“The Great Recession hit us all hard, especially older Americans”
WASHINGTON, DC, Aug 22 – The meaning of the word “retirement” has changed in recent years as a result of the downturn in the economy, according to Dan Weber, president of the Association of Mature American Citizens.
The U.S. Census reported that the average net worth of Americans 65 years of age or older took a nose dive in the 2007 to 2009 as a result of the Great Recession. And, we don’t need statistics to know that the recovery has been slow, at best.
“And so, many of us are continuing to work in either full-time or part-time positions in order to supplement retirement savings and income,” Weber said. “We’re also making life-style adjustments such as reassessing our housing needs.”
He noted that more than 80% of those in the 65-plus age bracket own their own homes in the U.S. and that in the great majority of cases their homes are their single biggest asset. “So, it stands to reason that when the kids grow up and move on, many of them start thinking about moving into more efficient housing.”
For example, Weber explained, trading your house in for a condominium apartment or townhouse can provide a financial cushion, not to mention that it can also help put a cap on maintenance expenses. In addition, it might also reduce the number of daily chores such as mowing the lawn and shoveling the snow. And, it might even provide an extra measure of security.
“Whether you are thinking about a condo or a smaller home, making such a lifestyle change may seem daunting at first, but the more you think about it and plan for the future, the more you may come to realize how much sense it makes at this stage of your life.”
But be sure to keep your options open, he says. For example, don’t make the mistake of moving from a spacious home into too small a residence. Those kids will be coming back for extended visits and so you’ll need at least enough room to accommodate them.
Also, be sure to check out prospective neighborhoods before making your choice. Is it easy enough to get to the stores? How far away are your medical facilities? Is public transportation accessible?
“And, if you are thinking about moving to another part of the country where the weather is better, the cost of living is lower and there are no local income taxes, do your homework. It’s a big move and there are other considerations such as proximity to friends and family.”
NOTE TO EDITORS: Dan Weber is available for telephone interviews on this issue. Editors and reporters may contact John Grimaldi by phone at 917-846-8485 or via email at [email protected] to set up a call.
ABOUT AMAC
The Association of Mature American Citizens [http://www.amac.us] is a vibrant, vital and conservative alternative to those organizations, such as AARP, that dominate the choices for mature Americans who want a say in the future of the nation. Where those other organizations may boast of their power to set the agendas for their memberships, AMAC takes its marching orders from its members. We act and speak on their behalf, protecting their interests, and offering a conservative insight on how to best solve the problems they face today. Live long and make a difference by joining us today at http://amac.us/join-amac.
Jack, have you applied for any government jobs? Veterans get preference for government jobs at all levels. Try cities, towns, state, and federal. I am so sorry to hear how badly things have turned out for you. I will pray for you.
Something to seriously consider if moving is the crime rate. Don’t rely on county websites or real estate agencies for the truth. I recently made the decision to move after 32 years (5 years before retirement) because the crime rate in my area is accelerating, and I don’t want to spend my retirement years guarding my home. 12 burglaries in the last 8 years, and only one was investigated to a point where arrests were made. Two of them even occurred while I was at home! If I only knew what the future held for this area I never would have bought my home here in the first place. It used to be a great place to live, but the police got lazy and don’t consider burglary a crime anymore.
Another point for those who are not rich; The only way to retire on a low income like SS is to be debt free. Then supplement that with things you can do with your time, like gardening.
It’s really a sickening shame that our government is treating it’s elderly as bad as they are, and it’s not about to get any better. Anticipate and hope for good things but prepare for the worst.
For man of us retirement mean’t graduation to poverty and hardship. I worked hard for over thirty five years, obtained two degrees (Accounting & Business) Management, and lost everything when the Obama Administration came into being. I was a manufacturing accountant. I applied for anything I thought I might have a chance of getting and when I finally gave up had applied for over 4,000 prospects. I realized being over fifty, prospects knew from my experience that I had to be in my fifties so out of the above I only got 7 interviews during the period after my lay-off. All employers could be highly selective in an employers market for workers, and went after recent college grads or highly successful CPA’s. I was neither, just a mid-mgmt. older accountant, so was sent out to pasture to early. In addition to extensively applying I tried anything and everything to make a few dollars but debt and mortgage were far more than I could muster. Eventually had to short sell 3 bedroom home and when had to move out couldn’t even afford storage for my belongings, so all that I could retain was what I could pack into my over 10 year old car. The items were very basics (some clothing, linens, and immediate necessities). All the rest was given away or put out for trash pickup. I was faced with joining the homeless and one hour before I was set up to check into a homeless shelter, I got in touch with a sister who to this day has allowed me to live in their bunkhouse at a small farm her and her husband own. Eventually I reached the age that I could get early ssn, but it isn’t enough to ever recover, so I wait for my death and continue to survive. My sister and husband have carried me too long, I shouldn’t be a problem of theirs, so I hope to find a cheap apt and move in next March. In the meantime I am making what furniture I can (nothing fancy just sturdy and they have indicated they’ll let me take some of the old stored stuff from the bunkhouse for the other furnishings). All I was able to get for food stamps was $16.00 per month, so to me it became not worth the hassle so I quit renewing/using them. So all that remains for me is to wait for my time to come to an end. The hardship has caused me to deteriorate (dental & health) and I am a lonely single, so those factors also contribute to my living only a life of existence and feeling the way I do. I spent 10 years military time during the Vietnam War times and have been trying for a VA disability since 2012 but looks like a second request determination won’t be decided for another year or more from now and not guaranteed. But in spite of all this, I know that many encountered and are in worse condition than I.
I empathize with your situation. While I have not experienced events to the extent you have, I hope I can give you some encouragement. The beating you’ve endured has left you feeling defeated. But, you are not. In the mid-1990’s, I was my early 50’s. My small business was stagnating and going down due to the change in technology as computers were making me obsolete, which made the business unsalable. I changed careers, which was disastrous and I was fired. I tried selling insurance and that did not work and I quit just before I was going to be fired. I, too, was down to the emotional bottom. I found a part time job inspecting homes for insurance underwriting; that worked into a full time job. It didn’t pay much more than minimum wage, but it was honest work — and, at the time, it seemed like a major comedown for a college graduate who once owned his own business. It later led to a better job with another company where I stayed until retirement. But, I never again earned what I did in 1990.
My belief in you is this: you are down as far as you will let yourself be. “Today is the first day of the rest of your life,” is not a trite phrase, it is the truth. What’s past is past. Your fortune isn’t going to turn around in an instant, but what your life will be this time next year or the year after depends on what you start to do today to change it.
With your background, why not start your own business? You may feel it’s a comedown from what you did before: offer bookkeeping services for small businesses; do consulting for small businesses, or do tax returns. In my area, H&R Block advertises for seasonal workers every year. You need to inventory every skill you have. And, although you might not think it’s as glamorous as you’d like… or make the kind of money you used to, you can make something work. Don’t think of reasons you can’t do something, think of reasons you can. You’re too young to sit and wait for the grim reaper. There is something you can do… if you are willing to make the effort. And, I think you can. I think you will.
I will add to my above comments that I was a victim of age discrimination when I applied for an adjuster’s job in my area with a major national Insurance company while I was still an agent for them. I knew I wasn’t going to make it as an agent, so when this opportunity came up, I went for it. I had, what I believed was, a very positive interview. Good feedback from the interviewer. A short time later, I was told that the position had been eliminated due to the merger of two offices and no new personnel were hired. More than a year later, it came up in conversation with a local agent for that company. He told me that wasn’t true, that the company had hired a young woman–a recent college graduate–for the job I interviewed for. In the end, however, I believe things have worked out even better for me. I didn’t see it then. Looking back, we see so many things clearly; unfortunately, we can’t see as clearly looking forward.
“If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost.” Zig Ziglar
Don’t you dare give up on you and yours!
First, thank you most sincerely for your service in one of America’s ugliest and least-appreciated wars to protect the rest of us. If anyone deserves “a break” for contribution, suffering, misery, and insult… it’s the Vietnam Vets.
My retirement Obama beating was only about 2/3 of my life’s work… not nearly as much as yours. I, also, earned more than one degree and worked in manufacturing. I, also, applied unsuccessfully for many jobs over my lifetime. If I can help “set the stage” for your recovery and your enjoyment of your remaining life, I will be honored to do so. In the meantime, I don’t expect the “altruist” voting majority to much-like either of us.
So hang in there, please: the “sleeping giant” is awakening.
JACVK R: This went to the wrong place…
Don’t you dare give up on you and yours!
First, thank you most sincerely for your service in one of America’s ugliest and least-appreciated wars to protect the rest of us. If anyone deserves “a break” for contribution, suffering, misery, and insult… it’s the Vietnam Vets.
My retirement Obama beating was only about 2/3 of my life’s work… not nearly as much as yours. I, also, earned more than one degree and worked in manufacturing. I, also, applied unsuccessfully for many jobs over my lifetime. If I can help “set the stage” for your recovery and your enjoyment of your remaining life, I will be honored to do so. In the meantime, I don’t expect the “altruist” voting majority to much-like either of us.
So hang in there, please: the “sleeping giant” is awakening.
Just Joe
JACKV R, please look below, AMAC won’t put my message to you in the right place.
Just Joe
Hah! Now it’s good! In the words of Roseann Roseanadanna, “never mind.” :)
One more thing: I want to thank Dale C. for having your best interest at heart. Please don’t disregard him… we still need you!
For twenty-five years my wife and I were ministers in a well known denomination. We often counseled
the wayward and troubled teen, provided for the poor and needy, and gave hope and encouragement
to the weary. One Christmas eve we received a call from the police that there was a family in need
of food. So we took our supper to them. Where did the spirit of “sharing is caring” go?. Think of
a loved one, friend or neighbor an go help and share with them. The world would be a better
place if we did more of this. P. S. In retirement my wife and I still do this on a limited basis
Don, don’t you think the world be an even better place if we also mingled more ebola patients into the US population? Wouldn’t that be “more fair?”
Have you ever considered that maybe your (typical) “altruist” posturing is more problem than solution? Nearly seven decades ago I was born into a moral, prosperous, respectable country. The supposed “good” has been your way all of my life, and now… here we are. Maybe it’s time to grow up, wise up, and face reality. Most of our voting population needs big lessons in respect, rationality, gratitude, and decency. Rewarding them based upon alleged need has accomplished far worse than nothing. Thanks to altruist posturing, they now feel entitled to take.
And yet, Joe, the churches and other private charities are the best sources for aid and assistance. That is generally the best way to deliver help when needed… on an individual, rather than group, basis.
Organizations like the Salvation Army have a much better way to determine need, rather than a government agency that follows guidelines written by a bureaucrat who has a budget that must be spent before the end of a fiscal year and an agency that sees increased demand as “growth” which, in turn, means more employees and more tax dollars.
Private charity, Christian or not, is moral charity. “Charity” at the muzzle of the government’s gun is neither charity nor “redistribution,” it’s simply looting for the purpose of bribing.
It is the snide altruist (and sometimes Christian) attitude that one’s moral stature is diminished for declining donation to the unworthy (or worse yet, to one’s enemies) that has finally led our culture to the brink of collapse: The only way to rescue our culture is to make altruist’s degenerative contentions collectively contemptible.
Not that I owe an explanation, but lest you dismiss me as a stingy old grump… I’ve frequently contributed to private (personal) causes, and charities (both Christian and secular) throughout my life. Also I’ve contributed plenty of time, effort, and talent to “public-spirited” projects. I think our culture is worth restoring, but it will never happen by honoring destructive people that claim to “mean well.”
I’m with you, Just Joe. There was a time when charity was available to worthy (get that, worthy?) people from private and organizational groups. But the Government, using force, has taken from the producers to reward even those who, through their own unworthiness
have less than needed to continue. You don’t have to be a moral person to get on the Governments dole. You don’t even have to be a worthy country to get on the receiving end of our Government’s aid. All you need be is useful to the centralists agenda and subject to be bribed, maybe to vote for the biggest government givers. Our private charities and our fraternal groups cannot compete with the Government’s give-aways.
Thanks Ivan, it’s comforting to occasionally encounter someone that looks outward and cares beyond the confines of their personal popularity!
Just Joe… I don’t think you’re being “just” or fair toward Don with your comment about ebola.being “more fair.” Where in his comment did he mention anything about being fair? What in his post prompted such a response? He simply said what he and his wife have done and asked a general question, “where did the spirit of sharing and caring go? Think of a loved one, friend or neighbor an go help and share with them. The world would be a better place if we did more of this.” Who can argue with that?
I think your response was mean spirited and ill-voiced. It had no place being targeted at Don.
Thank you for your comment. In this world, we do need more simple kindnesses that you speak of.
My previous comment was meant for Don Osman. Sorry if it got put in the wrong place.
Angel, thank you, if your apology was directed toward me, although this discussion is migrating far from the issue of abuse that retirees have taken from Democrat voters. But let’s continue… First; to your questions!
Your first question; Don wrote nothing about being “fair.” Your second question; my response was prompted by Don’s display of Christian goodwill (the Christianity is irrelevant but contextually connected): Christians of goodwill went to “do good” for ebola victims in Africa and caught the hideous disease. Then, rather than doing “good” by keeping their personal ebola infections in Africa, they took the beating they brought upon themselves to us, including to Angel and her descendants (if any). So. They did their altruist “thing,” then dumped the consequences, unearned, upon others (including American kids)… where’s the “fairness” in that? Please note: The rest of US citizens can obviously count upon the current Presidential administration (maximum champions of “fairness”) to never discriminate against immigration of the diseased from third world nations. Your third question: No one (including me) is “arguing against” human decency. Why do you feel compelled (or assume the right) to misrepresent?
Second, to your comments! First comment: I couldn’t care less what you think of me… the “thoughts” of posturing altruists have brought the rest of us to our culture’s current precarious condition. In other words, you don’t believe I’m “just,” and I don’t believe you’re an “Angel.” Second comment: Don was (simply) “putting on the (altruist) dog” with descriptions of personal decent acts. Nearly everyone does them, but the truly upright don’t brag publicly. With good fortune for the rest, reality and intelligence may eventually bring altruist’s “free ride” to an end (if they “can’t take the heat, this may be a good time to “get out of the kitchen”). Fourth comment: You’re partially right, my comment was “mean spirited,” and intentionally so… but not “ill-voiced,” I don’t think (whatever ill-voiced means in written communications). There’s nothing “ill” about defense of the human race’s most “just” society against the values-cancer that’s bringing it down. Fifth comment: Whether you agree or not, my comments are appropriately “targeted” at all that (intentionally or unintentionally) are destroying the future for other Americans.
Just Joe: Thank you for “clarifying” your comments. You have made yourself perfectly clear that you certainly have a unique perception of the world.
Too often we leave the caring of others to government agencies or local charities. We do need to be more sensitive to real needs of our neighbors, just out of the goodness of our own humanity–regardless of religion.
Here’s what the Obama electorate (including my ex associates and ex relatives and ex “loved ones”) did for me, starting shortly after my retirement in my late 50’s: the 2008 “presidential” election caused 1/3 of my life savings (paper investments) to evaporate into thin air. The economic policies since have caused approximately 1/3 reduction in the value of my remaining assets (my old job, which paid slightly over $30/hour now pays slightly over $30/hour).
Not only is there no remorse by my “ex’s,” (whom I now consider perpetrators) they actually inflicted their “enlightenment” on me a second time in 2012.
So… I reassigned my good will, my support, my cooperation, and what’s left of my accumulated earnings for those I still consider worthy of air.
I have read most of the comments posted. I retired at 56 and now am 66. My wife and I have lived in the same house for 45 years. We raised 8 children and now have 32 grandchildren. My brother and I had a construction business together but he was ready to retire at 62 and times were getting tougher. When I retired I worked full time for the next 2 years and then started to slow down. I still do some part time and now my wife also does part time. It gives her the satisfaction of dealing with adults and not raising kids, but she and I still watch the grandkids a lot. I find that people want to much in life and confuse their wants with their needs. All 8 of my kids went to collage. One has a doctorate, one has a masters,4 a bachelors, 2 never finished. I never wanted my kids to do construction but some of them worked for us during the summer. I always felt that they should try to work their mind not their body.
I guess I was very lucky that I belonged to a union. I was able to keep medical insurance after retiring. Having 8 kids has not given us much time to save money. My house was paid off by the time I was 42 and decided that it was good enough to live in. It would be great to have a house in a better location but Why. A new house would cost more money, utilities, and taxes. The taxes on this house already costs me more than 2 1/2 times a month than what I paid on the mortgage. We have not accumulated enough wealth according to what they say is needed but we do still save 17% above what we spend.
I feel sorry for the kids because they all want nice houses, cars and the newest gadgets. They all do make good money but work long hours. So what is important in life.
The government today has gone to the dogs. I have never voted for Oblama simply because I felt that he would make this more of an entitlement country, and he has. I felt that just like my kids that if they really wanted something that they would work for and they have. May God guide us farther.
After reading a lot of these comments I searched them for “annuities’ and found none. They are not the answer for all of us, but even a meager 401k, partially dropped into an annuity will provide a much better earnings rate (3% as opposed to .4%) than a CD, (And, no I do not sell them, nor does any member of my family.) If funds withdrawn are kept low, like only the RMD amounts, then the earnings are almost tax free. They are safer than stocks these days.
Annuities make no one money except the person that sells them. I had one. Got rid of it. Money left in the market over time is much better than an annuity. Listen to “Your Money and You” on KDKA Pittsburgh. WEB site Hefren.com. They will tell you the reasons why you should AVOID almost all annuities.
I would have liked to see some numbers showing how much of a nosedive the average net worth of a senior portfolio did take.
That would be an interesting number to see, but of course most peoples’ portfolios are not all identical in content. It would also of course depend on whether the person panic sold as the market was dropping or whether they simply did nothing and rode it out. In the case of the former, the person could have lost a substantial portion of his or her portfolio. In the case of the latter, not only would the person have likely fully recovered any of transitory loss, but the portfolio would be likely worth more today than in 2008.
When the dot com bubble burst, there were many co-workers who lost more than half their accumulation at my company. Some of them were at retirement age and ready to stop work. Many of them had to wait an additional 5 years or more to recover to where they were. Some never recovered. I, on the other hand had removed all my assets from stocks and parked it in a low earnings insured instrument. I retired on schedule. The only co-worker who did likewise had asked my advice. I declined to advise, so he asked what I was going to do, or had done getting ready to retire. My getting out of the market was all I told him.
Shortly thereafter, he retired.
During the last down turn and the next rise, I just road it out. Sure, coal shares took and are still taking a beating, but oil, gas, pipeline and refinery shares have more than made up for coal’s (I hope temporary) losses, but even with the upturn of metalurgical coal transhipments booming, power generating stocks have been losers. At least coal offers some cash flow and we do have a lot of it. It’s one of the few things that we can readily export. Except for our national debt.
So long as the FED keeps interest rates in the tank and the market responds to the money created by quantitative easing, we are in the shadow of a collosal failure of our economy. When QE’s no longer have the intended effect, stocks, bonds and the whole shooting match may self-destruct as will the entire economy.
It’s hard to pick stocks when there is so much uncertainty, but it makes little sense to “Save” with interest rate’s earnings below inflation’s impact.
What is objectionable about annunities (as well as reverse mortgages) is the cost and ownership involved. And the Insurance methodology in their provisions. Can’t pass either to your children. It’s gone when you are.
CDs aren’t much better than stuffing your money under a matress. Except if the house burns down. Just remember there is no such thing as a free lunch unless you’re on the progressive dole.
Ain’t got no numbers Andrew, just hanging in there and hoping.
I guess there’s no point in asking you what you are doing with your retirement money now. I hope that it all works out for you. When I ask my broker about the debt and how the dollar is shaky. He’s all ‘pie in the sky’, see how the market turned around after 2008! As though he’s vindicated in what he has chosen for us. Still, I’m scared but don’t know what to do. Disabled at 58 didn’t allow me to work out my time to retirement and shortened how much I will receive from SS as well as our personal retirement accounts. I fear that we are destined to find out what our grandparents lived through during the depression.
We lost our house to a short sell a year ago. Now we are renting but rent is as much as a mortgage payment! I was eligible to retire from State Service in 2009 and did but here it is 5 yrs. later and I am now working full-time again to keep afloat and to get medical benefits. My husband is retired with medical benefits from his old job, a blessing but it means his retirement check after medical premiums is $298.00! I vote but it sure doesn’t seem to help. I think a lot of the ‘little people’ feel the same way.
Whether or not we can put good people into positions of governmental power is still an open question in my mind. The one action we can all take (to one extent or another) is get out of debt. The person who borrows truly is the servant of the lender.
In less than 2 months, being 95, I will have drawn more than 5 times my share of Social Security as it was designed in the mid 30’s, made possible by a serious default in Social Security financial design making it so vulnerable to two life changes that occurred in the past half centry. Those two changes were the spike in birth rate after WWII, the WWII Boomers, and the more than doubling of life expectancy after 65 during the working life of those Boomers.
Because the Social Security system is directly vulnerable to these life changes, the Bookkeeping registered all the 15 or so of big extra dollars the Boomer age group taxes, showing a reserve to carry Social Security to 2033, not registering the financing of the developing increase in life expectancy that was absorbing all of that Boomer excess that had not been misappropriated for other government expenses while depositing government bonds billable to tax payers. That 2033 reserve date(changed to 2030 when it was realized the bonds, about 1/6 of the reserve, zeroed out in 2010 when S. S. started cashing them in the national budget. Social Security reserve was completely exausted in 2010, even though the government still publishes a 2030 reserve having no accounting for the lfe expectancy effect.
Those Boomers retireing in mass now with all their extra 15 or so trillion having been absorbed without record by us olsters, an unrecorded actual national debt almost the size of the recorded national debt, is going to fast bankrupt the national economy unless we can give Boomers a big tax deduction for each year’s S.S. Benefits and payroll tax that they contribute to the national budget by delaying retirement. We all know S.S. must be reformed, making it really an insurance that all seniors will get the standard benefits when including a fair portion of the better offs other income as suggested by the Heritage Foundation. There just is no waiting time for Social Security reform, while this large tax deduction can provide temporary relief at least until reform can take lace to prevent total collapse within a year or so.
Good explanations, Carroll George. Boomers and extended life, being only a part of the problem, you rightly expressed the political cause as it is based on mis-use of funds. Thank you.
George, Social Security, as originally designed, was a Ponzi scheme (a fraudulent investment operation ). 65 was the average life expectancy when the SS law was passed, so, from day one, only half the folks paying the SS tax would be receiving any retirement benefits. The Congress and Roosevelt knew that the expected increase in life expectancy would later bankrupt the system, but passed it anyway.
But, the real dishonesty by government was with the lie about a “Social Security Trust Fund” to pay benefits. From day one, the “Trust Fund” was only an accounting gimmick, and the Social Security payroll taxes of American workers were used to finance the day to day spending of the government. To this day workers are told by Congress that their retirement payments will be made from a “trust fund”, but the “trust fund” consists only of accounting transactions. SS was a lie from the beginning, and our government will have to cut retirement benefits or increase taxes before long when lenders decide the U.S. is a bad loan risk and stop increasing our national debt to fund retirement benefits.
So, SS was a lie when enacted, and is a lie now. The truth will only be known when Congress votes to further increase SS payroll taxes while they cut retirement benefits in an attempt to keep our government afloat. Senior citizens will finally pay the price for the lies of their elected representatives as our children’s payroll taxes are increased and our SS and Medicare benefits are cut to stave off our country’s bankruptcy. The end won’t be pretty!
Sadly Randy, too many seniors don’t want to hear the truth. They prefer to think that all the problems with Social Security can be fixed by “just raising taxes” or “adjusting the index of inflation” to benefits or the big whopper “getting the federal government to pay back the trillions of dollars they’ve “borrowed” since LBJ legalized the government’s use of this tax money for general obligation purposes”. The last one is especially laughable, since it would imply that the federal government has some secret stash of tens of trillions in cash locked away somewhere. If that were the case, we wouldn’t need to borrow 40 cents of every single dollar the federal government spends in this country every single day of the year from China, Japan, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere to just meet ongoing operating expenses.
Most people don’t want to acknowledge that the Social Security program was fatally flawed from the very beginning. That it was never designed to be the sole means of retirement income for all seniors upon retirement or that it is nothing but a glorified pay-go system (current workers paying for current retirees). In short, a legalized Ponzi scheme. There have been numerous discussions on this board involving Social Security and they all end the same way. So save yourself a lot of typing. Most people don’t want to hear the truth.
By the way, Medicare is already being cut by $716 billion dollars to partially fund Obamacare. So that program is already being tapped to pay for another part of the Progressive vision. Like moving deck chairs around on the deck of the Titanic. I expect over time that additional cuts to Medicare will be made with the justification that “demand from Obamacare (for the illegals and increased subsidies to the various groups that make up the Democrat voting block) has been so strong, that we need to “re-balance” our financial resources”. That will be code for taking away money from seniors, who vote overwhelmingly Republican, and giving to those that consistently vote Democrat.
Ah, the Golden Years, What a crock! I retired from a full time job to a part time job three years ago and my wife has another three years until she can retire. We live in Nevada in the middle of a desert in the middle of a drought and our house will probably never be worth what we still owe on it. In addition to that I’ve got medical problems that no one can figure out in spite of massive numbers of tests and being seen by multiple doctors. Believe me, I’d like to be camping, touring, hiking but that may never happen. And it has nothing to do with the old joke about “If I knew I’d live this long I’d have taken better care of myself” because I worked in medicine for 15 years and did take care of myself.
The lessons (good and bad) that we have learned need to be communicated to children and grandchildren in a way that they will learn from them. Using ourselves as examples who they can see and relate to, they need to learn to be self sufficient and plan on providing for themselves in their later years. And that planning requires action to begin at an early age. Too many younger people like to buy the “toys” for a good time now, and neglect saving for retirement. Sometimes that extends well into middle age when, all of a sudden, retirement looms in front of them and reality hits. With guidance, those we care about can learn to avoid those problems.
It is really sad that my hubby and I have to still work “just in case”. We saved, do not live outside our means and planned for retirement, but are scared silly of what the creap in Washington will do next. My hubby is 72 and I am 69 and would love to do what we planned on doing later in our lives, which was visit family and travel in our RV. Our home in Nevada has gone down over 1/2 of what it was at the prime so there will be no selling any time soon even though it is paid off. It troubles me to think that Nevada residents are so stupid to continually vote in Reid, for which I apologize to all of the rest of you. The union here are so strong and pressure put on employees to vote a certain way is criminal.
No need to apologize for Harry Reid Eileen. Most of the Seniors I know just figure he was such an inept Boxer when he was a young man, that he was beaten senseless, and that was probably the reason he went into Politics. Lack of Sense gave him the foundation to fit seamlessly into Washington, and he hasn’t let us down in that area yet!
Thanks for shrgina. What a pleasure to read!
My wife and I don’t want to live in a closet so do not expect to downsize just because of the economy. We have children who may, and I repeat, may need a place to live.
Subsistance living is what my earlier years were all about, so in later life we managed to aquire enough land to raise crops for food. Once the store was for staples such as corn meal, flour, sugar, salt, etc. Now it’s for everything that is required to sustain life. That seems to be changing.
Now, if the government only takes our savings (legal theft) and leaves our wealth in real property (buildings and land), we can and will survive until the mortal end. If the government uses a wealth tax to take our land, then all bets are off.
We also have been teaching a little about how the kids can produce food and how to preserve it.
The people I fear that are in real trouble are those that live in large metropolitan areas without land available and too many potential thieves around ready to steal what the people produce.
A good supply of heritage seeds is a must, since hybrids will not reproduce. Neither will GMO’s.
This is just to remind folks that we should be prepared for whatever might befall us. Not pessimistic, just reality.
If there is no wealth tax and the government fails to steal what wealth we have managed to accumulate, we will probably be ok with what we’ve got. At least until our time runs out and …you know; that other “sure” thing after “taxes.”
So far as investments go, CD’s don’t do diddly and are not risk free. Inflation eats them from within. Some four year maturity instruments only yield about a .4% (less than a half a percent) while food just keeps getting costlier.
Some bond funds, however, can yield about 7.5 to 8 % counting capital gains and interest of about 6%. Stocks can and do appreciate if you pick the right ones. However, picking wrong seems to be the norm.
My rule has been to try to stay in those that support life, like stuff we can’t live without: Energy, exportables(for cash flow, not gains), and transportation (including pipelines and shipping ports).
So far we still have about the same value of assets as we did 14 years ago when we first retired. That includes living out of pocket for the first 3 years without Social Security. It helps when you try and stay within your means. Just saying.
Don’t give up. That’s what the establishment wants. We came from a stock that made do with what they got. Let’s make do, and take back our nation before there is no time left. Keep going out into the community and let your voices be heard loud and clear for Liberty. It may be work, but if we don’t succeed, what’s left?
Van Hamlin’s short biography above was refreshing and I admire his spunk. PaulE always has interesting comments and I missed him and others last week. But let’s face it, last weeks articles left much to be desired.
Now, if only a few others who really are needed in the discussions would re-apply, that would be a blessing.
Come on KarenFaye, we appreciate your fire.
As a parting note, remember Rik. He keeps warning us about lawyers and with good reason. Let’s be deligent and be careful. But let’s keep up the fight to restore this land.
Hi Ivan,
After reading last week’s articles, which I have to agree with you, left much to be desired, I decided to skip commenting on any of the articles last week. I wanted to see what the tone and level of responses were from other AMAC members to the articles..I noticed a number of the regulars also opted to not comment on anything last week as well. Last week’s poll also wasn’t phrased very well, so I imagine that’s why a lot of people responded the way they did. At least I hope so or we’re in more trouble than envisioned.
By the way, this week’s poll doesn’t seem to have been well thought out either. Simply because of the nature of the inter-connectivity of the four options. What do you think Ivan? While I appreciate AMAC wants input into how they should attempt to prioritize a plan of attack to bring some fiscal sanity back to the small business sector and ultimately our overall economic system, that is under non-stop attack from the Progressives (Socialists) in this country, the reality is virtually all four choices are inter-related to each other. Addressing any one of the items would, by the very nature of the problem and how the government has engineered the situation confronting small businesses in this country, necessitate a coordinated response against all four points to bring about any lasting relief.
As to your comments of living within your means, that is another thing we both share. Far too many people in the country today seem to have forgotten about that as a way to live one’s life over the long haul. Everything is talked about today in conversations as “a need”, when in many cases it really is simply “a want”. Planning for retirement should start in one’s twenties and be an ongoing process. So retirement doesn’t become “a shock” when people finally either reach or are forced to retire at some point. I emphasize this to every young person I speak with on financial matters. Every financial decision we make in our lives has a consequence, both good and bad, associated with it. Those consequences, over time, all add up towards being able to reach the goal of a comfortable retirement or not.
Thanks, PaulE. So far as polls go, this week’s as you stated have inter-related choices to the extent that it’s useless to try and pick one out of the hat. Oh, sure, being so invested in energy, coal, etc., the selfish answer would be to reduce energy costs, but that involves getting the EPA reined in, as well as executive orders. No majority selection of one of the options would even address any meaning or provide any answers that could with confidence become an issue agenda.
As far as consequences go, I’ve made my share of bad decisions over a life-time. My wife likes to tell me, “No good deed ever goes unpunished,” and with good reason. Many a time, good intentions have back-fired. But that hasn’t stopped the trying. What’s useful, however, is to try and help those willing to help themselves. Some people cannot be helped and are their own worst enemies. That’s why my objection to non-discrimination. A discriminating mind is a useful thing. Without it, you cannot use discression. Without discression, there are no choices. That’s also what is objectional about our government schools. They do not teach how to think, but only what to think. As an example, many scientists have come away from the global warming/climate change agenda while our children are still being indoctrinated along the same discredited lines and taking active parts in its agenda, pushed into it by teachers and administrations.
More of that “Hug a tree, kill a baby, save the whales” BS.
What’s great about your voicing that planning for retirement should start in your twenties, is that had we kept the first dollar of the first ten earned, and had invested in an average earnings instrument, the result could be a forty-fold growth from a 1/10th savings rate. Not only a good investment, but a good teacher of discipline.
Even having planned fairly well for retirement, when it came, cold feet still prevailed. Had we saved/invested enough? Were we to be able to get by on our given means? Well, for 14 years, it’s worked, and is still working–so far. But with the uncertainity caused by our government, who can really know?
What is obvious, however, is that anyone thinking about starting a new business in this climate, is taking a long step into darkness. Small business has had it uphill since the 70’s and it has only gotten worse as crony business has cemented its position at the reins along with the assistance of big gov.
I’m an enthused AMAC member and will remain so. I would never, ever, having anything to do with the likes of AARP or their ilk. AARP contributes huge money to the destruction of all we hold good and true and worthwhile. Shame on them.
Thank you, AMAC.
My view, as a small business owner, adds another dimension to the previously mentioned: trying to stay afloat in business!! We – stupidly, with 20-20 hindsight – thought the “recession” would end soon: sub-prime/zero interest had to die SOON! Nobody could be that dumb!! We could handle 2-3 years or so and be okay!
Several of our children and other good employees worked with us – some for 20-25 years. We had thousands of customers and many good dealers, so we had to keep things going for them! Just a few years more: no biggee!
Stupidly again, we borrowed to stick it out that “little” longer. 6+ years later we lost our house, building and are still hurting!
Many small businesses and “mature” people will never see “golden” – unless on welfare, food stamps and O-care! HA!!
I say “mature” above because many of us worked our way up from near the bottom over the decades, believed in our systems and America – through and through! We would fight through a recession somehow and be okay! Most of us were “mature”!! We were not wealthy, but had some assets for retirement and a pretty good middle-class living. BUT WE WERE NOT ANY MORE MATURE THAN THOSE THAT CAUSED THE RECESSION – and certainly not as clever and devious, were we??
How could we see millions thinking they’d pay their nice home payments LATER, when they had never been able to BEFORE! Then the greedy bundled bad mortgages and sold them to investors – now thousands of the “mature” thinking like we had, that this would work its way out, mortgages would be magically paid and they would make bundles!! To top it all, our supposedly well-meaning (but not “mature”) government bailed out the banks and “bundlers” (read 2 meanings here) and now our national debt has sky-rocketed and our reputation has tanked!
Would you call all this the results of ?mature” Americans? We have flipped the world: debt beats cash now!! “Mature”?
John, I feel your pain and I do mean that, for I was in your shoes at one time with employees that eventually took home more money than I did. It couldn’t go on and I was able to sell. However, I would like to remind you that the mortgage business losses were the result of President Clinton, who insisted the banking industry allow more people to own homes. Freddy Mac and Fanny Mae began promoting lending without regard to down payments, or investigation of ability to pay. That was exacerbated by Frank and other Democrats until the bubble burst. Frank was in charge of over site at the time and continued to back the practice of packaging faulty mortgages.
It makes me sad to see this great nation ruled by one so inept as Ovomit. He, and his cronies are going to put us into a spiral from which we will never recover. Nakita Khrushchef said if we can’t beat you with our military we will beat you from within. Well, the socialists are here, they are in power, and they are buying up votes of the poor people that exist and the ones that are being imported. They know what they are doing. America, except for a few, does not! There will be no America as we know it for our grand children!
We are becoming a socialist country, thanks to the Liberals that caused this to happen and the poor and uniformed voters who were promised (change) but for the worse not the better. The liberal body Americans’ are all to blame.
They are brain washed by the political system and out of control government.
They gave up what made this country great for over 200 years and that was our constitution! They miss-interpret the meaning of the amendments according to their liking and when they can’t do that they add amendments to void the ones that have in place from our founding fathers. It makes me sick when I think about how great this country once was but it’s no longer the same. We are on a down hill spiral warp speed and if we don’t amend our ways we will never get back on track.
My heart goes out to the children that are being born today, they will never know what it was like to live in the best country in he world. We sold our selves out to china and other countries as well. We let the people of third world countries into America to buy their vote. We accepted people of Arabic nations 50 thousands a month to immigrate here (YES EVEN AFTER 911)!!
My ancestors are from eastern Europe, and when we tried to bring a relative over and promised a place to live and a job this country refused to give her a Visa to immigrate here. I guess the promises of no welfare and a place to live was not to their liking, cause they cannot control you then.
I although will not give up – I will continued to pray for the people of America to wake-up protest and do what ever it takes to get back our country, away from the liberals and socialist of our time..
For me, retirement has been a good thing. I traded in a job with lots of responsibility and pressure for for a fun job. I started part time but ended up working full time. However, that was my decision because I am a work-a-holic. When work becomes too much, I will simply walk away. I have used the extra money to fund vacations, fix up my house and pay off my debts. I have just enough debt to create a great credit history.
Since the market has been good, I have socked away another chunk of change by taking my profits. I invest a good portion of my salary and social security. I find it humorous that I am still paying FICA and taxes on earnings even though I am collecting social security and am enrolled in medicare. There is no free lunch at the working man’s table. You have to be “one of the less fortunate” to get anything without paying for it. The Federal Reserve’s Quantitative Easing Program and zero interest policy is killing any wealth I compile, however. The dollar has lost significant value over the last eight years. The pound is $1.66 and the Euro is $1.33! I would like to see us return to a gold or gold and silver based currency.
My only other worry is an increasingly fascist government infringing on my civil rights. For instance, under the Dodd-Frank law, the Bureau of Consumer Protection can seize your 401(k) savings. I suppose that the courts would find this aspect of the law unconstitutional but we are seeing the Bureau of Land Management become more and more aggressive without any oversight from the courts. Why not take our life savings too?
Vote wisely and cast off any progressive politician! A vote for anyone who is at all conservative or just pragmatic is a much better choice than leaving a progressive in power.
All very well said Van Hamlin. If people want a positive change in the direction of their lives, whether they are young or old, then they need to start voting for fiscal conservatives instead of the progressives. If not, then they shouldn’t be surprised that their future and that of their children keeps getting dimmer and dimmer.
..if you think todays’ retirees have it bad, wait til our children reach their retirement time….they’ll have less,if they ever GET to retire at all….this is the America people wanted,they got it.
People continue to ignore all the highly visible warning signs of what our future will soon look like by ignoring what is going on in much of the socialist democracies of Europe and Latin America. They are us in another five years, if we don’t change course immediately, as we continue to quickly adopt, via either legislation or regulatory mechanisms, all of their failed policies (socialized health care, higher and broader taxation, layer upon layer of increased regulation of doing virtually anything in America, the anti-business, anti-economic growth agenda that reduces future opportunities for our children and grandchildren , etc.) one after another. We have reached the stage where EVERY election has become absolutely critical. Vote like your future depends on it, because the type of future you’re going to experience literally does!!!
The younger generations don’t have the job stability and interest on savings to prepare them for the future. Those of us who saved a little, paid off mortgages on houses we can afford to stay in, can try to stay out of the savings as much as possible and hope CD interest rates reach some reasonable percentage that supports a responsible middle class.
But people under age 50 or so? Except for the elite (and even that’s a shrinking percentage of the population, but those in it are wealthier) next to no one can feel secure in preparing for the future. Add to that, medical slavery. A majority of the population is absolutely dependent on drugs, which puts their lives in someone else’s control. Then there are conditions of the economy, safety, and the environment that are making people less mobile.
I think at least part of it is intentional by the global elite to cull the herd. 90% or so of the population is a cash crop for the elite, and we’re irrelevant, and if not an economic asset, expendable. Yeah, I’m a conspiracy theorist…so prove me wrong.
Nothing’s going to change unless it gets so bad, the government collapses, and some regions will have the skills to survive and even thrive. But it’s not going to be pretty while mankind gets there.
Maryann, I don’t think you’re wrong. It’s all been planned. Couldn’t have gotten this bad without planning.