Reinventing Retirement
Ideal Living asked readers to submit their ideas about ‘Rethinking
Retirement.’ Bob from New Jersey submitted the following.
The original plan:
trustworthy friends. They were always financially challenged, but
Figuring out how to retire is not easy. Even though I feel I have their lives were happier than those of the people I had worked
done the right things to secure a reasonable path to retirement, with in the past. They have unknowingly encouraged me to not
life has created new challenges. My plans were to sell my house give up the hope of retiring happily some day. When selecting a
in a few years when I reached my 60s, then move south and buy retirement community, I would look for the same happy people.
a house in a retirement community, making use of my pensions, I guess you do find inspiration in some of the strangest places.
Social Security, 401k and savings to cover all my living expenses.
At the time, it sounded like a reasonable plan. Well, there is an old Healthcare:
saying, you make your plans and you live your mistakes.
In principle, I like what Obama is promoting. I just wish
I knew more about the details
With this plan in mind, in
the spring of 2007 I started
fixing the house up for resale.
During the rest of 2007, everything seemed to hit the fan at
the same time. My job was out-sourced, the value of my house
dropped 20 percent, and my
401K dropped 25 percent, then
35 percent in value. I can only
hope that my pensions will
remain unchanged and my faith
in capitalism will be renewed.
The only comfort I have now is
that the members of my family
are going through similar hard
times, as is the rest of the
country… Which reminds me
of another old saying, misery
loves company.
Diminished social status:
I thought that the drop in
my net worth was really going
of his plan. Whatever it is, it
is likely to impact the cost of
retirement medical plans.
Technology—some good,
some bad:
I worked in the Information
Technology world for 34 years.
I have watched everyday as technology made possible ever more
remarkable tasks. Helping to
develop new applications in this
field, I couldn’t help but pause
from time to time and wonder
how Robert Oppenheimer felt
as he rushed the world into
the nuclear age. What good
is all this power without the
intelligentsia of some governing
body to guide it? I am looking
forward to retiring in a well-crafted cabin out in the woods,
someplace where people are
more important than having the
latest and the greatest. You make your plans and you live your mistakes.
The SH_T hit the fan:
© ISTOCKPHOTO.COM/MARK
to hurt my retirement plans.
POPROCKI
Financially, in all reality it probably did. But something else The ever-changing retirement plan:
happened to me as well. I had to take a job with a 66 percent
My plans for retirement at this time have pretty much stayed
cut in pay and work in a field that was completely different than the same, except that I may have to retire later in life and with
what I had been doing for the past 34 years. I found myself less money. But hopefully, I will retire in a place where I can
working with a completely different type/class of people. find a happy group of friends, some people I can tip a few with
Although they weren’t as polished as the people I have worked while watching a ball game, playing cards, sharing a memory or
