How concerned are you about retirement?

[BOP]

All said and done, we should have well over $1M for retirement. If that can't sustain us, we deserve to live in squalor.

You're right; we should have at least that. But our benevolent government punishes us for producing, spending, saving, passing along our money.

 

[BOP]

I use a commissioned broker. He stands to make money off me, so the better I do the better he does, more inclined to make good choices. So far, it's worked out well.

I'm very risk-adverse, which is why, before I went to him, I had all my money in the G-fund. And, I didn't start money matching right away because I didn't trust it.

 

[LightRoasted]

For your consideration ...

Inflation has always been a thing, though. Prices have always gone up.

Which I don't really understand. I mean, I understand how inflation works but I don't understand *why* it's a thing. There's really no legitimate reason why we don't have wages/prices like in the 70s or even the 50s, it's just a dog chasing its tail. Supply/demand - another dog chasing its tail.

It's called the expansion of the money supply = Monetary inflation. The legitimate reason wages and prices aren't as they were in the past is due to too much new money constantly being created while the supply of goods and services remain the same. Too much money in circulation increases prices for everything. More money created and added into circulation chasing the same amount of goods and services creates inflated prices, aka inflation. So it is not a supply and demand issue in a true economic sense such as an actual in-demand product being unavailable due to weather, supply chain issues, raw material supply issues, etc..

 

[StadEMS3]

Even though I'm sure I'm good to go in 4 years after 22yrs Air Force and 20yrs fed, I still worry...

 

[phreddyp]

Even though I'm sure I'm good to go in 4 years after 22yrs Air Force and 20yrs fed, I still worry...

You are about to have pension reality.

 

[seekeroftruth]

I'm doing ok on SS.... but my needs are few. If Hubby has expensive doctor bills... well, that could sink us. But for now, we still have a couple of options. We can afford our rent, and with the Canadians selling their "snowbird mobile homes" I might be able to afford one of those.

I also planned on working until 70 or 75 but as you know, cancer had other plans.

 

[WingsOfGold]

Shirley you jest. These are the grandchildren of Gen-X, who, even before they graduated college in the late '90s, thought they were entitled to $60K salaries as new entries into the workforce. Just because that's what we Boomers were making. Median household income in 1990 was $50,200.00. For Maryland, it was around $65,000.00 for that year.

Gen-X, which included mine and my now late wife's children, really thought they were entitled to all the things we had spent a large portion of our lives working for right out of the gate.

It's only gotten worse with each generation, to where the Zoomers not only think that, BUT, they think (and complain loudly) that a) they'll never have what Boomers have, and b) we Boomers have deliberately made is so that they CANNOT have what we have.

Our great grandchildren are morons.

LOLOL one of mine thought it was my responsibility to send him to Hopkins x4 years. He got rides to both Towson and a school for his masters at St John's in Queens NY. Reality set in, I'm not worth 4 years at Hopkins so he knew he was on his own.
We eek by on my ss and military and whatever concerts she plays.

 

[Squiddie]

I can't afford much as is off of a single income, so I don't really have a retirement to worry about. I can't really think about things 40 years down the line when its a struggle in the present.

If it ever gets too bad, there's always other ways, I suppose..

 

[Rommey]

I'm not worried too much. Plan to retire early next year...Wife and I should have enough retirement income without having to touch any of our 401K/403B accounts.

 

[phreddyp]

I'm not worried too much. Plan to retire early next year...Wife and I should have enough retirement income without having to touch any of our 401K/403B accounts.

Congratulations, that is the proper way to retire. But lost on so many folks.

 

[Clem72]

I use a commissioned broker. He stands to make money off me, so the better I do the better he does, more inclined to make good choices. So far, it's worked out well.

I hope you have some active involvement/oversight. Commissioned brokers don't ONLY make money off their commissions. They use middle-man brokers that skim a percent or two on transactions, they often charge fees for things that should be free (like checking the status of your investments), and sometimes they get a seller's commission, meaning they have you buy the stock at the going rate from the companies transfer agent, then your broker gets a kick-back. 5% of your potential profit is not as nice as 3% of the gross sale plus 5% of your potential profit.

 

[NOTSMC]

Pasta is sugar. Milk is sugar.

That's deep man.

 

[RoseRed]

I feel pretty secure. My Uncle was VP of investments at Morgan Stanley, or whatever it was before, and when he retired, he turned my account over to one of his most trusted guys. I have never met Bob, but we have a great phone relationship. I have a pretty great portfolio and I'm letting it ride. Whenever I left a company job, I have always rolled my 401k to my main MS account. I started with a new company and am going full ROTH at this point.