I am very curious… what does retirement look like to you? Are you planning? Do you care? Do you think it will all just work out? Have you noticed your parents or some others struggling to figure this question out?
Well, I have a clear vision of what retirement looks like to me. Kevin and I want to retire fairly early. He gets his full pension at 55. So in my vision he leaves the city then. Maybe I stop working then to. We might just get fun part time jobs. But I know I want my summers to be free. It is hard while our kids are just peaking in their teens to think of grandkids, but I am looking forward to spending time with them. I want a lake house, nothing to spectacular just a little get away. Lots of time to read in the sun. I have been working on Kevin to wrap his head around house flipping in retirement. We are looking forward to all the possibilities. Will all of this be possible? Absolutely. Kevin and I started working on a retirement picture as soon as we got together at 24. It was great timing he started at the city at that time too. They have an amazing package when it comes to retirement. He is 18 years in with 14 to go.
One thing about people that are retired I hear all time. Social Security isn’t enough. I can’t stress this enough. It isn’t supposed to be. Social Security was set up to be a supplement to retirement to help with healthcare costs. That is all it was for. Not to help with your retirement at all. People rely on it like its purpose was for their retirement. But just to be clear that was never what it was intended for.
Pensions…. Luckily Kevin gets one. That is a huge bonus. But if you don’t get a pension you can do the same thing as the pension is doing. They are putting aside 7.75% of his income (I believe those are current numbers) towards his pension. If you put away that much of your income for 30 years you would have a large pot to pull from annually as well. A self made pension of sorts.
Stay away from annuities if you can. Most of the things that an annuity does you can do without the annuity. And to be honest annuities are expensive. They are really just an insurance wrapper.
Talk to our kids. Please talk to your kids about retirement and debt. Debt is a terrible thing that can KILL your dreams. Teach them the dangers. Tell them about starting right out of college with any small amount. It will make a difference. You kids see what you do so be a good example. Financially I think we are terrible examples to our children sometimes.
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