Where do you stand with regard to retirement?

[bicker]

I participate in a number of personal finance forums, but there you get a really biased view of how things are since everyone is clearly focusing on money issues, especially saving for retirement. I'd love to hear from a different set of people about these issue. Of course, folks interested in religion are another biased sample but I think I'll post this same poll on a few other non-finance forums I belong to to see the contrast.

I apologize in advance if the set of choices I provided weren't adequate.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

My wife and I are retiring at the end of Q1.

 

[MysticSang'ha]

In my field, it is highly unlikely that I will fully retire. Though my husband and I do invest in our own "nest egg", but that is considered to be meant for funding our children's and grandchildren's futures and for philanthropic efforts (we can dream).

Most dancers, in spite of "retiring" from consistent stage work, continue to work full time until they drop. Martha Graham continued to work until her death at the age of 96. Mostly because when she tried to retire at 76, she sank into a terrible depression, abused alcohol, slipped into a coma, came out of it, then attempted suicide. Once she decided to return, she sparked another era in contemporary dance in the late 1970s through the 1980s.

Her story isn't that uncommon, either. However, she herself is unique in just how ridiculously long she worked (1926-1991).

 

[Revoltingest]

I'm in a long & unpredictable process of retiring.
Which investments will succeed & which will evaporate?
Time will tell.

 

[sandandfoam]

I voted other.
I don't think I will ever be able to retire.

 

[lunakilo]

I started saving a percentage of my salary the moment I got a job.
It is a pension of the kind where you get money from the moment you retire until you die, so I don't have to worry about outliving my savings

I don't know how much I have saved up yet, but I don't plan to retire any time soon (I am 39), I hope by the time I do retire there will be enough for me to live on.
The plan worked for my mother, so I see no reason why it wouldn't work for me.

 

[Penumbra]

I selected:
"I've started actively saving for retirement and believe I will be able to retire early."

I currently have work income, investment income, and entrepreneurial income. Based on current projections, I expect that investment income and entrepreneurial income alone will cover all expenses by age 30. A few years after that in my mid thirties, I project that investment income alone to cover all expenses.

I'd probably not purposely leave my job until entrepreneurial income is higher than it is now and investment income is 50% larger than expenses, since I wouldn't want to retire with passive income that merely covers expenses. I'd want it to be double or triple expenses, especially because I have aging parents that may need financial assistance at any point and I'm still unsure about the possibility of having kids.

Even when I "retire" I don't plan to do nothing. I'll do entrepreneurial stuff or philanthropy but it will all be optional.

 

[dawny0826]

I'm investing in my own retirement, but cannot increase percentage of investment or make additional investment until there's a break in other areas. With this said, I will not be able to retire until retirement age and will need to make adjustments and consider other investments in the interim to secure my financial future.

I try not to let it overwhelm me, though it is overwhelming.

 

[Shuddhasattva]

Without work, why wait for death?

Some cite family, but these days family is more likely to pack you off to a "retirement" home - if you're lucky the big one with all the gators and skeeters and Rick Perry.

 

[bicker]

I think you need to differentiate from "work" and "industry". I can be very productive and useful without doing the jobs for which I can get paid a good salary.

 

[Shuddhasattva]

I agree with you, but nearly all such work is, in some way, for the sake of others, and involves the marketplace for that reason.

I don't consider a personal hobby that never goes outside the garage productive.

 

[bicker]

What about making and bringing meals to the disabled in your community?

 

[Shuddhasattva]

You got me there. But better if doing so is at least economically self-sustaining given that many retired people might run into issues feeding themselves much less others (and transportation, oh my!)

 

[bicker]

There is no question that life would be so much better if what we wanted to do and enjoyed doing paid a living wage. However, if you are fortunate enough to achieve financial security, the personal satisfaction from doing good work you do well becomes more important than the money.

 

[dust1n]

Turn 24 for in a couple of months. Haven't given retirement much, if any, thought.

 

[MysticSang'ha]

Turn 24 for in a couple of months. Haven't given retirement much, if any, thought.

Don't feel bad. I had been much more concerned about where my next meal was coming from than what I was going to put in for retirement.

Over the past 20 years, being in that state has made it rather habitual. I wonder if that's part of the reason why many dancers truly don't retire. Not only because we work in a field we love, but because most of us don't have the income to provide that kind of luxury and security.

I'm thinking about it now, but not so much about living off a passive income (I can't even imagine what that's like lol). But what I can start investing in once the business meets projections over the next 5 years.

 

[arhys]

Without work, why wait for death? I don't consider a personal hobby that never goes outside the garage productive.

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.

It's a shame that the only thing a man can do for eight hours a day is work. He can't eat for eight hours; he can't drink for eight hours; he can't make love for eight hours. The only thing a man can do for eight hours is work.

-- William Faulkner

 

[Shadow Wolf]

At 26 years old, I've not thought much of retirement. I don't have a job that allows me to save anything anyways, as of now.

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.

I have to admit, I find it odd that a Christian would be quoting the man who wrote Anti-Christ, even if the quote is misattributed; Rudyard Kipling is the one who actually said that.

 

[bicker]

And is a quote that can arguably be regarded as paranoid, schizotypal, and narcissistic. I was searching for some commentary on that quote and found a discussion thread within which folks were taking a personality assessment and posting their results. It was rather interesting to me that the person with that quote in their signature posted their numbers: paranoid 74%, schizotypal 70% and narcissistic 78%. (Coincidentally, there is a similar thread here, with the same assessment, and with someone with the same quote in their signature, but without the correspondingly high indices for those three personality aspects.)

 

[Shadow Wolf]

And is a quote that can arguably be regarded as paranoid, schizotypal, and narcissistic. I was searching for some commentary on that quote and found a discussion thread within which folks were taking a personality assessment and posting their results. It was rather interesting to me that the person with that quote in their signature posted their numbers: paranoid 74%, schizotypal 70% and narcissistic 78%. (Coincidentally, there is a similar thread here, with the same assessment, and with someone with the same quote in their signature, but without the correspondingly high indices for those three personality aspects.)

I really don't see any of those in the quote. When you truly break from the heard, depending on what exactly it is you are doing many times people don't care or notice, but then there are some things that you do have to stay on your guard. And of course to own yourself, as much as can be done, is something I wouldn't trade for the world.