DobeAndBorderCollie

Hi All,
So I am a Certified Financial Planner and I'm currently updating a course I've taught for the last year about Retirement Income Planning. The course was prepared for police officers retiring from the force. The training department for the PD actually does a week long course that pre-retiree's are required to attend. It involves courses on the psychology of leaving your job (especially going from police to civilian), physical fitness in retirement, understanding pension and health benefits, and I teach the day on investing, estate planning and retirement income planning. (It's actually a cool course they developed)

Just curious to know what concerns you most about the prospect of retiring, or if you are retired what your concerns are related to the economy?

It would really help me enhance the course to know what people worry about so I can make sure I've addressed these concerns for them. Thanks so much!


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falnfenix

i'm fully aware that there's a good chance i won't be able to retire. this terrifies me. even my dad - who is a retired CPA - agrees that unless i fall into a large sum of money i'll pretty much be screwed.

reasons: the stock market is in shambles. investing is NOT the best way to go anymore. i have a Roth IRA, but i haven't put any money in it in forever...it's lost so much money i can't justify it. i've tried investing in goods, rather than stocks, but half of what i own is about to be made illegal. investing in land is useless. basically, it's hopeless.

lestat1978

I'm not counting on ever being able to retire either.

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Rednec_13

My biggest worry is the what the government can do for me mentality that has been going around. We can not afford that type of government. If this continue I dont think I will ever be able to retire do to taxes going though the roof.

domina

I am also afraid that my husband and I will never retire. Even though I'm 25 years old, that's something that really concerns me. We have a savings account/retirement account, but to me, even our projected income "if we retire" doesn't seem enough. We don't know what to invest in anymore. Some people recommended investing in real estate. But, we're terrified that there will be another real estate bubble and that we won't be able to "sell our investment". I am really terrified about our future when it comes to retirement.

Sylvia

I think the scariest part is how early you would have to start saving for retirement - at an age where most people wouldn't think about it yet. Otherwise, it will be too late. And if you're young you usually end up with other debt that you need to pay first before you can really save, like car loans, student loans, .....
Anyways, I think the best way to go would be to invest into 2 houses that will be paid off by the time you want to retire. One to live in and one to rent out, so you'll have a monthly income.

latere

I echo what Sylvia says.

We need to start saving for retirement at an early age. This early age includes things like huge student loans and an economy that is extremely difficult to find equivalent employment in. Taxes are going up and social programs are being cut and the rich are just getting richer.

I doubt I'll ever be able to afford to own real estate with the job market/economy the way its at right now, let alone retire comfortably... I'm thinking I'm going to have to own some kind of business to fund my retirement, but that takes money to invest that needs to come out of somewhere...

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lestat1978

I did get into my company's 401(k) and do contribute more than what my company matches, but based on what I've read I'm not close to contributing enough. I can't afford to contribute more though. And I'm not the crazy poor person who somehow still manages to have the latest gaming console, 52" TV, iPad, yearly vacation, the latest smart phone, etc.

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InSearchOf

Has anyone thought about retiring abroad? I'm retired....but, I now live in Panama.

We own our home here outright and the temps are between 60 to 80 degrees in the highlands year round, so no a/c or heat is needed. Here are monthly bills:
105.00 a/mo for 2 - health insurance
23.00 a /mo for electricity (runs between 19.00 and 25.00 a month)
4.50 a/mo for water (they do not meter water here, so it's a flat rate)
27.00 a/mo for landline and DSL
5.37 a/mo for gas/propane
14.00 a day for gardener (twice a week)
10.00 a day for housekeeper (once a week)
245.00 a year for car insurance

Do the math. You can live like a king/queen off your social security elsewhere and enjoy a true adventure doing it.

blueberry

I am not really scared of retiring....I think most people in there 20's, 30's, and 40's are faced with working until 70+....it maybe come a fact of life. The retirement age is/has not kept up with life expectancy....especially with the SS crisis. I plan on working until 70+....I am currently in the process of switching careers. I am a glassblower and my hands are already starting to bother me....so there is no way I can do this for the next 30+ years. Most of us will work longer than our parents did.... I hope to stay healthy because work will be a must for me.


Although Panama is starting to sound good right about now!

prairiefire

I am afraid I will not be able to save enough money before I retire that will last until I pass. An assisted living room here is $2000+/month today and that is bare bones food and shelter. A good nursing home? I don't know. Considering the inflation rate and the Rule of 70 and I can easily see an assisted living place costing $4000+ by the time I might need it.

When I was working I was saving in a TFSA and RRSPs assuming that the CPP (Canada Pension Plan) will not exist in 35-40 years. When I get back into the work force I will be saving as such again.

I do hope, by the time I'm close to retirement I will have rental property(ies) that could at least supplement my retirement income.

I'm not as scared because I have a role model of what not to do financially. She is 60 years old, has a $45,000 loan that brought nothing durable into the house, no job and few prospects, and has absolutely nothing saved. This train wreck has scared me enough.

dobermansrule

not having enough money saved. then, no yield on what money I do have. Cost of living is going nowhere but up, even though reported inflation is low.

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melbrod

Inflation, changes in government benefits (less benefit, raising age requirement to receive benefit), taxes going up on those who "have" (taxes being levied on people with less and less wealth), disabled son who will need to be supported for lifetime (uncertain government and economic times--how much money will he need?)

It's the uncertainty of it all that is daunting--there seems to be no point at which I can lean back and be secure that I have enough saved because at any moment it could all be taken away by government fiat.

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njdobermom

My worry is losing my medical benefits after retiring and not being able to save additional 250,000.00 I reed is needed to cover it.

dax0402

I am retired and have been for a while. DH is still working part time but planning on retiring sometime this year. Our biggest concern is the cost of medical benefits and also the extremely low interest rates which means we are getting almost nothing on our fixed investments. Might as well stuff it under the bed!!!

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Lois and Baron

alan j.

I am concerned with loosing my health and not being able to earn. Inflation is eating at everything even though no government stats will not acknowledge, the return on money saved is an insult, real estate should be ok but property rights are being eroded, taxes are up everywhere, insurance cost are sucking up any loose cash. The future looks bleak with a government that borrows more than .40$ for every dollar spent. I do not even consider receiving S.S. and do not understand why a worker younger than i would want to contribute to this program. Its hard to stay positive in the hear and now let alone think about having a rosy retirement.

Darkevs

i have a motto.

life is like war.

you have to be fluid.


ah crap. what was the question?

heehee, just kidding.

i worried my ass off about life for the first 50 years of it.

i refuse to worry about much of anything anymore.

never been happier.

can you tell i am in a good mood today.

you young people with kids............i do worry about you guys though.

I pray and hope things do not get any tougher for you............

so that when you get to my age you too will be happier than ever before.

Good Morning DT'ers!

Hugz to All!

DobeAndBorderCollie...........great thread!

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Thanks for making this signature for me Amelia!

dobermansrule

I don't oft respond to my own post, but to continue the thought...

in the old days, I was preached the magic of compounding. I think 7% interest was used to make it sound so enticing to save.

FV = PV (1 + i)^N
FV = Future Value (the amount you will have in the future)
PV = Present Value (the amount you have today)
i = Interest (your rate of return or interest rate earned)
N = Number of Years (the length of time you invest)

examples:
say you start with $10,000 in the bank and have 30 years to save. And you can put in faithfully $1000 per year. And you get monthly compounding of interest.

at the 7% some financial planners and reading material still seem to think exists: in 30 years, you'll have $183,337.

at todays 0.1%: you'll have $40, 760.

then, who's to say in 30 years, what purchasing power that money will have.

Our Federal Reserve is openly pursuing a zero interest rate policy. Savers get killed. One is either forced to suffer with no yield for the perception of safety, or, take huge risk to pursue higher yields.

Everytime I go into my local bank, they ask if I want to talk to their investment advisor since we have a decent sum in savings account. I talked to that person once; they are pushing annuities. The promise of guaranteed yield and steady payout. But nothing is free - their are costs to everything, and risk.

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alan j.

dobesrule- it just sucks... anything less than 3% is really negative return...i did better as a kid in the 1970's with 300.00 in saving than today with 30,000$ .

dobermansrule

I just scared myself..

I ran one of those retirement calculators.. it says for me to retire at 75% of my current lifestyle, I need to have at least $1.5 million saved. At least. I am retirement age in 15 years (unless the wheel of fortune of life determines otherwise).. and I am nowhere near $1.5M.

beam me up.

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dobermansrule

Ah ha!! what I was trying to remember earlier was the rule of 72. Gives the approximate number of years required to double a sum at a given interest rate.

I remember talking about this in the 90s with a carpool buddy....

example:

$10,000 initial sum.
at 7% interest, it will double to $20,000 in a little over 10 years.

at 0.1% interest, it will double in 720 years.

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dobermansrule

and question back to the financial planner:

what advise are you giving clients, in this low interest rate environment?

let me guess:

Index Mutual funds (stock market)
Growth stock mutual funds (stock market)

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Levis Friend

Hate to add to people's worries, but I'm very concerned that the government will keep adding to the deficit so much that either they trigger hyper inflation- In which case any money you do manage to save is worth a lot less. Or they cause the dollar to become utterly worthless like happened in Argentina, in which case anything you did manage to save is just worth nothing.

robinb

With the current state of the economy spinning out of control and with no signs that spending will be reined in, I’d certainly put gold, silver or a mixture of both in the mix between land, savings and stocks, especially for anyone at retirement or nearing retirement. Both of my parents lived through the bank failures of the Great Depression, my late father lost all of his modest savings at the time and had to start all over. I’m not certain history will not repeat itself unless something is done and soon, regardless of federal insurance on savings.

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dobermansrule

movie "Graduate".... plastics...

today .... Metals.

I have some money parked in brass, copper and lead. And what's neat is you can buy them prepackaged in 20 paks or 50 paks.

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