How's your retirement plan?

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Retirement? What's that?

[CyberCubed]

Do people not retire anymore? My parents are 61 and 60 years old respectively and they're saying they'll retire around 65-66 or so. Granted they grew up in the 70's and 80's so things were different back then.

[Leo656]

Most people don't "retire" so much as get too old to ever be hired at a job, and then have to scrape by on their monthly social security check.

Only people who work a 6-figure or higher job get to actually "retire". Everybody else just gets too old to work anymore.

If half the things you say about yourself are true, you will probably be fine. Almost everyone else is going to be stretching their $1200 a month from the government to the absolute limit until the day they keel over.

[mrmaczaps]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Most people don't "retire" so much as get too old to ever be hired at a job, and then have to scrape by on their monthly social security check.

Only people who work a 6-figure or higher job get to actually "retire". Everybody else just gets too old to work anymore.

If half the things you say about yourself are true, you will probably be fine. Almost everyone else is going to be stretching their $1200 a month from the government to the absolute limit until the day they keel over.

Where you getting $1200 a month? Lol. Disability pays a bit more than social security does and I'm not collecting $1200 a month.

[Leo656]

That's what my Dad got. I think my wife's parents each get around $1400.

Come to think of it, they all are/were also on disability, though, so you may be right. I generally just hear "retired" people who collect talk about getting around $1200-1400 a month. But y'know, now that you mention it I never bothered to really look into how many of those people are also disabled. I just know that "around $1200-1400" is what most people I know over 60 tend to get every month, generally speaking.

I don't know too many retired people who take in less. Although if they do, they probably don't live very long, which would explain why I don't hear from them on the subject. I mean let's face it, if you're old and only bringing in less than $1200 a month to live on... you're gonna die soon. All that ramen and cat food you're gonna be forced to eat is gonna just plain kill you sooner rather than later.

[CyberCubed]

Unless my math is a little off, I think most of us who are over 30 already will be retiring around the year 2050 or so give or take?

Man the year 2050 still sounds like the far flung future to me, but then again the year 2020 sounded like the far flung future to me too, and well...here we are. I mean it's kinda scary knowing half our lives are already over, and before you turn around it'll be 2050 already.

[Leo656]

[mrmaczaps]

Originally Posted by Leo656

That's what my Dad got. I think my wife's parents each get around $1400.

Come to think of it, they all are/were also on disability, though, so you may be right. I generally just hear "retired" people who collect talk about getting around $1200-1400 a month. But y'know, now that you mention it I never bothered to really look into how many of those people are also disabled. I just know that "around $1200-1400" is what most people I know over 60 tend to get every month, generally speaking.

I don't know too many retired people who take in less. Although if they do, they probably don't live very long, which would explain why I don't hear from them on the subject. I mean let's face it, if you're old and only bringing in less than $1200 a month to live on... you're gonna die soon. All that ramen and cat food you're gonna be forced to eat is gonna just plain kill you sooner rather than later.

Before my Gram died, she was retired and barely taking home like $1000... and I think thats the same for my Mom's folks, but at least they have double that. I know if I don't get better & get to retirement age while disabled, I will actually lose $300ish a month when that happens. I can barely get by right now too. I'm hoping to honestly drop dead before Civil War 2/World War 3 starts though.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Yeah, hubby's ss and disability COMBINED only amounts to a little under 900$. If it wasn't for my paycheck, he'd be up $h*# creek without a paddle.

[IndigoErth]

Retirement, what's that? Is that still going to be a thing for this generation and younger?

Yeah, probably already too far behind... If we do get the other part of that stimulus I was thinking of maybe trying to open something with it, but never had much knowledge on this kind of stuff in the first place...

Imagine I'll end up one of those old people still working because they have to. Seeing my mom struggle now worries me and have assumed that no way is social security going to be livable for our generation, aside from those who managed to do particularly well for themselves. The cost of living and that of other individual needs is just way too much anymore compared to what most, esp seniors, are trying to live on.

[Last Ronin]

I'll be dead so why bother? By the time I'd retire the damn government will raise it to 80.

[CyberCubed]

I finally opened up a Roth IRA and maxed out 2023/2024 which is 6,000 and 7,000 (or around there). Every year from this point onward I will max out $6,000 or so there.

I should of opened a Roth IRA when I was in my early 30's or even before but I just was not thinking about it or saving enough money to do so, but now I can. I still have roughly 25 or more years till retirement age so I figure if I max out every year from this point onward I'll have quite a nest egg waiting for me. I consulted bogleheads and reddit's financial boards and they all recommend to do the same.

[Mayhem]

Right now, the pension plans I have are projected to provide me somewhere between £1000-1500 per month when I retire, which should be enough assuming I don’t have any mortgage to pay off still. But I suspect the mortgage will go when my father passes and I get half the estate.

[ResidentEvil7]

I'm on disability ($628.67 per month) and my aunt set up a special needs trust after my dad passed 18 months ago (heart attack, age 66). My aunt has guardianship of my trust and my mom has guardianship of me.

Luckily, I don't have to pay rent or mortgage now that I have to live "with" my mom and stepdad in a coach house man cave behind their main house, above the garage. The only utility I'm responsible for is gas, which for me is only $29 a month. I get $277 in food SNAP. The only things I need to pay for with my SSI deposits are: clothes, auto insurance every 3 months, gas for the car, cat food from Costco which is like 6 months worth for $50, and toiletries.

This wasn't the life I wanted. I've tried getting a job my entire life, but due to lack of experience, unable to pass online assessment tests and an autistic disability and maybe even identity (I'm a white male), not too many employers are that understanding. The only jobs I ever had was painting and laboring for my stepdad's construction business; and election judge whenever there's was an election or Illinois primary. 16-hour day.

I don't mean to sound sexist, but one thing that bugs me about interviews is that it's done by a woman, and they all have attitudes and hesitate to offer a man a job, but they call us lazy when we're out of work. I remember this woman manager at a Kohl's department store at a mall; I was 23 at the time, when she looked at my application, saw I have no experience and then she slammed me saying that I'll never have a job and that I should go back to where I came from and clean up roadkill and then she compares me to her perfect-in-every-way daughter. Of course, her daughter and not a son is so great she should run for president.

I'm still going to plug in these applications. In April, I plan on applying to Best Buy because of my passion for tech and the job I want doesn't require any experience (product flow). They unload trucks, stock shelves, fulfill online orders and load customer's vehicles. That I can do and want to do. I figure I apply when the threat of snow (I get snow driving anxiety attacks) is over, I get my foot in the door, learn of the specs of the company and products Best Buy sells and eventually work my way to my dream job which is computer and home theater technician for Geek Squad. They start people off at my location for $17.50/hour and they have you work a few days a week, which shouldn't put my SSI in jeopardy. I did teach myself how to build and fix PC desktops even before YouTube by taking an old Compaq apart, put it back together and replaced dead parts and it worked.

Anyway, back to retirements. If I ever get that job, I'll save my money that doesn't need to be spent each month and add that to my trust fund ($225,000) and some day by best friend (who is almost 43, disabled and also living with his parents) will save up and buy a house in my old neighborhood, which houses go for $325,000. I figure save up while living rent/mortgage free with family and buy the house in one lump sum when the time is right; therefore you don't have to worry about expensive monthly mortgages and high interest rates. Once my best friend and I get a house some day, we're going to save for a collection of classic arcades and pinball games and some other man cave tabletop games and collectables. I love man caves. Once everything we want is all paid for, then what doesn't have to be spent each month goes to saving up for retirement.

So my philosophy to retirement is live rent free with family, save up for a house that you can buy without a mortgage, and save your money so you can settle down.

[CyberCubed]

I would look into programs for people with special needs, they do job placement for you even if it's only temp jobs. All you have to do is prove you know basic computer skills and basic/easy math, nothing too complicated.

[IndigoErth]

Originally Posted by ResidentEvil7

I remember this woman manager at a Kohl's department store at a mall; I was 23 at the time, when she looked at my application, saw I have no experience and then she slammed me saying that I'll never have a job and that I should go back to where I came from

WTF.

Personally, shrug off ones like that, would be my advice. You dodged a bullet by her being authentic to her true terrible self and saving you the trouble of working under someone who 150% likely makes the employees miserable. And probably a big reason they needed new hires to begin with...

Chances are high that that bitch is no better to other women, and if she really had the audacity to bring up her daughter like that then I'd bet money on it that she's a narcissist who only sees her kid an an extension of herself -- which will eventually backfire once her daughter is sick of not getting to be her own person and over it with trying to be perfect to not upset her mother. I do not envy her daughter.

Speaking as a woman, I've had interviewers in my past of either gender and same for managers I worked under, and the good and the bad have pretty much been equal for either. One of my worst was a woman manager (also at a store) who I've always wished I knew where she was working these days because I'd NOPE the hell right out of there if I was job hunting. People like her who create bad work environments should never be in positions of authority.


But yeah... maybe listen to Cube's advice. And don't sweat those bad ones if in reality you dodged a bullet. We only get one life, no one should be stuck devoting so much time working under some he/she-beast that makes everyone else miserable.

[ResidentEvil7]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

WTF.

Personally, shrug off ones like that, would be my advice. You dodged a bullet by her being authentic to her true terrible self and saving you the trouble of working under someone who 150% likely makes the employees miserable. And probably a big reason they needed new hires to begin with...

Chances are high that that bitch is no better to other women, and if she really had the audacity to bring up her daughter like that then I'd bet money on it that she's a narcissist who only sees her kid an an extension of herself -- which will eventually backfire once her daughter is sick of not getting to be her own person and over it with trying to be perfect to not upset her mother. I do not envy her daughter.

Speaking as a woman, I've had interviewers in my past of either gender and same for managers I worked under, and the good and the bad have pretty much been equal for either. One of my worst was a woman manager (also at a store) who I've always wished I knew where she was working these days because I'd NOPE the hell right out of there if I was job hunting. People like her who create bad work environments should never be in positions of authority.


But yeah... maybe listen to Cube's advice. And don't sweat those bad ones if in reality you dodged a bullet. We only get one life, no one should be stuck devoting so much time working under some he/she-beast that makes everyone else miserable.

That is very true what you said that people should avoid jobs were it's a bad environment. It could of been the symptoms of my autism, which I didn't know I had at the time, but I was the kind of kid who got bullied and picked on, had things thrown at me, and sometimes physically attacked by my school peers. I HATE KIDS! School sucked and there were times I called my dad and faked sickness so I can get the day off. How convenient that those days included the Mondays or Fridays of an extended weekend or seasonal time off around Christmas and Easter.

Anyway, school sucked badly and I don't want to put up with jerks and other people are a job and it's my past is why I'm very picky about what jobs I want to apply for. I'm seeking my local Best Buy in about 2 months and I want it badly because the employees are down-to-Earth friendly and make the shopping experience a pleasant one; I assume a working environment would be just as pleasant. Plus the warehouse position would be a good step to get my foot in the door and work my way up to PC technician or in home theater. I'm spending this winter prepping for this position once it opens up in a couple months, I hope it does.

[IndigoErth]

Best of luck, hope you're able to get in with that Best Buy when you go for it!


Have you tried any online stuff? I discovered Remotasks last year and used it for several months as a means to save up for a new PC.

I haven't had any projects this winter and have read that it's just a slow period right now and that it should pick back up, but for the most part I enjoyed it and hope I do get some more projects.

A lot of what I did was writing and/or rating that is a part of AI chat bot training. I've also gotten to do some image description writing as well, that likewise goes into training AI to recognize objects. They don't disclose their clients, though some other image-based projects are a part of helping AI systems in cars learn to navigate, so there are some guesses that could be made.

They do tend to be sticklers for perfect spelling and grammar for writing projects and strongly advise using Grammarly, but you look like you are already a great writer.

(Was a little worried about the tax stuff, which I just did recently, and I'd been keeping good record on my earnings, but luckily they did issue a 1099 which made it easy. I owed some on that income, so not getting back as much as I usually do, but wasn't a big deal.)



DataAnnotation.tech is another one that, while it's picky over who it accepts, is supposedly very good for those that do get in. (I did not get accepted, but I still got the pay for doing their entry thing.) I've HEARD it supposedly pays better than Remo per project tasks, but Remo has been pretty good from what I've seen.




Edit: Now... back to the actual thread topic, if I can get some good projects with Remo again I do hope to use some of it to open an IRA or something and use that to help generate money to put into it.

To be perfectly honest, I'm pretty clueless on this stuff. I've got zero "retirement" outside of what is in my actual bank account, which isn't any kind of riches but not broke. (Yay for being screwed someday.) No one, neither school or parents, ever bothered to teach about this kind of thing. Though I've read a lot of comments from others of my generation with the same complaint, that no one taught this stuff and then we were just expected to pull that knowledge out of our asses. Anyone who did get guidance from someone in their younger or young adult years is fortunate. It's far too easy early on to think you have all the time in the world to figure it out, and then the years move faster than you realize they will and before you know it you're past 40 and still unsure.

I'm good at saving and stretching it and not foolish with money, but I've never had the talent for earning large amounts or knowing how to invest it.

[CyberCubed]

I would open up an IRA before it's too late. Just dump some money in there (whatever you can spare), and let it accumulate and it'll grow some interest over time as long as you buy a target retirement date. Most people retire around 65 so that's still a good amount of time to make a IRA savings for.

[DarkFell]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

You dodged a bullet by her being authentic to her true terrible self and saving you the trouble of working under someone who 150% likely makes the employees miserable. And probably a big reason they needed new hires to begin with...

This sounds like one of my GM's. We don't really get along. I was even told that I would get pulled from my register because I didn't get any donations for The Boy's & Girls Club. Thankfully, another Store GM showed me how to gather the donations. (I'm not always on the register.)

The GM recently passed out some promotions and one of the cashiers that I work with is still likable, but now she's extra 'pushy' and she gets more responsibilities. Because, she aims to please the Store GM.

This is retail by the way. And, there's less of us working in the store because the Holiday Help wasn't hired on Part-Time, or, they just didn't want the job. *Who knows?*

I'm buddies with one of the Loss Prevention guys at the store and he's provided some mentions of my contributions to the store on a wall within The Break Room. I'm cool with that. If it gets the stink-eye from the Store GM, it's just the cherry on top.