At what age do you hope to retire?

[jIM_Ohio]

Won't your life insurance take care of that one?

Our life insurance would not be $1.5M, which is what it would take to replace my wife's salary (for retirement). The life insurance should be enough for any debt we have, funeral expenses, a big party, and something left over for whatever... it won't be enough to last more than 5 years from an income perspective.

[pearlieq]

We really don't have a target date in mind. I'm 27 and DH is 30 and it's just way too far off to think about a concrete date. So much could happen in the intervening years. I guess the closest I could say would be probably before DH turns 70.

Even then I don't see him just gadding about and playing golf. I think he'll spend his later years on the corporate board circuit and maybe consulting.

As for me I don't know what to think. My job now is technically temporary, though it shows no signs of slowing down. If it were to end I don't think I'd be rushing out to find a new one, especially if we have kids. If the right opportunity presented itself in the future I might consider working again, but I wouldn't seek it out unless we needed the money.

[disneysteve]

Our life insurance would not be $1.5M, which is what it would take to replace my wife's salary (for retirement). The life insurance should be enough for any debt we have, funeral expenses, a big party, and something left over for whatever... it won't be enough to last more than 5 years from an income perspective.

I carry enough insurance on me so that if I die, there will be sufficient money to pay off our debt (mortgage), funeral expenses, our daughter's education AND enough for my wife and daughter to live on without my wife being forced to go back to work. With each passing year, our insurance needs decrease as our personal savings increase and I have decreased my coverage a couple of times in the past 10 years and I'm about due to decrease it again.

[Ima saver]

I retired about age 45. I did work a few hours a month for a few years so I could contribute to my IRA, but I stopped that many years ago.
I don't know about my husband. It will be when we have enough saved to live on the interest. The problem is my husband wants to build expensive hot rods when he retires, so I better keep him working for a while.

[disneysteve]

I retired about age 45.

Yes, my wife "retired" last month at 43. She really has no desire to work (which I'm fine with), but when she was working, I kept reminding her that the longer she works, the quicker we both can retire since we were investing 80% of her income.

[aurielle]

I hope to retire at 60. But if I wait until 65 that would put me in a much better position financially. I'm 42 and am a late starter but I work for the gov't so I have a pension going. My job is stressful though, and some days at work I think to myself, "17 more years of THIS crap?!?!"

I'm taking it one day at a time.

[disneysteve]

I hope to retire at 60. But if I wait until 65 that would put me in a much better position financially.

I think this is a realization that more and more people are going to have, especially those who haven't been saving as much as they should.

Let's say you hit 60 with $1 million saved. If you retire and draw 4%/year, that's $40,000. If you save nothing more but don't touch that money for 5 more years and it grows at 7%, you will then have over $1,417,000 and your 4% draw will be up to $56,705, an extra $1,400/month. Plus, if you do keep adding to your savings during those 5 extra working years, the numbers go up even more dramatically.

I'm hoping not to be in the situation where I have to keep working, but I can see myself at 62 running the numbers and realizing that an extra year of work could mean an extra couple hundred thousand dollars in the pot.

[Diolla]

I don't plan to ever actually 'retire' but at age 52 I should have enough to do whatever I want to do and not worry about having the bills paid.

I am a government worker now and have a pension plan that I will have been contributing to for 29 years. I also have my IRA and deferred compensation plan (like a 401(k) for gov't workers)

[PRICEPLUS]

Retire? I don't think that will be a happening thing. I will probably work until the day I die. What does retirement really mean anyway? I can do pretty much what aI want to do now! I could not sit idly!

[Scanner]

I never hope to retire but I hope to be part time upon reaching age 60 until age 75/76ish. About 15 to 20 hours per week. God, I don't think I could stand more than 4 weeks of vacation per year.

Then, I plan to die of a heart attack. I am hedging my bet on this and let my cholesterol run a little high.

I am 38 y.o. so I have reached the half-way point of my life.

It's either heart disease or cancer that gets you so I thought I'd stack the deck in favor of heart disease. Still . . . a stroke is a wildcard in there so I do take some Omega-3's and am starting a B-complex.

And that's my plan.

DisneySteve,

You'd be wise to do the same thing - let me state this as your alternative physician:

MEN DO NOT DO WELL IN RETIREMENT.

I'll repeat that.

MEN DO NOT DO WELL IN RETIREMENT.

I have seen it over and over again - you think it will be wonderful and really, I think women are different in that regard - they are more apt to live a life of leisure and fully capable of that but I do think men are hardwired differently.

Kinda like a pack animal not pulling anything anymore. Like pack dogs, they get depressed and die slowly.

JimOhio,

Somehow I expected a mathmatical answer from you, LOL.

[PRICEPLUS]

Men do not do well in retirement!

There might be something to that if you read the obits and see how many men are survived by wives. Even controlling for age differences the mortality rises ar retirement. Many a man needs something to struggle with on a daily basis that fills him with purpose!

[Scanner]

I am a huge fan of 2 shows:

1. Deal or No Deal

2. The Dog Whisperer.

Often Cesar talks about how this or that dog was bred for work and for them to be happy, they have to be exercising/working. So, he'll hitch them up to some reigns and have them pull him on his rollerblades if nothing else.

Then the dogs are happy as a pig in mud and their dysfunctional behavior stops, along with some other intervention.

I think men are kinda the same way; and besides that. . . I really don't think my wife will want me around the house 24/7, maybe a little more, but not all the time.

[thekid]

I am a huge fan of 2 shows:

1. Deal or No Deal

2. The Dog Whisperer.

Often Cesar talks about how this or that dog was bred for work and for them to be happy, they have to be exercising/working. So, he'll hitch them up to some reigns and have them pull him on his rollerblades if nothing else.

Then the dogs are happy as a pig in mud and their dysfunctional behavior stops, along with some other intervention.

I think men are kinda the same way; and besides that. . . I really don't think my wife will want me around the house 24/7, maybe a little more, but not all the time.

Same here. My gf gets me to run along draging her on rollerblades when I'm just slumping around the house or just misbehaving. I get some milk and a treat when we get back and feel great. The dog usually just takes my place on the sofa when that happens.

[MonkeyMama]

Employer-defined pensions are extremely rare. For small businesses they are just not used anymore (most of our clients) though we still use for major tax strategies once in a blue moon for clients nearing retirement. I would not count on them either though, it is scary how many people are losing pensions they counted on for a lifetime. Admisintratively, 401ks and profit sharing plans are much cheaper and simpler to implement. As these options grow, benefit-defined pensions fall out of favor.

[Ima saver]

I would not have minded working longer and saving more. However, I was working every night and my husband got tired of being alone every night, so he started working longer hours. He is a great guy!