Retiring without savings!

[jaks364]

are you and your husband close to retiring?

Agree with you, Steve... my husband makes less than $50K/year and we're supporting a family of 6 on that. We live on a very tight budget, but I do make saving $$ a priority. Although in total we only have $14K in our bank accounts... but I keep on saving and am grateful that he has a nice pension plan through work. God willing the money i'm saving will continue to build up until the time comes to use it. But there is no way we'll have massive amounts of money saved.. In the end we're doing what we can.

that's really incredible that you're able to save! are you and your husband close to retiring?

[Petunia 100]

Wondering where you're able to live on social security alone. Did they have to move to another city after they retired to make it work?

My mother lives here in California. She bought her little house in the 70s, her property taxes are very low. She has never saved a cent in a retirement account, or invested in anything other than CDs and T-Bills. Neither she nor my dad (died in 1981) ever earned much. (High school drop-outs, blue collar wages). She lives on her SS benefits, and adds to her savings a bit each month. She is 81. I have been encouraging her to loosen her purse strings a bit and buy things if she wants them. She and I did go on a cruise to Alaska this past July, her treat. So she's trying. It is hard for her to make that change.

[UnknownXV]

It's hard to imagine how that's even possible. I'm 23 and I have that much, and I feel it's not even good for my age. Are all these people THAT unfortunate that they couldn't spare anything to tuck away?

Seems unlikely. More likely they just spent it all with no real plan for their retirement. That's depressing.

Social security is most assuredly not an answer either. It's underfunded to startling levels.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

jacks364, I'm replying here to the message you left me elsewhere.

I am not inclined to contact you offsite about this question and your own blog, as you have had no participation in this forum or its connected blogs except for this very thread.

Your having made the request when this thread represents your entire participation here makes me feel like you are mainly using savingadvice.com in order to get ideas, content, or participants for your own internet endeavor. If I come to know you a bit more through your genuine participation here, I would probably consider your request more happily.

So participate here; ask favors later.

[hamchan]

My parents will likely be doing better on SS than they are right now. Their monthly expenses are less than 1200. Their only income is from my dad's art sales. They live in rural Idaho and own their land. No house on it. They live in the barn and their camper.

[bjl584]

Wondering where you're able to live on social security alone. Did they have to move to another city after they retired to make it work?

No. They lived in the same house their entire life. My Grandfather inherited it from his Father who built it when he first came to America back in the early 1900's. My grandfather never had a mortgage.