24514. thoughtful - 10/15/2008 6:51:52 PM well the tanking of the stock market has significantly changed my plans for retirement...my new plans are now to work until I'm 85!
24515. wonkers2 - 10/15/2008 7:14:29 PM Me too! 24516. thoughtful - 10/15/2008 7:24:11 PM so much for worrying about the shrinkage of the american labor force as us baby boomers retire!
Watching the stock market, for some reason, that song from the poseidon adventure keeps going through my head: there's got to be a morning after.... 24517. iiibbb - 10/15/2008 9:01:14 PM However, working you til you die might save social security. 24518. thoughtful - 10/15/2008 9:24:49 PM social security ain't the issue, never was.
medicare/medicaid is the nut to crack.
24519. iiibbb - 10/15/2008 9:27:32 PM Too bad all the ice is melting... we could've just adopted the Inuit version of senior care.
j/k 24520. iiibbb - 10/15/2008 9:31:40 PM 24521. wonkers2 - 10/15/2008 11:16:36 PM Very true, Thoughtful. Except Medicare deductions from my SS check are growing. As you say, the problem is with Medicare, not SS. The other part of the problem is the disappearance of defined benefit pension plans and the low or (negative?) savings rate. I tell my kids that I'm able to survive in relative comfort because I have a pension, social security and a healthy (until last week) IRA converted from my 401k which I maxed out for 40 years. None of my three children has a pension. I tell them if they don't start saving more they'll end in a fourth floor slum tenement walk-up, sitting on a creaky bed with a bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling, pee stains on their underwear and a bottle of Ripple on the floor.
Btw, I became a grandparent two days a go--it's a girl--Nora Elizabeth Wonkers. 24522. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 10/15/2008 11:38:20 PM Congrats Grandpa & Grandma!!!
24523. arkymalarky - 10/16/2008 2:24:38 AM Congrats Wonk!
I'll be 50 this summer and my house will be paid off in less than 8 years. Somewhere between my 50th birthday and my laat house payment I'm retiring. I could draw full benefits after this year. To be honest, I still love teaching and would continue indefinitely, but NCLB and ridiculous, useless stuff that has gone with it has about sucked all the fun out of teaching, and if that doesn't change I'm retiring sooner rather than later, no matter what.
Wonk, your situation sounds similar to my parents' and they've had a great retirement. At least up to now. 24524. Jenerator - 10/16/2008 2:33:38 AM Wonk,
I am so happy for you! You are going to be a wonderful grandpa. 24525. Jenerator - 10/16/2008 2:34:08 AM thoughtful,
my new plans are now to work until I'm 85!
Thanks to our retarded governor, I will be doing the same. 24526. arkymalarky - 10/16/2008 2:42:51 AM I'm not up on TX politics, Jen. Why is that? One reason I want to retire within the next five years is I'm afraid they'll change the rules on me. Another is concern over whether my school will be consolidated. If it is, I don't want to start somewhere else. 24527. Ms. No - 10/16/2008 4:02:11 AM Congrats Wonkers!!! 24528. Ms. No - 10/16/2008 4:04:41 AM Currently the retirement and benefits are the only thing that thrill me about my job. Of course, in order to really reap those rewards I have to keep doing it for the next 25 years, but my plan is to get my MFA in the next few years and then teach at the university level. That would eliminate the bulk of the babysitting issues that are really my biggest headache. 24529. thoughtful - 10/16/2008 3:18:20 PM Congratulations on the new baby wonkette! Lovely name.
24530. alistairconnor - 10/16/2008 4:21:38 PM Nora Elizabeth, welcome to my world!
Use it wisely. 24531. judithathome - 10/16/2008 6:17:41 PM Congratulations to you, Wonkers.
We went by to see our 3 month old great granddaughter on Sunday. She is smitten with Keoni's voice and followed him around the room with her eyes...it was really cute!
He looked so comfortable holding her and he just talked and talked to her about the things the three of us are going to do together... 24532. anomie - 10/16/2008 6:46:01 PM Congrats Grandpa! The world goes on... 24534. wonkers2 - 10/19/2008 4:47:08 AM Thanks, all!
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