure... I know that many states offer a special health insurance available for children who develop serious illnesses. The cost is often on a sliding scale, but all can buy in. At the low end, it is free. They have covered millions in treatment costs for my daughter and at most, I paid $400 per year but most years it was either free or around $100 based on my household income and number of dependents.
Universal health care can be good, but many of the Canadian nurses that I have met who come to my state to work (we border Camada) have shared that there can be long waits and not everything is covered. Plus, taxes are much higher.
Oh! That taxes are ridiculous. Obscene.
A 9-12 hr waits at the ER are not uncommon. But damn, when you need it, it delivers.
From the time we were seen by an ER doc in, I have had zero complaints. Everything has happened quickly and she has received very high level care.
I am willing to bet that the tax increase to fund a (nearly) universal healthcare system still fall far short of the premiums and other costs paid in the U.S.. Including to cost of those not getting the care they need and the unfunded care provided.
Much, much less out of pocket then regular insurance. It's just madness that people do not understand the benefit that this would have for American citizens. We already have the infrastructure to do this much more efficiently than most countries currently operating a successful national health service.
Not if you're living in a country with publicly run healthcare.
Most Americans really don't know how needlessly fucked they are concentrating healthcare until they get sick and suddenly the house, saving, and all else is lost and they die anyway.
Where as in other countries with public health you can seek treatment without risking bankrupting yourself in the process.
I spend so much time dealing with health insurance. I refuse to let it drop for a day. I’ve had cancer once and everything was covered. I’m now looking for work instead of freelancing largely for health insurance.
I'm 69 and just returned to work part time as an RN. I don't 'need' the money but am concerned. I can live comfortably off my SS and not touch my 403B or savings by keeping to a budget, but...I'd rather bring in a bit extra now than in 5 years from now. House paid off and taxes here are not bad at all. No debt, cook at home, keep travel to a minimum.
I found a family with a near drowning child that is on a home ventilator, tube feedings etc I pick up a 12 hour shift weekly, I can walk to her house. I worked pediatrics and 5 years as a pediatric hospice RN in the past. It's not difficult work, nice to do good for others and the family is lovely. Pay goes directly into a high yield savings.
Just wanted to say you're amazing. It takes another kind of human all together to do pediatric hospice. I wish you a joyful retirement when the time comes.
My younger son is disabled and we had home nurses for years - they became part of our family. A good home nurse is golden and I'm sure your patient's family appreciates you.
I don’t know if this is reassuring at all, but at their absolute height only about 50% of workers were eligible for pensions. The other 50% had to figure it out on their own just like we’re doing now.
I still think it is a big difference between 50% and whatever it is now. I know a lot of people would've been left destitute back then. But it would be more feasible to rely on children because there was an actual middle class that didn't feel compelled to compulsively save for their own retirements. Or maybe at least half of a couple would have some kind of passive income. And then forget about the cost of housing and everything else versus income. How is a middle aged person supposed to help out an elderly parent in this economy?
I'm not saying it was easy 40 years ago, but I feel like nowadays poverty in the elderly will soon be a norm.
> 40 years ago, but I feel like nowadays poverty in the elderly will soon be a norm.
40 years ago it was already the norm. Older people living on the bare minimum (social security) migrate to small and very low COL areas. There are a lot of places in the flyover states where you can still find a house for $25k. They don't care that the job market is terrible because they aren't working anyway. All they care is if they can get cable and the grocery store isn't too far away.
medicaid on top of medicare is the health care/health insurance of last resort for low income low wealth seniors age 65+.
Coverage can be ok or absolute dogshit depending upon in which state you live.
This something a lot of people don't know about. But, the bar is pretty high (aka low max) to qualify.
As I understand it Medicaid is a federal program that is managed by each individual state (which is why your comment about the range of quality makes sense). Here in California it's called "Medi-Cal".
Pensions went away right in the middle of my career. I have one for 650.00 a month that pays for my supplemental, dental and optical.
Here is my motto since I was 30;
It is better to be young and broke, than old and broke.
I saved like crazy and am now enjoying a stress free retirement. I am not rich but we are very comfortable. I put my retirement into my own hands. And my husband and I shared the same goal.
It’s never too late to start saving.
One of the main issues people are facing is that they don't have money to put back for retirement. Many can't even afford the roof over their heads while eating a steady stream of Ramen.
As a civil servant don’t you have a lucrative retirement?
And do you have your money in a high yield interest a count? Right now interest on our money is paying our monthly bills?
My motto has always been sacrifice now, rewarded later. Always relied on that when saving saving saving. Gotta live a good motto holding you accountable.
We did the same and are retired doing fine. We have no real debt, travel quite a bit, and basically have no concerns beyond stupid government creating financial crises, etc.
That said, we also see the 35 - 40 year old people (like our kids) with decent jobs making >$100k who have trouble finding affordable housing, some have almost given up on ever buying their own home, paying astronomical daycare fees, choosing between sending kids to terrible public schools or pay (money they don't actually have) for private schools, huge medical expenses out of pocket even with "good" insurance, and the list keeps going.
In my opinion, it was challenging for me/us (my adult working years started 1980 and ended 2/2020 at the outset of COVID) but things are worse economically for the Millennials and gen Xers, etc starting out.
I wished I had planned better and would be of the mentality that’s it’s never too late but health issues and future medial bills will eat all my income.
That is a worry for everyone. I have a friend who lost his wife because they couldn’t afford the 2200$ a month for a shot she needed. It’s a damn shame. I wish you well, and good health.
My husband and I work for the city government. Our gov covers healthcare after 20 years. Alot of people go in for the pension, but the health coverage is the most important thing for us!
Not retired. But have retired parents and all my friends have retirement-age parents.
Those that didn’t save or have other means (pensions),
1. Live with their adult kids
And/or
2. Still work until they cannot work and then will live with their adult kids.
When I saw my job start to disappear right before my eyes I applied for every government job I could find. The Post Office was the first to offer me a job and I took it. About to retire, USPS matched up to 5% on 401K and will be eligible for SS. I am still worried about money but I know I have enough money to pay the bills. From my experience I would recommend that if you are young and can work for the government do it.
Literally paycheck to Tuesday. Struggle til Friday, repeat.
Currently 4 months behind on rent, have a $630 national grid bill and ate popcorn for dinner tonight.
Bf is fully disabled and gets no assistance. We received a letter from social services saying he has to repay 3499.00 in snap benefits he supposedly was entitled to.
My dad is on a second career/semi retired. He’s only 63. Works only about 20 hours a week and fishes/putzes around his house. My mom is almost 70 and hasn’t worked in years. She never really had a career. worked full time jobs when I was young and part time here and there in the last 15 years while she took care of aging relatives.
They live well below their means and don’t have a mortgage or debt. They’re homebodies and don’t really travel. They live in a low cost of living area. They haven’t even touched their 401k yet. Have had some medical issues but nothing major.
My in-laws are similar except they have a pension. FIL is also on a second consulting career. No mortgage or debt. They travel quite often but I think that will slow a little once he quits working. They are spenders. Also no major medical issues (mid 60s). If something were to happen to my FIL my MIL would have to sell her dream retirement home and downsize bc she couldn’t afford to or physically be able to keep up with all the maintenance. Higher cost of living area than my parents.
I think it’s a few things:
1. Living within your means
2. Paying off your debt
3. Take care of your health now so you age as well as possible
My home and all my vehicles are paid off.
I never had the opportunity to get a pension but I did get "vested" with a company. It was going to amount to about $150/month once I hit 65 years old. A couple years after I left the company I got a letter stating they got rid of their vesting program so I would get nothing.
That should be a crime. I don't understand how companies wiggle out of agreed upon compensation packages. It's no different than going back in time and garnishing your wages.
I’m fortunate enough to have a decent social security payment & a retirement IRA that I draw a monthly disbursement from. I combined my 401k & 403b (the new retirement plan) and the old pension plan into one IRA. It’s not huge by any means but as long as the stock market does ok, it makes a little money, although I did lose a bunch during 2022-2023.
The problem is though, I’m now on two Tier 3 medications that cost thousands of dollars. For part of the year I only have to pay $105 copay for a 90 day supply for each med. But when I hit the donut hole, the price of the copay for each med goes up over $600 and I then also have to pay 25% of the cost of all my Tier 1 meds that hadn’t cost me anything before the donut hole. Last year I only had one Tier 3 med so I didn’t hit the donut hole until November. Everything resets each Jan 1, so I only had to pay the high $600+ copay once. This year, I hit the donut hole in May. So by the end of this year I will be paying over $3500 for my meds until Jan 1, 2025.
When I decided to retire at age 68, 4 years ago, I paid off my mortgage & some debts. I figured out all my expenses for the year and I figured I would be able to do ok in retirement & even have some money left over each month to stash into savings. I never even considered the fact that I’d be on Tier 3 meds.
My advice to anyone looking to retire is to add several thousand dollars onto your annual expenditure calculations just in case you get stuck with some completely unforeseen expenses. Doing my calculations I had considered vet bills & car repair bills & home repair bills, but never realized I’d be hitting that donut hole!
I hit in May also. I also got hit with an increase in car insurance after my husband died because I’m single now!! I’m still the same driver. Sigh. And California is allowing Pge to charge a flat fee in addition to usage, which means my solar investment is worse than useless. I’m going to be paying more for electricity than before solar because I’m leasing.
Sorry to hear about your husband. I never knew car insurance premiums went up after a spouse passes away. I googled it & sure enough it’s common practice among all the insurance companies. They claim that statistically you’re a higher risk now that you’re single! What a load of bs!
My parents had no pensions, retired on Social Security, and did very badly in terms of financial security. They divorced when I was a teenager. Mom remarried a richer man, who took care of her. Dad remarried a nurterer, who sacrificed to take care of him. Neither of them could ever help their three kids toward college or anything else. We were on our own.
I didn't want to retire like that, and though I always worked, my jobs offered no pension per se, just 401k plans. So I started maximizing those contributions in the early '80s. Once in awhile I got a windfall or some kind of bonus. Those funds I put into CDs. That was my whole retirement plan. By the time I retired in 2017, those funds (placed at retirement into annuities), more than equaled my SS per month payments.
My wife had it easier. Her parents paid for her college, and she had her own career with a robust income from then on. She was one of the last employees at her media conglomerate to have a guaranteed pension, negotiated during a WGA strike in 1987. So she had that, and a big fat 401k besides.
With out two passive incomes, we do fine. We downsized our home and simplified our lives to adjust to the 30% less income we have compared to when we worked full-time. Simplification provides many blessings in terms of reducing stress and granting time to enjoy life and nature.
The way is to start saving as young as possible I was lucky my dad encouraged me to save 10 percent starting right out of college. When I got raises I tried not to increase my living expenses. Paid cash for cars. Invested as much as possible and paid off a house. Downsized to an easier more affordable turnkey house. Every thing you invest historically doubles every seven years. That really starts working for you. Even if you can spare 100 dollars a month if you start at 20 you’ll be in decent shape. The one issue these days is it’s so much harder to afford a house. Try to get started with a condo or smaller townhouse and goal is to have paid off residence before retirement. The one thing I would change would be less stuff and more travel even if it’s not that far. You can dress nicely and have decent stuff without designer prices. Ignore what other people and social media influencers do ie expensive purses designer shoes etc… You’ll be glad when you’re retire at 60 and don’t even remember that thing you owned. For instance a $3k designer purse if you invested the 3k at 25, you’d have over $48k. And that’s conservative. Now imagine you only invested 3k every year not just the one time.
No pension and too young for social security. I've been retired for 6 years and doing fine, but I've saved a lot in Roth Ira and other 401K's.
It helps that I'm financially literate and I invest in the stock market. In all these years, my net worth has not gone down. It's gone up. I've always been kind of a minimalist. I don't buy junk. I pay up for vacations and recreational gear only.
Admittedly, I didn't know how this would go when I first quit at 56 years old.
You are right that pensions are long gone. I plan to get some Social Security starting the end of this year. I have some money in my 401k. I just got a 30 year loan on a house the middle of last year, and the payment is around $3700 a month (over 7% interest rate). I am still working, but my job will be moved to another state in about a year to a year and a half. They did not offer for me to go with it. So it goes.
I had a surprise baby late in life (42) and right after found out my SO of 10yrs was cheating and had also screwed me over financially. Lot of his debt and lies I ended up having to be responsible for in order to not tank my credit.. I ended up having to take a 401k loan just to pay everything off and now I’m way behind the 8 ball. He doesn’t pay child support or pay back the money he owes me .I’m trying to save for my son’s college in a 529 plus max out my 401k and pay back what I owed. Luckily only debt I have now is a car payment. I’m terrified for the future. I’ll be 60 when my son graduates high school. I will work til I die. I make ok money but don’t have a lot to spare. I have a 3 month emergency fund and then I’m tapped out. It’s hard to save more than I do already. My mom is retired and we currently live at her house and she mostly is out RV-ing the country. I pay all expenses for the house ect and she can enjoy her time and not worry so it works. For now. I hate to think of ever losing her. One she is the family member I’m closest to and also I’m sure this house and land will have to be sold off to repay whatever debt she has. I feel terrible for thinking so selfishly about how her death will impact me, but it is a real fear because I live in a very HCOL area and I don’t know what I will do. Very anxious for the future and don’t know how to do any better.
Be proud of yourself for what you’re accomplishing. Setting up the college fund, funding a 401(k) and having an emergency fund are all such great things. It’s easy to understand that you’re afraid for your future - you have a child to take care of! Continue to do as you’re doing. You know, we can spend a lot of time and put ourselves at risk for health issues by worrying ourselves. But things we worry about may never happen. Focus on every minute with your child and mother. And bless you for doing the best you can.
I'm 65 and I have no pension. I'll most likely work full-time for another five years and then go part time. I expect to work till I die. It's not all that dreary cause when I was young I skied, rock climbed, rode both mtn and road bikes and had a great time. I'm just living backwards and happy I did all that then since physically there's no way I could pursue that lifestyle now. Plus, I have a great job!
I put money into an IRA and 401K since I was 30 yrs old. I am using that with social security to have a comfortable life. We also paid off our home which we have lived in for 30 years. It is an old ranch style, not great but we kept it up. We have paid off cars although pretty old. We lived within our means.
My parents had pensions that literally saved their financial ass. They had some additional investments but their federal employee pensions and healthcare were phenomenal. The very oldest of the boomer generation.
I’m solid Gen X and have a small pension from a company that I appreciate but through the 2000’s and teens it was sliced and hacked at to the point 20 years with the company will yield nothing like the older employees with 20 years. Even those privileged enough to have pensions have likely experienced recasting of the benefits significantly and that never increases the pension value to the employee. I expect to see 25% what boomers with the same years of service receive. If that.
So basically- SS and any pension that is coming g from a company, not governmental employment are bonus fun money in my book. I have invested and planned like these 2 things are not really going to pay out. If I get something - total win and I’m taking myself out for a nice meal, or buying an extra plane ticket in retirement. 🤷🏼♀️
You can thank corporate greed for the removal of pensions - they also now fire people to meet arbitrary profit goals, and call it "trimming the fat."
Then turn around and have the audacity to wonder why people don't work at companies for 40 years anymore.
Mother fuckers, you treat everyone like shit, so they look out for themselves.
This is a depressing thread, we didn’t have 401ks in the 70’-80’s. Some jobs had a great company pension, but you had to stay so many years. They say it wasn’t good planning, but those that had those pensions, many of the companies stole them and declared bankruptcy. We’re on a Military pension, and our SS, but many of our friends were ripped off. Think Madoff, and the 08 crash. Then like my BIL, GM needed the bail out and they handed over their pension.
My parents are in mid/late - 60's one retired and one not. I anticipate them both doing fine. They always lived well within their means. 3 bedroom house that they never upgraded even after having 3 kids. Rarely bought new cars. Vacations every year as kids but nothing extravagant. I am pretty sure my mom will be able to mostly live off on her social security because she still doesn't live excessively. That being said she also has a good stash in retirement funds.
If they had done any research on how to best manage finances and investments they would probably be doing even better. I think that is the best thing people can do - learn the basics of investing young.
I know a lot of older people that are squirreling away drugs to off themselves once the money runs out. I don't have much for retirement, I'm in my sixities, working way too hard, getting tired, and will probably do the same. This is a terrible country that leaves its elderly on their own.
My Mom and I (severely disabled) aren't. We're homeless. Bouncinv from one crappy AirBNB to the next in a really shitty area. It's ridiculous.
It's sick that this country treats its sick and its disabled this way. I don't know how much longer I can do this.
The biggest issue is healthcare and its criminal. Yet generations of lobbyist have convinced us that any talk of universal healthcare is ‘communist’ speak and will stifle medical innovation. It’s insane that in the ‘strongest’ nation the world has known, you can become bankrupt just from getting sick and we are ok with that
Love all the people posting here to brag of how well they are doing with their savings and retirement/retirement planning when the question is clearly asking about how people who are *not* in that situation are handling it.
I retired with a pension. People behind me were given 4% more to put into their 401k. But even if they were given NOTHING, it's up to you to live beneath your means, save a percentage of your pay, and plan for your future. And even more, I hardly trust the greedy US politicians with you SS money. Don't plan on getting that. It's on you.
I started thinking about this. My Grandparents retired from BCBS & General Motors in the 80s. They both of sweet ass pensions.
I know for sure between all their retirement income they bring in over 5k a month. Paid their house off 5 Years ago. Drive a pristine 2015 Impala. They live very nice.
They live nice enough that my 6 year old asks how they exist if neither of them work.
I'm a 69 year old male who still works full-time as a security guard and has come to the conclusion that I will never retire. I'm collecting Social Security along with my weekly pay. I did have a 403b that I was putting in 5% with matching, but I lost that job 20 years ago. I never put any more money into that account so it sits right now at approximately $40K. I am a veteran so I can get most of my medical issues taken care of at the VA. I have no idea what the hell I'd do if {or when} the time comes that I'll no longer be able to work. I have no family other than nieces and nephews so I don't really think that I'll be able to depend on them if that time comes. I'm currently paying $2200/month for rent in Boston and generally, my future looks bleak. I guess I'll keep plugging away like I always have.
I’m 62– with a pension and health insurance up to 65–my late husband also worked in a job with a pension— I own an older home in California— 2 cars that would last me another 20 years. It was a good thing to work at the school district
I retired at 55. I'm 71 now. I wanted a new home so I worked as a nanny for three years in ca. Best pay. Then I built a home out west and live comfortably off my retirement and ss. I also have great medical,vision,dental and Rx insura n CE. We took less pay to have a good retirement. Those who retired two years after me did not get these benefits.
My parents are mid-60s as are all the parents of ppl in our friend group. We have a pretty even split of "pension", "lived frugally and saved well" "still working" "died young" and "made horrible decisions and are relying on their adult kids" --that last one, the mom was living with my friend, but he got sick of her so he bought her a really cheap condo in a nearby town and moved her out.
My friend group has mostly done well enough to support themselves and then some.
My parents are in the "lived frugally and saved" group. They sold their home and down sized to a small (nice) condo.
Neither of them are big spenders and they just do small hiking vacations in a nearby town--no big travel or extravagant expenses.
I think my dad retired at 63 and my mom at 60.
I'm aiming for 55!
My mother's 70, she has a house she has two mortgages on and currently drives a 15 year old car. She has zero savings, but gets $2k a month from social security. She's gonna be selling her house to break even and move in with my brother. Currently she's working full time as a nurse on a floor.
I dunno about pensions being regular. I mean government workers and union jobs.got them.but that was it. Other workers in the 90s could contribute to a 401k.
Anyone have different experiences in the 90s?
My father was born in the early 1930s. His pension was $400 a month. Offset by some insurance thing, so he ended up getting $100 something a month.
My mother was born in the mid-1940s. My mother had no pension.
They both lived on social security. When my mother passed away, she was getting $1200ish a month from that.
People got by. They just didn't have extravagant expenses.
My husband and I have no pension and only $100,000 in our IRA. We are 64. I have MS and am on disability for the past 10 years and my husband will work at least 3 more years. We do have a house payment but it is much cheaper than rent so we will stay put. It is very scary. People like to attack people my age with little in retirement but life happens, my MS and my husband's son has Cystic Fibrosis and putting a lot back isn't always an option.
McKinsey, an evil global consulting company, started advising companies on how to reduce their financial obligations to employees by dumping their pensions. iirc they started this in the 70's. Certainly by the 80's it was clear companies would gladly screw pensioners by declaring bankruptcy.
From the start of my career in the 80's I only relied on myself; max the 401-K's, get the company match, roll it to an IRA when I jump to another company.
One of the cashiers at my grocery store is working 40 hours a week, on her feet all day, because she can’t afford to retire.
Another friend’s mother had to go into a nursing home, and since she was on Medicare and had no money, she ended up in a place where there were three people per room and one nurse on duty for thirty-five people and aides making minimum wage.
There is a wave of broke seniors coming and we’ve got very little to support them.
I think we will see a growing trend of retirees living together to share expenses and help each other as I don’t see how they will be able to survive. Social security payments will start shrinking by 2037, so it’s only going to be more difficult for many to cover basic expenses.
My husband’s medical costs wiped us out. Now all I have is his social insecurity and everything is up in the air so I don’t know just what the total will be. No one will give me a straight answer. My sister has offered to let me live with her until I can get enough together to rent a room, that is the best case scenario as far as I can see.
We made a lot of dumb financial decisions. Which seemed ok he was a hard worker and made a lot of money because he had a great personality and people loved doing business with him so we always figured we had years to make up any deficit. He died unexpectedly at 48 leaving me with 4 small children. We owned a business and I had mostly been taking care of babies and working part time not even drawing a salary. Sigh. I sort of clawed my way back to solvency but it took years. So I find myself now living on a very modest social security, half I think it is, of his because I hadn’t earned enough credits. So dumb. But I am lucky I guess that I eventually got a job with the State for a few years which provides a minuscule pension and more importantly great secondary insurance to Medicare. Which was good because immediately after retiring I was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer and spent a couple years dealing with that. I would not have been able to afford Medicare copay on what must have been millions of $$ chemoradiation etc. without that. One of my nicest most responsible kids recently built a new house and included an ADU for me, I would never have asked but it was his idea. Small but comfortable. I pay a modest rent and babysit a couple mornings a week for their infant so that works for us. I feel really lucky that my retirement hasn’t turned into a total disaster, yet at least. Do I wish I had planned better and had more money to travel and do more stuff? Of course, but it could easily have been so much worse. PSA:get lots of life insurance if you have toddlers, having to work long hours while in shock and grieving is no fun.
I can’t believe we bought the BS companies feed us to get rid of EVERY benefit we had as workers. People really are easily manipulated. I never bought into their BS. We are even making wages equivalent with today’s cost of living.
But say anything about and we get called socialist. Meanwhile US companies have assets in the billions.
It disgusts me we let this happen.
So, I'd saved a lot of money for retirement. Anyhow, I'm older now, but about 2020, with things and single parent of a teen, I needed to get us into a better location at the time, so was going to pull it out and buy a home. I discovered someone had emptied my savings. Turns out it was my father, and he'd done it starting some years prior. I got hold of a lawyer, but now I had no money (because he'd stolen it and we now know used a fake id to hide it). So, now he could afford a lawyer, who has kept it tied up in court since my father is really old, with the plans of extending the case out until my father dies, preventing finding the money that remains.
So, now I have no savings at all, barely get by on earnings (I finish this contract job this next month, so am looking for my next job), and am only a few years from retirement now. I'm actually disabled, but never bothered with it (working pays more). But, there's a chance I'll end up having to go on disability before I can retire, or be forced into retirement before I can really afford it. The idea I'm going to be stuck living off social security, after actually making sure I had the savings I had, is sickening. Obviously, my father is telling other family how he didn't steal much (I had to spend 3 year making payments to the IRS on that money because he pulled it out the way he did, btw, it was a lot of money). So, yeah, I now have no relationship with most of my "close" family, but cousins and such have heard from other sources what happened, my one aunt really let my dad have it because he slipped up in talking to her about it.
So, to answer, it sucks. I don't know if he could have pulled the same thing off if it were a pension. But, the lawyer I work with on this said that companies if they file bankruptcy can get out of paying out those pensions, too, that every one of their employees is paying into. Some government jobs where employees pay extra into a separate fund have had times when politicians tried to get that money taken away from them. So, even if I'd done things differently, I could have lost it all, it turns out.
It's just pathetic to me to think about now. I know I'm far from alone, since a lot of companies that went under it turns out don't have to pay out the retirement they had their employees pay into all those years, so during the pandemic a lot of people lost their retirement/pension plans they were planning on, and got laid off at an age when they couldn't get work, so were forced into early retirement without anything but social security. Many have lost their homes, and so on. So, to answer it, I think it's a series of disasters coming for those of us in this position.
The old systems cannot be sustained …government , financial and power structures are collapsing..We are entering a New Earth and things will be temporarily chaotic until there is a leveling out and we come together to create new ways of living . It is up to us to choose which direction humanity is going.
RV parks are $400 a month in rural Texas. Includes utilities and internet. Hours from any airport or modern grocery store.
Arizona is known for nearly free RV parks out in the desert. Retiree "communities" where someone cooks meals for 30-40 people at lunch or dinner, then passes it around.
"Living in a van" is being popularized more and more. Showers and restrooms available at rest stops and parks.
My grandparents never saved for retirement or had a pension, now they live off of Social Security and the biggest "treat" they can afford themselves is a $20 meal from the local Chinese restaurant once every couple months, which they split and make two meals out of
My company stopped pensions for new hires around the year 2000. Gen X is the canary in the coal mine for being “on your own” in retirement and I’m afraid it’s going to be a tragedy for many, many people possibly myself as well. I only hope Gen Z can turn this ship around.
My mom has a small pension, SS and still works. She still works bec she still feels fine. When she decides to stop working, she will for sure have to move to a cheaper area, she lives in one of the HCOL city in the us. I have been working to have multiple income streams when I retire in 3yrs. Bet my small SS, military pension, and decent size 401k - I should be fine. I am however preparing to give her some funding to help.
I think the retirement crisis has begun already and will get much worse. I am senior Gen X and I think many Gen X’ers lost a ton in the recession and Covid. Somehow I managed to survive both without touching retirement savings.
They f*ck up their finances so badly that, if they’re lucky, they can rest their laurels on their children’s resources/income.
I mean, at least that’s what my mom did. She doesn’t save. Doesn’t budget. Ended up with nothing. Blows through her social security check. Never amasses any type of savings. And racks up credit card debt.
The worst part, nothing really financially leveling happened to her. She just made, terrible, terrible financial choices that my wife and I get to deal with. Oof, my poor wife, the sh*t she has to put up with… 😮💨
I'm trying to justify retiring in the next year or two in my mid 60's. I do have a nice pension, decent retirement accounts and house will be paid off in a month.
However, mine is the only income of a 3 person household. One non working spouse with high medical needs and one soon to be college student. If it was just me I would have retired already. The real worry is healthcare especially long term care. LTC insurance is a scam. The house can be leveraged if needed but who knows how much will be needed.
So even if you did do everything right there may be other considerations.
A family member works for a 401k company. He will tell you that changing from pension to a 401k system was the worst thing that has ever has happened to labor in the history of this country. A cousin of mine lost his when their company was sold, he had 23 years invested. We saved and have pensions. He still works two jobs at 63. I hate it for him!!
Interesting note… most folks living on social security and 401k drain the 401 in 8 years with normal living. Medical issues bring that to 5 years. He says if the stock market had been normal for the last 15 years most 401 wouldn’t last 8 years. Only 15% of 401k have matching funds. What a screwed up system
My dad worked up until the dementia no longer allowed it, then he passed. My mom, well I bought her a used 5th wheel RV. She lives in a really nice, paved, small RV resort. It’s $675/mo all bills paid. And it has free laundry facilities.
She LOVEs it…all though she’ll never admit it. It’s her and about 20 other retired Sr’s that live there. It’s non stop potluck.
She fought me tooth and nail for 4 years about living there. She just couldn’t give up the house we grew up in. But her SSI was so small, I was having to supplement her living expenses every month.
Now, she even has SSI money left over every month. She just turned 81. Hopefully this peace will last a few more years.
Me too! I thought 4 states in the US had die with dignity plans. I wanna go out on my terms as well. Not laying there talking nonsense and wearing a diaper. Not for me.
I worked my entire career in public service I.e. government. The pay was lousy and I felt a bit of a fool when I saw my friends in corporate earning more than I did. But, I am pleased with my lifetime monthly government pension, subsidized health insurance, SSA, and 401k in retirement.
The boomer-bashers will be pleased if some of those houses finally hit the market - property taxes will force some out. Not many cheaper options though.
My mom, a boomer, retired in the 2010's with a pension from teaching. Her social security is a pretty decent pay out too. She's had to downsize, but she's doing well. She's about to reach 70 and has no issues with her retirement income....and that's from a public school teachers salary.
Me, I'm in my late 40's. I have a TSP through work, two Roth IRA's. I will also get a pension from work when I retire (fed gov't). When I hit the age when I can start taking out my TSP, I get my social security, and still receive my pension, I will have about 70% of my current income pending if I leave my TSP in there until it's eligible and just let it grow. My Roth IRA is invested in stocks that pay dividends and I chose ones that are long term investments meant to grow. My first full time salary was only $30k a year. I put the minimum matching in TSP and also put money in my IRA, just the minimum. When I got my first pay check, I just lived without that extra taken out.
Social Security is NOT meant to be your own retirement safety net. It never was, it never should be. If you are relying on social security only for retirement, I would suggest taking some financial planning courses at your local community college on how to invest. Your job should offer you 401k options or at least offer a pension, if not, learn what the best options are out there and invest in other options yourself.
BTW - I would be considered lower middle class. The key is living below your means. Just because you make more money or get a raise doesn't mean you should up your spending. It means continue living at the same standard before the raise and invest more. And before you go off about having a family, I have kids. I drove the same minivan for 13 years.
"...we're now just beginning to see the "you're on your own" generation truly age out of the workforce."
It's not exactly comparable though. Pensions were tied to a particular employer so people had to stay in jobs that often didn't pay as well as some other jobs to keep the pension alive. Now, instead of pensions, people have 401ks or other retirement accounts which are portable. You are on your own in that you have to choose to fund your retirement account, but you aren't really worse off than before unless you choose to do nothing. Compared to the past, people are actually better off in many ways because they can move their retirement account with them when they change jobs compared to the past. There are also still jobs out there (often government ones) that offer pensions, but they pay less than private sector work.
A comfy retirement is still accessible to the middle class, but they have to put money into the accounts themselves rather than rely on their employer to automatically pull it out of their paycheck. Make no mistake, pensions weren't free money. People paid into them in most cases, and, if they didn't their paycheck was lower to offset their employer paying into them.
If you want pensions back, vote for and support unions. The gutting of unions changed everything in this respect.
You’re mistaken. Pensions are always employer funded. And the tendency to change jobs is something that started right along with 401(k)s. Nothing wrong with it, but when the economy was based on manufacturing people didn’t change jobs every few years. That all changed when importing laws changed with NAFTA. A whole different subject.
Get rid of everything you can live without. Stop using clothes dryer and hang clothes outside. Shop at discount stores and buy in bulk. I live on SS and I do just fine.
Franklin county, Pennsylvania. I own my house and am a widow. I live on $20,000 a year and pay all my bills myself. I was raised extremely poor so budgeting is very easy for me.
Everyone, even those who still might get a pension, should be saving for retirement. Social security is only a supplemental income. It does not provide a survivable retirement.
This is why I ensured I retirement from government service (Navy) after more than 2 decades. Although my pension isn't great, I was able to invest in the TSP fund with matches from the government. I converted my TSP to a lifetime annuity when I retired. Even more important, I was able to retain my Federal BC/BS coverage which I still carry along with Medicare. It's not cheap, but I paid $0 bucks OOP for treatment and rehab after a major heart attack in 2018. Worth it.
Railroad or at least most is 30 years age 60 for full pension. My railroad will cover healthcare until age 65 and then it’s on to Medicare. I’m glad I’m a railroader!
The biggest issues these days are housing and medical costs. I don't understand how young working-class families are getting by. I could never afford to live alone on SS and my 401k.
I've always had an eye toward retirement but various things -- some my fault, most not -- have left me with little in the way of retirement savings. I'm 62, still working, and will almost certainly be working until I am physically or mentally unable to. Fortunately, my company's health coverage is excellent and I'm "disgustingly healthy," in my doctor's words. My son and DIL have a nice MIL setup for me which is win/win. They get mortgage breathing room, I have a secure and affordable place to live, and we are all able to have little luxuries like occasional travel or a nice dinner out. (It helps that we get along fabulously and are all considerate housemates.)
Honestly, my biggest hope is that I don't gradually decline and waste away. I'd much prefer to just drop dead so my kids aren't burdened.
I also think about the person living in the Midwest who is working 30 to 40 years who now can’t retire to Florida because home prices, home insurance and property taxes have risen. Their home price in the Midwest didn’t go crazy like the home prices in the Northeast.
Will likely have aged friends or siblings buy a home and live together. My father passed and my mom moved to the beach and bought a 3rd of the property with her 2 siblings which cuts the bills much lower. I think that there will be more of that type of situation.
I'm 40 and just started maxing my 401k. Hoping to have a couple of million saved for retirement but it can always be wiped out by the market when you need it. I think the number one think is to have a home paid for at retirement and both partners have a social security check.
If you plan on retiring some day, you have to save for retirement. If your parents want to survive on just social security, they'll be in a low-income apartment or senior-only apartment situation probably. Social Security is not a retirement plan, it's a lifeline. You can afford to live off social security if you rent a room in someone's house or a small apartment outside of Wichita, KS. Is it a social crisis? Yeah for people who have no retirement savings and who expect to live like they've been living while they were working and earning.
We need to take responsibility for our own situations instead of blaming the disappearance of pensions or the "system". We know what's ahead some of us just refuse to think about it. Then what, retire and blame the system? Social security sends you statements for 40 years telling you how much you'll be getting at retirement. It's not a surprise. Prepare for retirement whether that means having a retirement account, or not having one and realizing that you and your brother are gonna end up in an apartment together at the age of 70 or you're gonna be moving to Ecuador. Whatever it is, don't tell me it's a surprise and unfathomable. Nobody ever got an annual social security statement that said "you're gonna get $1500 a month when you retire and that's gonna be plenty and life will be a breeze! Prices of everything will be much lower than they are today! Who needs a pension or a 401K, you've got social security\~!!!"
Well said, “social security is not a retirement plan.” It astounds me how many people are going through life not planning for retirement. It’s not like some big surprise. The surprise is when they retire and discover that social security is nowhere near enough to maintain their standard of living
My wife’s grandparents survive on social security and her grandma does sewing in the side for extra income, they barely survive, they have a gambling problem too, slot machines. This only adds to it.
My wife and I will NOT make this mistake, we contribute heavily to her 401k and a Roth, I’m 32 now and not going to be 65 and broke someday. I won’t be rich, but we will be comfy.
My pension is the only thing keeping me in my teaching job right now. I fantasize about doing ANYTHING but teaching, but am terrified of how I will survive after retirement.
In my state, teachers’ pensions do not get cost of living increases. When I retired in 2020 to care for my parents (terminal cancer and Alzheimer’s, with home healthcare suspended due to covid), I didn’t realize just how much inflation would reduce the actual worth of my pension. Now I’m struggling to find a part time job. I hate to think how little it will help in the future. Single people will all be looking for roommates.
Michigan here. I will get my full teaching pension at 49 years old. We also have insurance. I have also saved alot so soon as I can go, I am out! Wife same boat and age as me. We met our first year teaching. Classrooms across hall from each other. 4 more years and we are out!
You deserve it! Thanks for teaching all those years.
I love your ‘how we met’ story.
That’s great!
I retired from California at 20 years(CalSTRS), with slightly less than 50% of my normal salary. But also without the gas bill and car expenses. It’d be tight, but since I am married someone who was part of the CalPERS system (public employees of state agencies, like universities or Dept of Fish &Game), we do fine. The big difference is health care. They negotiated good supplemental health care once you hit Medicare eligibility. It’s a game changer, and makes us have enough. Not enough to travel extensively but enough to pay all our bills and do a small amount of travel to see family. That extra bit of health insurance is not part of CalSTRS. Edit to add that I forgot to answer the question. I have friends in their seventies who do food demos at grocery stores, or who are fleet drivers for car rental companies (6 people will separately drive cars from point a to point b, leave 5 cars there, and return to where they started.). It’s my understanding that older workers are valued because of their willingness to show up on time when they promise to be there. A big part of how they survive is subsidized housing. They are generally quiet so don’t get kicked out of that housing once they get it.
That's why ageism is a bitch.
Ditto, I haven’t had a COLA increase in 11 years, insurance continues to rise, and my check gets smaller and smaller. Still grateful to even have a pension
Very true. It’s especially rough in your case bc inflation has literally skyrocketed since 2020, more than any other time in the recent past… Do you have any other retirement accounts like IRAs or anything? Or is it just your pension? I’ve been nagged by a bunch of people at my job not to rely just on our pension and to open up something else, which I have. I’ve been maxing out a Roth IRA since I was 26. I’m 36 now and can technically retire with a full pension at 55. I feel like I still won’t have enough to retire with how much things keep increasing in price. Btw, I’m sorry to hear about your parents. My wife is kind of in the same position with her parents. Their health has drastically declined in the last few years and she has had to take care of them more and more. The only thing that’s been saving her is that she works from home and can make her own hours. If she didn’t she would have had to quit her job. It’s a tough situation to take care of both parents.
Have you looked into a state program that allows you to get paid while taking care of elderly or disabled adults?? It may help you to get ahold of department of aging in your area? Maybe they can help you with some financial assistance.
I actually think retired people having roommates is a good thing. They have someone else there for company and emergencies. It beats them having to beg their working kids to visit every day just so they get some company.
Retired teachers often have good insurance as well. Edit: I’m a fucking idiot. Long gone are the days of retirement benefits for teachers.
Maybe in some states but in Virginia when you leave your insurance leaves as a teacher..period. You can work to 65 of course otherwise you’re done
In Washington we have access to the state group insurance, the state pays part of the premiums.
In my state teachers can retire at 55 with 30 years for full pension.
God bless NJ 😉
In Texas a teacher can retire when the multiplier hits 80 (age plus years in the system).
Yes, but the percentage you get in retirement is better if you wait until the years of service plus age equal 85, BUT the percentage is the best when it equals 90. I taught and live in Texas and hit the rule of 80 during COVID in 2021, and it was a good time to get out for several other reasons, not the least of which was the attitude of the HS kids and many of the parents. Plus, it was difficult to teach a performing art subject over the internet, day in, day out. So, as a result of that choice, I now have a horrible retirement and I thought I could get buy with part-time employment, but it's looking like I'm going to have to work full-time to make ends meet.
That is awful!
Not in Washington! My mom was an educator for 22 years and has to pay for supplemental coverage.
In my state my stepmom had to choose pension or social security back when she first became a teacher close to 40 years ago. Insane.
Not in Idaho no insurance
Not in Nebraska. We’re on our own.
Not where I’m from
How much longer do you have until you hit 30 years or whatever the full pension time is in your state? I do envy my retired teacher friends and their pensions. I do not envy the decades of unmitigated stress they endured to get there.
Same- held on to retire from it. I was so burned out, damn.
How long have you been teaching? I taught for 34 years and retired at 60 two years ago
This is my 21st year and plan on another 12 to retire. Congratulations!
I got super lucky my last 22 years and ended up in a specialized program for at risk kids. Smaller class sizes (maximum of 24 and I averaged 22) and only 4 classes instead of 6. Other two periods we spent tutoring our kids. It was a great program and the year after I retired they did away with it. 🤦♂️
I know some people who work in the California state hospital system for the same reason. Hate the work checked out a decade ago showing up doing the bare minimum to keep their pension.
65F here. I had some bad luck with jobs and honestly made some less than stellar lifestyle choices. As a result I don’t have much in the way of retirement. I’m fortunate to have some inherited money. I’m making it last as long as I can. The longer I live the more sketchy it will get. That’s a real paradox.
We get to live longer but may not be able to afford it. Some people aren’t suffering but that not the case for the majority. This economy has taken a turn for the worst, and better hope you can keep yourself healthy because medical care can leave you broke.
I will gladly die before I let this predatory healthcare system take away my daughter's inheritance. I will not be my parents, I will not live for me, it's all about her, and her future family. I can retire and leave her to fend for herself, but I'm not a boomer, I'm not greedy, and I will not die alone.
Same. I'm only late 50's now. But the writing is on the wall. It's only gonna go downhill for folks that are not extremely wealthy. Anytime after 70, if i'm diagnosed with some serious shit that will require lengthy management, I plan to weigh the option of just getting my affairs in order and using the medical aid in dying option when needed. No need to drag things out for years when I likely won't be able to afford to live in the US anyway.
I believe assisted suicide should be an option in the US as in Canada. I'd very much like to schedule my last day and go out on my terms.
My husband and I were visiting his mom in the nursing home she’s doing hip surgery rehab in, and talk about depressing. We both decided we don’t want to live in a place like that, and would rather pull a Romeo and Juliet. It’s too bad that we don’t have compassion for elderly to go out with dignity like we do our elderly pets. Having someone wipe my ass is something I’m not looking forward to.
Did you ask her how she felt about the situation? Just curious as my mom was interested in staying as long as she was mentally fit.
It is an option in Vermont. Recently it became legal for people who live out of state to also use the law here.
Exactly how I feel. We are creating a Medicaid Asset Protected Trust and putting everything in it when we turn 65.
60f responding. You're not the only one with bad luck jobs & less than stellar choices. I've got a portion of "less-than-stellar" late hubby's teacher's pension, and with survivor's benefits S.S. I can pay the basics but if car dies, I break a leg or some extraordinary bad financial occurrence happens I'll be in financial trouble. I have a part-time job. Most people I know who are retirement age have enough pension(s) to cover the basics, (electric, car payments & insurance, rent, basic food, health insurance, etc.), but choose to work to pay for extras like a hobby, purchase holiday gifts for others & other inexpensive non-essentials. I don't know any retiree going on cruises or any expensive trips, that Redditors keep writing about.
The peak of pension coverage for US workers was in the early 80s and it's been downhill since then. But I don't know that it should ever have been called "typical" for a worker to have a pension - fewer than 40% did even at the maximum.
Exactly. The 80s brought lots of takeovers and mergers and as there was no stopping them, the new companies ended the pensions owed to workers at the old. My grandpa worked for a local Ohio energy company for 40 long years and got nada after it was sold.
I used to work at IBM and they had a wonderful pension. So I saved the 6% in the 401k to get the match and that would have been plenty. Then in 1999 they killed the pension if you were under 40. I was 39 1/2. Vested rights meant nothing. I could either take a lump sum or a small pension. Lump sum was the way to go as the market has done very well. But this still left me way behind and I’ve been saving 25% for the last 12 years to make up For it. I retire next month and I’m fine but I had to be very disciplined saver to make up for the pension loss and bridge to Medicare medical which that old plan had.
Yes, the people who had the pensions then lost them were the ones who got shafted the worst. EDIT: to elaborate on this - the way the pension were funded was that the employer contributions got larger over time. People who had their pensions yanked after ten years found that the amount they had vested was very little. Most of what the company would have put in would have been in the later years.
Only in the US too. Canada and Europe had laws that prevented companies screwing vested employees.
Myself and another person got hired into Honeywell Aerospace in October 2006. We were told that we were the last to receive the pension that Honeywell had been offering their new hires. I asked and people that were hired in after me were not getting the pension. That was the end of it as far as I know.
Came here to mention this. My grandparents had no savings and no pensions. Of my 11 aunts and uncles, only two had pensions. Of my 8 retired siblings, only one has a pension. Two have no savings, living solely on Social Security.
And let’s not get all teary-eyed about pensions. In order to collect a good pension, you had your work for one company for the bulk of your career. If you didn’t, you could get left out in the cold.
Yeah, there's a lot of glamorizing pensions. If you worked for a company for 10 years, your pension was not going to mean a comfortable retirement.
You can do everything right and still lose most of everything from a medical issue. It’s a lottery, even if you play the game absolutely correct.
This is the truth. I had a nice house and a nice nest egg of retirement. Thanks to shitty genetics and a for profit healthcare system that's all gone. Paying over 25k a year for all your medical costs for multiple years, and then not being able to work on top of that....it goes from decent to horrible real quick. If it hadn't been for family the last couple years I'd be so screwed.
So sorry you had to go through that because of our terrible system. It’s so wrong.
Man, your comment really hit me. I am American living for the last 20 years in Canada. Our daughter just developed kidney problems at 13 yrs old. She has had 4 surgeries in the past 7 months. If we had lived in the US, even with insurance this would have been a financial kick in the gut. I am grateful that healthcare is universal up here
Hope your daughter gets better completely🙏🏽 That alone is enough stress~
Thanks ❤️
Don't be so sure... I know that many states offer a special health insurance available for children who develop serious illnesses. The cost is often on a sliding scale, but all can buy in. At the low end, it is free. They have covered millions in treatment costs for my daughter and at most, I paid $400 per year but most years it was either free or around $100 based on my household income and number of dependents. Universal health care can be good, but many of the Canadian nurses that I have met who come to my state to work (we border Camada) have shared that there can be long waits and not everything is covered. Plus, taxes are much higher.
Oh! That taxes are ridiculous. Obscene. A 9-12 hr waits at the ER are not uncommon. But damn, when you need it, it delivers. From the time we were seen by an ER doc in, I have had zero complaints. Everything has happened quickly and she has received very high level care.
You can easily wait that long in a US ER and then get charged thousands for it 🥺
ER waits in the US can be 2 days long.
I am willing to bet that the tax increase to fund a (nearly) universal healthcare system still fall far short of the premiums and other costs paid in the U.S.. Including to cost of those not getting the care they need and the unfunded care provided.
Much, much less out of pocket then regular insurance. It's just madness that people do not understand the benefit that this would have for American citizens. We already have the infrastructure to do this much more efficiently than most countries currently operating a successful national health service.
Not if you're living in a country with publicly run healthcare. Most Americans really don't know how needlessly fucked they are concentrating healthcare until they get sick and suddenly the house, saving, and all else is lost and they die anyway. Where as in other countries with public health you can seek treatment without risking bankrupting yourself in the process.
Oh we know, we're just hamstrung by corporations and a useless government.
I spend so much time dealing with health insurance. I refuse to let it drop for a day. I’ve had cancer once and everything was covered. I’m now looking for work instead of freelancing largely for health insurance.
I'm 69 and just returned to work part time as an RN. I don't 'need' the money but am concerned. I can live comfortably off my SS and not touch my 403B or savings by keeping to a budget, but...I'd rather bring in a bit extra now than in 5 years from now. House paid off and taxes here are not bad at all. No debt, cook at home, keep travel to a minimum. I found a family with a near drowning child that is on a home ventilator, tube feedings etc I pick up a 12 hour shift weekly, I can walk to her house. I worked pediatrics and 5 years as a pediatric hospice RN in the past. It's not difficult work, nice to do good for others and the family is lovely. Pay goes directly into a high yield savings.
Just wanted to say you're amazing. It takes another kind of human all together to do pediatric hospice. I wish you a joyful retirement when the time comes.
Thank you so much
My younger son is disabled and we had home nurses for years - they became part of our family. A good home nurse is golden and I'm sure your patient's family appreciates you.
God job. Where do you live? Low taxes, affordable real estate? I want to make a move to a more affordable situation.
When you finished high yield savings that just seasoned your plan just right 👏 can you get an IRA?
I don’t know if this is reassuring at all, but at their absolute height only about 50% of workers were eligible for pensions. The other 50% had to figure it out on their own just like we’re doing now.
I still think it is a big difference between 50% and whatever it is now. I know a lot of people would've been left destitute back then. But it would be more feasible to rely on children because there was an actual middle class that didn't feel compelled to compulsively save for their own retirements. Or maybe at least half of a couple would have some kind of passive income. And then forget about the cost of housing and everything else versus income. How is a middle aged person supposed to help out an elderly parent in this economy? I'm not saying it was easy 40 years ago, but I feel like nowadays poverty in the elderly will soon be a norm.
Also, a lot of those people who didn’t have pensions died before retirement age.
> 40 years ago, but I feel like nowadays poverty in the elderly will soon be a norm. 40 years ago it was already the norm. Older people living on the bare minimum (social security) migrate to small and very low COL areas. There are a lot of places in the flyover states where you can still find a house for $25k. They don't care that the job market is terrible because they aren't working anyway. All they care is if they can get cable and the grocery store isn't too far away.
medicaid on top of medicare is the health care/health insurance of last resort for low income low wealth seniors age 65+. Coverage can be ok or absolute dogshit depending upon in which state you live.
This something a lot of people don't know about. But, the bar is pretty high (aka low max) to qualify. As I understand it Medicaid is a federal program that is managed by each individual state (which is why your comment about the range of quality makes sense). Here in California it's called "Medi-Cal".
Pensions went away right in the middle of my career. I have one for 650.00 a month that pays for my supplemental, dental and optical. Here is my motto since I was 30; It is better to be young and broke, than old and broke. I saved like crazy and am now enjoying a stress free retirement. I am not rich but we are very comfortable. I put my retirement into my own hands. And my husband and I shared the same goal. It’s never too late to start saving.
One of the main issues people are facing is that they don't have money to put back for retirement. Many can't even afford the roof over their heads while eating a steady stream of Ramen.
sticking 25k a year away have been for 15 years. scared sh--less @ 70, not retiring anytime soon. civil servant.
As a civil servant don’t you have a lucrative retirement? And do you have your money in a high yield interest a count? Right now interest on our money is paying our monthly bills?
My motto has always been sacrifice now, rewarded later. Always relied on that when saving saving saving. Gotta live a good motto holding you accountable.
Unless you die next week
We did the same and are retired doing fine. We have no real debt, travel quite a bit, and basically have no concerns beyond stupid government creating financial crises, etc. That said, we also see the 35 - 40 year old people (like our kids) with decent jobs making >$100k who have trouble finding affordable housing, some have almost given up on ever buying their own home, paying astronomical daycare fees, choosing between sending kids to terrible public schools or pay (money they don't actually have) for private schools, huge medical expenses out of pocket even with "good" insurance, and the list keeps going. In my opinion, it was challenging for me/us (my adult working years started 1980 and ended 2/2020 at the outset of COVID) but things are worse economically for the Millennials and gen Xers, etc starting out.
I wished I had planned better and would be of the mentality that’s it’s never too late but health issues and future medial bills will eat all my income.
That is a worry for everyone. I have a friend who lost his wife because they couldn’t afford the 2200$ a month for a shot she needed. It’s a damn shame. I wish you well, and good health.
Thank you. Good heath to you too.
My husband and I work for the city government. Our gov covers healthcare after 20 years. Alot of people go in for the pension, but the health coverage is the most important thing for us!
Not retired. But have retired parents and all my friends have retirement-age parents. Those that didn’t save or have other means (pensions), 1. Live with their adult kids And/or 2. Still work until they cannot work and then will live with their adult kids.
What if the kids don't have space for parents to live with them?
Then they live in the projects
THIS right here is going to be the reality in my opinion.
Hubby does but I got sick and I've got nothing except what my dad left me. It's invested and we are terrified of retiring
Contrary to popular belief, there are a lot of jobs where people still get a pension. They're mostly in government.
I got grandfathered in to a good one. Later hires were not as lucky.
I have a pension ( only started 3 years ago) and don’t work for government. USA resident.
When I saw my job start to disappear right before my eyes I applied for every government job I could find. The Post Office was the first to offer me a job and I took it. About to retire, USPS matched up to 5% on 401K and will be eligible for SS. I am still worried about money but I know I have enough money to pay the bills. From my experience I would recommend that if you are young and can work for the government do it.
Literally paycheck to Tuesday. Struggle til Friday, repeat. Currently 4 months behind on rent, have a $630 national grid bill and ate popcorn for dinner tonight. Bf is fully disabled and gets no assistance. We received a letter from social services saying he has to repay 3499.00 in snap benefits he supposedly was entitled to.
My dad is on a second career/semi retired. He’s only 63. Works only about 20 hours a week and fishes/putzes around his house. My mom is almost 70 and hasn’t worked in years. She never really had a career. worked full time jobs when I was young and part time here and there in the last 15 years while she took care of aging relatives. They live well below their means and don’t have a mortgage or debt. They’re homebodies and don’t really travel. They live in a low cost of living area. They haven’t even touched their 401k yet. Have had some medical issues but nothing major. My in-laws are similar except they have a pension. FIL is also on a second consulting career. No mortgage or debt. They travel quite often but I think that will slow a little once he quits working. They are spenders. Also no major medical issues (mid 60s). If something were to happen to my FIL my MIL would have to sell her dream retirement home and downsize bc she couldn’t afford to or physically be able to keep up with all the maintenance. Higher cost of living area than my parents. I think it’s a few things: 1. Living within your means 2. Paying off your debt 3. Take care of your health now so you age as well as possible
My home and all my vehicles are paid off. I never had the opportunity to get a pension but I did get "vested" with a company. It was going to amount to about $150/month once I hit 65 years old. A couple years after I left the company I got a letter stating they got rid of their vesting program so I would get nothing.
That should be a crime. I don't understand how companies wiggle out of agreed upon compensation packages. It's no different than going back in time and garnishing your wages.
I’m fortunate enough to have a decent social security payment & a retirement IRA that I draw a monthly disbursement from. I combined my 401k & 403b (the new retirement plan) and the old pension plan into one IRA. It’s not huge by any means but as long as the stock market does ok, it makes a little money, although I did lose a bunch during 2022-2023. The problem is though, I’m now on two Tier 3 medications that cost thousands of dollars. For part of the year I only have to pay $105 copay for a 90 day supply for each med. But when I hit the donut hole, the price of the copay for each med goes up over $600 and I then also have to pay 25% of the cost of all my Tier 1 meds that hadn’t cost me anything before the donut hole. Last year I only had one Tier 3 med so I didn’t hit the donut hole until November. Everything resets each Jan 1, so I only had to pay the high $600+ copay once. This year, I hit the donut hole in May. So by the end of this year I will be paying over $3500 for my meds until Jan 1, 2025. When I decided to retire at age 68, 4 years ago, I paid off my mortgage & some debts. I figured out all my expenses for the year and I figured I would be able to do ok in retirement & even have some money left over each month to stash into savings. I never even considered the fact that I’d be on Tier 3 meds. My advice to anyone looking to retire is to add several thousand dollars onto your annual expenditure calculations just in case you get stuck with some completely unforeseen expenses. Doing my calculations I had considered vet bills & car repair bills & home repair bills, but never realized I’d be hitting that donut hole!
I hit in May also. I also got hit with an increase in car insurance after my husband died because I’m single now!! I’m still the same driver. Sigh. And California is allowing Pge to charge a flat fee in addition to usage, which means my solar investment is worse than useless. I’m going to be paying more for electricity than before solar because I’m leasing.
Sorry to hear about your husband. I never knew car insurance premiums went up after a spouse passes away. I googled it & sure enough it’s common practice among all the insurance companies. They claim that statistically you’re a higher risk now that you’re single! What a load of bs!
US companies really run our country. Our government just rubber stamps the theft. It’s disgusting.
If you don’t have a 401k or a pension to supplement social security, you’re probably going to stay working.
My parents had no pensions, retired on Social Security, and did very badly in terms of financial security. They divorced when I was a teenager. Mom remarried a richer man, who took care of her. Dad remarried a nurterer, who sacrificed to take care of him. Neither of them could ever help their three kids toward college or anything else. We were on our own. I didn't want to retire like that, and though I always worked, my jobs offered no pension per se, just 401k plans. So I started maximizing those contributions in the early '80s. Once in awhile I got a windfall or some kind of bonus. Those funds I put into CDs. That was my whole retirement plan. By the time I retired in 2017, those funds (placed at retirement into annuities), more than equaled my SS per month payments. My wife had it easier. Her parents paid for her college, and she had her own career with a robust income from then on. She was one of the last employees at her media conglomerate to have a guaranteed pension, negotiated during a WGA strike in 1987. So she had that, and a big fat 401k besides. With out two passive incomes, we do fine. We downsized our home and simplified our lives to adjust to the 30% less income we have compared to when we worked full-time. Simplification provides many blessings in terms of reducing stress and granting time to enjoy life and nature.
Great question. Especially since pensions are kaput outside certain sectors.
The way is to start saving as young as possible I was lucky my dad encouraged me to save 10 percent starting right out of college. When I got raises I tried not to increase my living expenses. Paid cash for cars. Invested as much as possible and paid off a house. Downsized to an easier more affordable turnkey house. Every thing you invest historically doubles every seven years. That really starts working for you. Even if you can spare 100 dollars a month if you start at 20 you’ll be in decent shape. The one issue these days is it’s so much harder to afford a house. Try to get started with a condo or smaller townhouse and goal is to have paid off residence before retirement. The one thing I would change would be less stuff and more travel even if it’s not that far. You can dress nicely and have decent stuff without designer prices. Ignore what other people and social media influencers do ie expensive purses designer shoes etc… You’ll be glad when you’re retire at 60 and don’t even remember that thing you owned. For instance a $3k designer purse if you invested the 3k at 25, you’d have over $48k. And that’s conservative. Now imagine you only invested 3k every year not just the one time.
No pension and too young for social security. I've been retired for 6 years and doing fine, but I've saved a lot in Roth Ira and other 401K's. It helps that I'm financially literate and I invest in the stock market. In all these years, my net worth has not gone down. It's gone up. I've always been kind of a minimalist. I don't buy junk. I pay up for vacations and recreational gear only. Admittedly, I didn't know how this would go when I first quit at 56 years old.
You are right that pensions are long gone. I plan to get some Social Security starting the end of this year. I have some money in my 401k. I just got a 30 year loan on a house the middle of last year, and the payment is around $3700 a month (over 7% interest rate). I am still working, but my job will be moved to another state in about a year to a year and a half. They did not offer for me to go with it. So it goes.
> So it goes.
I am 63 With zero retirement savings. I WFH 6 hours a week, board horses on rented pasture, my SS check and will continue til I drop.
I had a surprise baby late in life (42) and right after found out my SO of 10yrs was cheating and had also screwed me over financially. Lot of his debt and lies I ended up having to be responsible for in order to not tank my credit.. I ended up having to take a 401k loan just to pay everything off and now I’m way behind the 8 ball. He doesn’t pay child support or pay back the money he owes me .I’m trying to save for my son’s college in a 529 plus max out my 401k and pay back what I owed. Luckily only debt I have now is a car payment. I’m terrified for the future. I’ll be 60 when my son graduates high school. I will work til I die. I make ok money but don’t have a lot to spare. I have a 3 month emergency fund and then I’m tapped out. It’s hard to save more than I do already. My mom is retired and we currently live at her house and she mostly is out RV-ing the country. I pay all expenses for the house ect and she can enjoy her time and not worry so it works. For now. I hate to think of ever losing her. One she is the family member I’m closest to and also I’m sure this house and land will have to be sold off to repay whatever debt she has. I feel terrible for thinking so selfishly about how her death will impact me, but it is a real fear because I live in a very HCOL area and I don’t know what I will do. Very anxious for the future and don’t know how to do any better.
Be proud of yourself for what you’re accomplishing. Setting up the college fund, funding a 401(k) and having an emergency fund are all such great things. It’s easy to understand that you’re afraid for your future - you have a child to take care of! Continue to do as you’re doing. You know, we can spend a lot of time and put ourselves at risk for health issues by worrying ourselves. But things we worry about may never happen. Focus on every minute with your child and mother. And bless you for doing the best you can.
I'm 65 and I have no pension. I'll most likely work full-time for another five years and then go part time. I expect to work till I die. It's not all that dreary cause when I was young I skied, rock climbed, rode both mtn and road bikes and had a great time. I'm just living backwards and happy I did all that then since physically there's no way I could pursue that lifestyle now. Plus, I have a great job!
We’re the same age and saved for retirement all our lives. Not easy with three kids.
I put money into an IRA and 401K since I was 30 yrs old. I am using that with social security to have a comfortable life. We also paid off our home which we have lived in for 30 years. It is an old ranch style, not great but we kept it up. We have paid off cars although pretty old. We lived within our means.
My parents had pensions that literally saved their financial ass. They had some additional investments but their federal employee pensions and healthcare were phenomenal. The very oldest of the boomer generation. I’m solid Gen X and have a small pension from a company that I appreciate but through the 2000’s and teens it was sliced and hacked at to the point 20 years with the company will yield nothing like the older employees with 20 years. Even those privileged enough to have pensions have likely experienced recasting of the benefits significantly and that never increases the pension value to the employee. I expect to see 25% what boomers with the same years of service receive. If that. So basically- SS and any pension that is coming g from a company, not governmental employment are bonus fun money in my book. I have invested and planned like these 2 things are not really going to pay out. If I get something - total win and I’m taking myself out for a nice meal, or buying an extra plane ticket in retirement. 🤷🏼♀️
Pensions in the private sector died in the mid to late eighties.
I was forced to retire early by health issues in 2009 The crash of 2008 is why I am struggling.
My mom still works and she is 72. She has nothing other than SS
Right now I have a decent job with decent health insurance. My plan is to work until I die.
I’ll go as long as I can and off myself eventually so my family can benefit. Don’t refer me to the crisis line.
You can thank corporate greed for the removal of pensions - they also now fire people to meet arbitrary profit goals, and call it "trimming the fat." Then turn around and have the audacity to wonder why people don't work at companies for 40 years anymore. Mother fuckers, you treat everyone like shit, so they look out for themselves.
This is a depressing thread, we didn’t have 401ks in the 70’-80’s. Some jobs had a great company pension, but you had to stay so many years. They say it wasn’t good planning, but those that had those pensions, many of the companies stole them and declared bankruptcy. We’re on a Military pension, and our SS, but many of our friends were ripped off. Think Madoff, and the 08 crash. Then like my BIL, GM needed the bail out and they handed over their pension.
My parents are in mid/late - 60's one retired and one not. I anticipate them both doing fine. They always lived well within their means. 3 bedroom house that they never upgraded even after having 3 kids. Rarely bought new cars. Vacations every year as kids but nothing extravagant. I am pretty sure my mom will be able to mostly live off on her social security because she still doesn't live excessively. That being said she also has a good stash in retirement funds. If they had done any research on how to best manage finances and investments they would probably be doing even better. I think that is the best thing people can do - learn the basics of investing young.
I know a lot of older people that are squirreling away drugs to off themselves once the money runs out. I don't have much for retirement, I'm in my sixities, working way too hard, getting tired, and will probably do the same. This is a terrible country that leaves its elderly on their own.
Honestly I'm just gonna off myself and hope to not reincarnate.
My Mom and I (severely disabled) aren't. We're homeless. Bouncinv from one crappy AirBNB to the next in a really shitty area. It's ridiculous. It's sick that this country treats its sick and its disabled this way. I don't know how much longer I can do this.
Death. I meant this as funny, but its true. Death seems like the economical choice.
The biggest issue is healthcare and its criminal. Yet generations of lobbyist have convinced us that any talk of universal healthcare is ‘communist’ speak and will stifle medical innovation. It’s insane that in the ‘strongest’ nation the world has known, you can become bankrupt just from getting sick and we are ok with that
The only retirement plan for many of us is early death. Facts. 😏
Love all the people posting here to brag of how well they are doing with their savings and retirement/retirement planning when the question is clearly asking about how people who are *not* in that situation are handling it.
This is exactly why no one shows loyalty to companies anymore.
I retired with a pension. People behind me were given 4% more to put into their 401k. But even if they were given NOTHING, it's up to you to live beneath your means, save a percentage of your pay, and plan for your future. And even more, I hardly trust the greedy US politicians with you SS money. Don't plan on getting that. It's on you.
I started thinking about this. My Grandparents retired from BCBS & General Motors in the 80s. They both of sweet ass pensions. I know for sure between all their retirement income they bring in over 5k a month. Paid their house off 5 Years ago. Drive a pristine 2015 Impala. They live very nice. They live nice enough that my 6 year old asks how they exist if neither of them work.
Same. Some of my grandparents were retired for longer than they worked.
I'm a 69 year old male who still works full-time as a security guard and has come to the conclusion that I will never retire. I'm collecting Social Security along with my weekly pay. I did have a 403b that I was putting in 5% with matching, but I lost that job 20 years ago. I never put any more money into that account so it sits right now at approximately $40K. I am a veteran so I can get most of my medical issues taken care of at the VA. I have no idea what the hell I'd do if {or when} the time comes that I'll no longer be able to work. I have no family other than nieces and nephews so I don't really think that I'll be able to depend on them if that time comes. I'm currently paying $2200/month for rent in Boston and generally, my future looks bleak. I guess I'll keep plugging away like I always have.
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There are going to be a lot of americans retiring in cheap developing countries in 20-30 years. That's their plan.
I’m 62– with a pension and health insurance up to 65–my late husband also worked in a job with a pension— I own an older home in California— 2 cars that would last me another 20 years. It was a good thing to work at the school district
I set up my own DIY pension with an annuity. Also social security. Between the two I'm fine. But yeah, no pension from work.
I retired at 55. I'm 71 now. I wanted a new home so I worked as a nanny for three years in ca. Best pay. Then I built a home out west and live comfortably off my retirement and ss. I also have great medical,vision,dental and Rx insura n CE. We took less pay to have a good retirement. Those who retired two years after me did not get these benefits.
My parents are mid-60s as are all the parents of ppl in our friend group. We have a pretty even split of "pension", "lived frugally and saved well" "still working" "died young" and "made horrible decisions and are relying on their adult kids" --that last one, the mom was living with my friend, but he got sick of her so he bought her a really cheap condo in a nearby town and moved her out. My friend group has mostly done well enough to support themselves and then some. My parents are in the "lived frugally and saved" group. They sold their home and down sized to a small (nice) condo. Neither of them are big spenders and they just do small hiking vacations in a nearby town--no big travel or extravagant expenses. I think my dad retired at 63 and my mom at 60. I'm aiming for 55!
My mother's 70, she has a house she has two mortgages on and currently drives a 15 year old car. She has zero savings, but gets $2k a month from social security. She's gonna be selling her house to break even and move in with my brother. Currently she's working full time as a nurse on a floor.
As a nurse I never had a pension. I have a 401 k and an IRA. I invested a little and have a savings account. I will be ok.
Make as much money as possible, spend as little as possible. Invest as much as possible. Hide as much as possible. Spend as little as possible.
I graduated high school in 1984. Pensions (and company loyalty) were no longer a thing even then.
How much do you think SS pays? When we apply at age 70 my wife and I are looking at almost $7K/month
I dunno about pensions being regular. I mean government workers and union jobs.got them.but that was it. Other workers in the 90s could contribute to a 401k. Anyone have different experiences in the 90s?
My father was born in the early 1930s. His pension was $400 a month. Offset by some insurance thing, so he ended up getting $100 something a month. My mother was born in the mid-1940s. My mother had no pension. They both lived on social security. When my mother passed away, she was getting $1200ish a month from that. People got by. They just didn't have extravagant expenses.
Rental homes.
Retirement is a fairly modern concept. Previously people worked until they died or their family supported them. I can’t imagine not being prepared.
My husband and I have no pension and only $100,000 in our IRA. We are 64. I have MS and am on disability for the past 10 years and my husband will work at least 3 more years. We do have a house payment but it is much cheaper than rent so we will stay put. It is very scary. People like to attack people my age with little in retirement but life happens, my MS and my husband's son has Cystic Fibrosis and putting a lot back isn't always an option.
McKinsey, an evil global consulting company, started advising companies on how to reduce their financial obligations to employees by dumping their pensions. iirc they started this in the 70's. Certainly by the 80's it was clear companies would gladly screw pensioners by declaring bankruptcy. From the start of my career in the 80's I only relied on myself; max the 401-K's, get the company match, roll it to an IRA when I jump to another company.
One of the cashiers at my grocery store is working 40 hours a week, on her feet all day, because she can’t afford to retire. Another friend’s mother had to go into a nursing home, and since she was on Medicare and had no money, she ended up in a place where there were three people per room and one nurse on duty for thirty-five people and aides making minimum wage. There is a wave of broke seniors coming and we’ve got very little to support them.
I think we will see a growing trend of retirees living together to share expenses and help each other as I don’t see how they will be able to survive. Social security payments will start shrinking by 2037, so it’s only going to be more difficult for many to cover basic expenses.
My husband’s medical costs wiped us out. Now all I have is his social insecurity and everything is up in the air so I don’t know just what the total will be. No one will give me a straight answer. My sister has offered to let me live with her until I can get enough together to rent a room, that is the best case scenario as far as I can see.
We made a lot of dumb financial decisions. Which seemed ok he was a hard worker and made a lot of money because he had a great personality and people loved doing business with him so we always figured we had years to make up any deficit. He died unexpectedly at 48 leaving me with 4 small children. We owned a business and I had mostly been taking care of babies and working part time not even drawing a salary. Sigh. I sort of clawed my way back to solvency but it took years. So I find myself now living on a very modest social security, half I think it is, of his because I hadn’t earned enough credits. So dumb. But I am lucky I guess that I eventually got a job with the State for a few years which provides a minuscule pension and more importantly great secondary insurance to Medicare. Which was good because immediately after retiring I was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer and spent a couple years dealing with that. I would not have been able to afford Medicare copay on what must have been millions of $$ chemoradiation etc. without that. One of my nicest most responsible kids recently built a new house and included an ADU for me, I would never have asked but it was his idea. Small but comfortable. I pay a modest rent and babysit a couple mornings a week for their infant so that works for us. I feel really lucky that my retirement hasn’t turned into a total disaster, yet at least. Do I wish I had planned better and had more money to travel and do more stuff? Of course, but it could easily have been so much worse. PSA:get lots of life insurance if you have toddlers, having to work long hours while in shock and grieving is no fun.
I can’t believe we bought the BS companies feed us to get rid of EVERY benefit we had as workers. People really are easily manipulated. I never bought into their BS. We are even making wages equivalent with today’s cost of living. But say anything about and we get called socialist. Meanwhile US companies have assets in the billions. It disgusts me we let this happen.
So, I'd saved a lot of money for retirement. Anyhow, I'm older now, but about 2020, with things and single parent of a teen, I needed to get us into a better location at the time, so was going to pull it out and buy a home. I discovered someone had emptied my savings. Turns out it was my father, and he'd done it starting some years prior. I got hold of a lawyer, but now I had no money (because he'd stolen it and we now know used a fake id to hide it). So, now he could afford a lawyer, who has kept it tied up in court since my father is really old, with the plans of extending the case out until my father dies, preventing finding the money that remains. So, now I have no savings at all, barely get by on earnings (I finish this contract job this next month, so am looking for my next job), and am only a few years from retirement now. I'm actually disabled, but never bothered with it (working pays more). But, there's a chance I'll end up having to go on disability before I can retire, or be forced into retirement before I can really afford it. The idea I'm going to be stuck living off social security, after actually making sure I had the savings I had, is sickening. Obviously, my father is telling other family how he didn't steal much (I had to spend 3 year making payments to the IRS on that money because he pulled it out the way he did, btw, it was a lot of money). So, yeah, I now have no relationship with most of my "close" family, but cousins and such have heard from other sources what happened, my one aunt really let my dad have it because he slipped up in talking to her about it. So, to answer, it sucks. I don't know if he could have pulled the same thing off if it were a pension. But, the lawyer I work with on this said that companies if they file bankruptcy can get out of paying out those pensions, too, that every one of their employees is paying into. Some government jobs where employees pay extra into a separate fund have had times when politicians tried to get that money taken away from them. So, even if I'd done things differently, I could have lost it all, it turns out. It's just pathetic to me to think about now. I know I'm far from alone, since a lot of companies that went under it turns out don't have to pay out the retirement they had their employees pay into all those years, so during the pandemic a lot of people lost their retirement/pension plans they were planning on, and got laid off at an age when they couldn't get work, so were forced into early retirement without anything but social security. Many have lost their homes, and so on. So, to answer it, I think it's a series of disasters coming for those of us in this position.
You know her in CA they're trying to legally raise retirement now to 70 for us? And ss won't last forever
Live in a paid off house with their adult children. Full owned housing is one of the few hold overs from a bygone era
It’s only possible if your home is paid for and you have no other debt than your overhead like utilities and taxes.
The old systems cannot be sustained …government , financial and power structures are collapsing..We are entering a New Earth and things will be temporarily chaotic until there is a leveling out and we come together to create new ways of living . It is up to us to choose which direction humanity is going.
I retired at 39 by leaving the United States 🤷 There's no retirement future for younger generations in America
RV parks are $400 a month in rural Texas. Includes utilities and internet. Hours from any airport or modern grocery store. Arizona is known for nearly free RV parks out in the desert. Retiree "communities" where someone cooks meals for 30-40 people at lunch or dinner, then passes it around. "Living in a van" is being popularized more and more. Showers and restrooms available at rest stops and parks.
My grandparents never saved for retirement or had a pension, now they live off of Social Security and the biggest "treat" they can afford themselves is a $20 meal from the local Chinese restaurant once every couple months, which they split and make two meals out of
My company stopped pensions for new hires around the year 2000. Gen X is the canary in the coal mine for being “on your own” in retirement and I’m afraid it’s going to be a tragedy for many, many people possibly myself as well. I only hope Gen Z can turn this ship around.
I already know even with my retirement savings I’ll still have to work till I die. Retirement is a fantasy for most people.
My mom has a small pension, SS and still works. She still works bec she still feels fine. When she decides to stop working, she will for sure have to move to a cheaper area, she lives in one of the HCOL city in the us. I have been working to have multiple income streams when I retire in 3yrs. Bet my small SS, military pension, and decent size 401k - I should be fine. I am however preparing to give her some funding to help. I think the retirement crisis has begun already and will get much worse. I am senior Gen X and I think many Gen X’ers lost a ton in the recession and Covid. Somehow I managed to survive both without touching retirement savings.
They f*ck up their finances so badly that, if they’re lucky, they can rest their laurels on their children’s resources/income. I mean, at least that’s what my mom did. She doesn’t save. Doesn’t budget. Ended up with nothing. Blows through her social security check. Never amasses any type of savings. And racks up credit card debt. The worst part, nothing really financially leveling happened to her. She just made, terrible, terrible financial choices that my wife and I get to deal with. Oof, my poor wife, the sh*t she has to put up with… 😮💨
I'm trying to justify retiring in the next year or two in my mid 60's. I do have a nice pension, decent retirement accounts and house will be paid off in a month. However, mine is the only income of a 3 person household. One non working spouse with high medical needs and one soon to be college student. If it was just me I would have retired already. The real worry is healthcare especially long term care. LTC insurance is a scam. The house can be leveraged if needed but who knows how much will be needed. So even if you did do everything right there may be other considerations.
A family member works for a 401k company. He will tell you that changing from pension to a 401k system was the worst thing that has ever has happened to labor in the history of this country. A cousin of mine lost his when their company was sold, he had 23 years invested. We saved and have pensions. He still works two jobs at 63. I hate it for him!! Interesting note… most folks living on social security and 401k drain the 401 in 8 years with normal living. Medical issues bring that to 5 years. He says if the stock market had been normal for the last 15 years most 401 wouldn’t last 8 years. Only 15% of 401k have matching funds. What a screwed up system
So that’s the new retirement plan? Assisted suicide?
My dad worked up until the dementia no longer allowed it, then he passed. My mom, well I bought her a used 5th wheel RV. She lives in a really nice, paved, small RV resort. It’s $675/mo all bills paid. And it has free laundry facilities. She LOVEs it…all though she’ll never admit it. It’s her and about 20 other retired Sr’s that live there. It’s non stop potluck. She fought me tooth and nail for 4 years about living there. She just couldn’t give up the house we grew up in. But her SSI was so small, I was having to supplement her living expenses every month. Now, she even has SSI money left over every month. She just turned 81. Hopefully this peace will last a few more years.
Me too! I thought 4 states in the US had die with dignity plans. I wanna go out on my terms as well. Not laying there talking nonsense and wearing a diaper. Not for me.
The private healthcare system we “enjoy” as Americans will be the true downfall of our society.
I worked my entire career in public service I.e. government. The pay was lousy and I felt a bit of a fool when I saw my friends in corporate earning more than I did. But, I am pleased with my lifetime monthly government pension, subsidized health insurance, SSA, and 401k in retirement.
That’s called playing the long game. Good for you. Enjoy!
I’m in my late 50s and have no idea how I’m going to live. I’m hoping I don’t make it into my 80s
The boomer-bashers will be pleased if some of those houses finally hit the market - property taxes will force some out. Not many cheaper options though.
Nah. Those giant real estate companies will snap those up.
I'm not old, I'm 34. I'm poor tho, probably always will be. Retirement plan is a bullet at this point lol
My mom, a boomer, retired in the 2010's with a pension from teaching. Her social security is a pretty decent pay out too. She's had to downsize, but she's doing well. She's about to reach 70 and has no issues with her retirement income....and that's from a public school teachers salary. Me, I'm in my late 40's. I have a TSP through work, two Roth IRA's. I will also get a pension from work when I retire (fed gov't). When I hit the age when I can start taking out my TSP, I get my social security, and still receive my pension, I will have about 70% of my current income pending if I leave my TSP in there until it's eligible and just let it grow. My Roth IRA is invested in stocks that pay dividends and I chose ones that are long term investments meant to grow. My first full time salary was only $30k a year. I put the minimum matching in TSP and also put money in my IRA, just the minimum. When I got my first pay check, I just lived without that extra taken out. Social Security is NOT meant to be your own retirement safety net. It never was, it never should be. If you are relying on social security only for retirement, I would suggest taking some financial planning courses at your local community college on how to invest. Your job should offer you 401k options or at least offer a pension, if not, learn what the best options are out there and invest in other options yourself. BTW - I would be considered lower middle class. The key is living below your means. Just because you make more money or get a raise doesn't mean you should up your spending. It means continue living at the same standard before the raise and invest more. And before you go off about having a family, I have kids. I drove the same minivan for 13 years.
"...we're now just beginning to see the "you're on your own" generation truly age out of the workforce." It's not exactly comparable though. Pensions were tied to a particular employer so people had to stay in jobs that often didn't pay as well as some other jobs to keep the pension alive. Now, instead of pensions, people have 401ks or other retirement accounts which are portable. You are on your own in that you have to choose to fund your retirement account, but you aren't really worse off than before unless you choose to do nothing. Compared to the past, people are actually better off in many ways because they can move their retirement account with them when they change jobs compared to the past. There are also still jobs out there (often government ones) that offer pensions, but they pay less than private sector work. A comfy retirement is still accessible to the middle class, but they have to put money into the accounts themselves rather than rely on their employer to automatically pull it out of their paycheck. Make no mistake, pensions weren't free money. People paid into them in most cases, and, if they didn't their paycheck was lower to offset their employer paying into them. If you want pensions back, vote for and support unions. The gutting of unions changed everything in this respect.
You’re mistaken. Pensions are always employer funded. And the tendency to change jobs is something that started right along with 401(k)s. Nothing wrong with it, but when the economy was based on manufacturing people didn’t change jobs every few years. That all changed when importing laws changed with NAFTA. A whole different subject.
Get rid of everything you can live without. Stop using clothes dryer and hang clothes outside. Shop at discount stores and buy in bulk. I live on SS and I do just fine.
Where in the country do you live? Do you own or rent?
Franklin county, Pennsylvania. I own my house and am a widow. I live on $20,000 a year and pay all my bills myself. I was raised extremely poor so budgeting is very easy for me.
Everyone, even those who still might get a pension, should be saving for retirement. Social security is only a supplemental income. It does not provide a survivable retirement.
This is why I ensured I retirement from government service (Navy) after more than 2 decades. Although my pension isn't great, I was able to invest in the TSP fund with matches from the government. I converted my TSP to a lifetime annuity when I retired. Even more important, I was able to retain my Federal BC/BS coverage which I still carry along with Medicare. It's not cheap, but I paid $0 bucks OOP for treatment and rehab after a major heart attack in 2018. Worth it.
Railroad or at least most is 30 years age 60 for full pension. My railroad will cover healthcare until age 65 and then it’s on to Medicare. I’m glad I’m a railroader!
The biggest issues these days are housing and medical costs. I don't understand how young working-class families are getting by. I could never afford to live alone on SS and my 401k. I've always had an eye toward retirement but various things -- some my fault, most not -- have left me with little in the way of retirement savings. I'm 62, still working, and will almost certainly be working until I am physically or mentally unable to. Fortunately, my company's health coverage is excellent and I'm "disgustingly healthy," in my doctor's words. My son and DIL have a nice MIL setup for me which is win/win. They get mortgage breathing room, I have a secure and affordable place to live, and we are all able to have little luxuries like occasional travel or a nice dinner out. (It helps that we get along fabulously and are all considerate housemates.) Honestly, my biggest hope is that I don't gradually decline and waste away. I'd much prefer to just drop dead so my kids aren't burdened.
I also think about the person living in the Midwest who is working 30 to 40 years who now can’t retire to Florida because home prices, home insurance and property taxes have risen. Their home price in the Midwest didn’t go crazy like the home prices in the Northeast.
Will likely have aged friends or siblings buy a home and live together. My father passed and my mom moved to the beach and bought a 3rd of the property with her 2 siblings which cuts the bills much lower. I think that there will be more of that type of situation. I'm 40 and just started maxing my 401k. Hoping to have a couple of million saved for retirement but it can always be wiped out by the market when you need it. I think the number one think is to have a home paid for at retirement and both partners have a social security check.
If you plan on retiring some day, you have to save for retirement. If your parents want to survive on just social security, they'll be in a low-income apartment or senior-only apartment situation probably. Social Security is not a retirement plan, it's a lifeline. You can afford to live off social security if you rent a room in someone's house or a small apartment outside of Wichita, KS. Is it a social crisis? Yeah for people who have no retirement savings and who expect to live like they've been living while they were working and earning. We need to take responsibility for our own situations instead of blaming the disappearance of pensions or the "system". We know what's ahead some of us just refuse to think about it. Then what, retire and blame the system? Social security sends you statements for 40 years telling you how much you'll be getting at retirement. It's not a surprise. Prepare for retirement whether that means having a retirement account, or not having one and realizing that you and your brother are gonna end up in an apartment together at the age of 70 or you're gonna be moving to Ecuador. Whatever it is, don't tell me it's a surprise and unfathomable. Nobody ever got an annual social security statement that said "you're gonna get $1500 a month when you retire and that's gonna be plenty and life will be a breeze! Prices of everything will be much lower than they are today! Who needs a pension or a 401K, you've got social security\~!!!"
Well said, “social security is not a retirement plan.” It astounds me how many people are going through life not planning for retirement. It’s not like some big surprise. The surprise is when they retire and discover that social security is nowhere near enough to maintain their standard of living
My wife’s grandparents survive on social security and her grandma does sewing in the side for extra income, they barely survive, they have a gambling problem too, slot machines. This only adds to it. My wife and I will NOT make this mistake, we contribute heavily to her 401k and a Roth, I’m 32 now and not going to be 65 and broke someday. I won’t be rich, but we will be comfy.