To update you all, Mike has decided on January 2011. (Geez, it's so weird writing the date.) He's figured out that he can stop going to work in October and then burn off all his annual leave. By staying, he'll pick up an extra couple of thousand per year for retirement.
He's going ahead with the pharm tech idea for now. We haven't invested any money yet, so the door is wide open.
I can't thank you all enough for being there for me. It's hard to talk to friends face to face and vent. I'm always trying to put a good front on everything.
eileenkny

Frances the conventions sounds like something my guys would love--I'll have to tell them about it, but after, or they'd be thinking they'd want to go from here About 9 years ago I made my twins Mario & Luigi costumes... then a few years later had to make Wario for George. They were always VERY popular at trick or treat, seems everyone recognizes the characters, but they're not seen every day (a la Superman, etc.) Hope yours have fun!
Florence

Eileen, Please let us know your decision. I can't remember if I said that my DH has a second career. He's a PI doing computer forensics. He works when he wants to when there are jobs for him to do. He can go months with nothing, so we do a lot of stuff together then. Then there are times like now when he has three jobs. He left town yesterday morning and will be back sometime today. Then he'll still have more work for that job, as well as two more waiting here. I probably won't see much of him this weekend. But that's ok because the kids are going to Dallas next weekend for a convention where they are trying to set a world record for the most people dressed up as video game characters. DD and I need to get her costume made, and I probably have to do something for DS#2's costume also.
Frances in hot, hot Austin

Eileen I hope you will give us an update on what you and dh decided about his retirement. We care Ann (been retired eleven yrs. and love every minute of it and looking forward to the next howmany ever years we have.

In our home I was the one who was taking care of our future. Then I had the accident. . . I had five years paid into county retirement. Well almost, had it been five years I would have been able to keep it there. Now I have to have something done with it by the end of 2009. So now I am just leaving it alone until the last possible moment. this way it will gain the most interest possible. Now the problem is we have no plan. Jeremy's work is hopeless. I can not work. One thing we did learn from the accident was to discuss finances. I always paid the bills. Jer was clueless. He had no clue what was due when or where. He also had no clue how I paid anything. I had a good paying job and I was a worka holic. If we wanted or needed something I either took on a second job or worked overtime. Poof money was there. I wanted new carpet through out the house... just work 30 hours of overtime the next 2 pay periods...done. New roof on the porch 45 hours of over time in the next 3 pay periods...done. At the time of the accident I was working on new windows through out the house that was going to be 95 hour of over time over the next 3 payperiods. I only had 20 hours in. No new windows for awhile unfortunately. Well I hope I will someday be able to go back to work. Although I have no clue when.
By the way Eileen I hope your daughter didn't get hurt too bad in the accident. Rachel

One of my best buddies is a CPA who basically has turned her business into the business of helping women plan for retirement.
Her take...as is mine...couples need to plan for living LONGER. With the advancements in medicine...we simply live longer. But living longer does not necessarily mean living with good health. She sees many couples who come to her and never think of long term care. Everyone thinks they will retire and travel...for some couples this is true. But as we age...our health can be great one day...and not the next. It is the medical costs that many times crush the 'golden years'.
Several of my gal pals have the idea they can return to work. That works only if you are not needed to be a caregiver.

There are so many factors in figuring out what to do.

I know that my husband and I have talking about this for the last ten years. We have retirement plans...and reveiw them frequently.

My advice: get involved financially and understand what you have currently...how it growing. Talk to several planners. Look at your options: are you going to 'age in place' or do you want a retirement community? If so what kind...there are different types.
Another suggestion....don't expect the sale of your house to help finance your retirement....not with this current market.

My son is 20 and already has several funds for his retirement. He pays himself first...then budgets the rest.

As my gal pal says..."I scare women SMART". As I have said...learn and understand your finances...because one day you may need to know and manage on your own.
This is personal advice...I was a widow at age 37 with a small child.

FW

I am constantly telling my kids it is never to early to think about retirement. Working in the school systems my daughter has a retirement plan but reading the paper this morning it may not be something she can count on in 25 years. My husband is 9 years older than me and he retired a couple of years ago but he works two days a week and is happy. He putters around the house and yard and I don't know what I would have done without him while taking care of mom and dad at our house and theirs. But we depend heavily on my income and as soon as we get our home improvements completed we are going to calculate what our combined retirement income will be and start living on that income and saving the remainder (except for special things) to get accustomed to a smaller income and to help us know what that smaller income needs to be.

Hey Eileen I don't think you can get from NY to Va Beach w/o going thru Fredericksburg! Maybe you could take a break about here (you'll need it after getting past DC!) and we could meet for lunch, coffee, cocktails(!)(sorry DH, you're driving!) OR our LQS is just a few miles directly off I-95, and just last week I learned they're expanding their shop! Florence

Pat,
You can keep that soapbox out for as long as you want.lol
I had DH explain to our DD what he wants to do. She's studying to be a social worker/psychologist so I wanted her viewpoint.
She told him that yes, it would benefit him financially to stay but at what cost to him mentally and emotionally? His answer was that he goes in to work and just does his job-ignoring most of the people around him. He really believes that he's an island and that he can just keep going this way.

It's heartbreaking to listen to him sometimes-he really loves what he does. He works as a plans and programs manager for an Air National Guard base. He has always followed all the rules and regs. There have been changes in the wing command and people take shortcuts and do things their way instead of the way the regs want them to, and it really grates with him. He's considered a dinosaur-behind the times. They want him to do things so illegal that it could cost him his job were he to get caught but he won't go along with them.

One good thing-he's got so much annual leave that he can stop working in October of 2010 and officially retire in January of 2011. Originall, he would have stopped work in May and put his papers in in July 2010. He rationalizes that it's only 5 more months.

I'm planning vacations already. He and I are going to Virginia Beach in September for a week, and we're taking the family to Orlando in August. I'm not waiting till "someday".

eileenkny

I hope that all of our younger members are following this thread. I encourage every younger person that I am able to talk with to start an IRA as early in their working life as they can, and that after that, every time they get a raise, put half of the new money away in their IRA or some other investment, a 401K if they have one available. Since they haven't had that money, they won't miss it, and they will still have the other half of the raise to spend. I wish I'd started a lot sooner. Take a look at what you spend. Do you smoke? Eat out several times a week? Go to movies in the evening instead of the matinees in the afternoon when it's cheaper? That money could help you in later years to be able to leave a job that you hate, and retire early.

Okay, I'm putting my soap box back in the closet for now.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms here on TQS. Thanks for the sacrifices we've (I'm including me) made, the compromises we've had to make, the hardships we've endured, and everything else Moms everywhere do because we are Moms. Here's to celebrating the joy and the love that is the other side of the coin. Love to all, Gloria

Several years ago my DH and I decided that after living 12 hours away from the grandchildren that we would buy a house near the grandkids about a year before his retirement so we could really become a part of their lives and not just visit a couple of times a year. I would work part time (as a nurse) for the health insurance benefits and he would finish up at his job and then come up to join me when he retired. Well......last November we did buy a house close to the grandkids in IL, I moved, and got a part time job with benefits. We were very lucky and sold our home in AL and DH moved into an apartment for the remainder of his time there. However........he has now gone over and over the finances and with the recession and the market has decided to put off retirement for possibly 2-3 years!!! So I'm stuck here by myself for who knows how long. Don't get me wrong.......I LOVE being close enough to the grandchildren to babysit and go to their school functions and ball games, etc.....but I didn't want to be alone for 3 years!!! I truly believe he is scared to death to leave his job and won't find something else to bring in some money for everyday expenses since "we will probably live to be 100" (yeah, right). He's convinced this is what he has to do. After being married 37 years, living alone is not fun! BTW, he now resents me for "talking him into" this move and that I get to see the grandkids frequently!!!! MEN.............ARGHHHH!!!

Patricia

Rachel, when I said about the gas price going too crazy I had watched a news show that said it could go to $6 or $7 a gallon. We paid $3.49 two days ago. We thought about trading our vehicles in for a more economic ones but dealers don't want them, as they get stuck with them. We have stopped a lot of what my DH calls mindless driving. I hope he's not talking about my trips to the quilt store!!!. He wonders where my minds at sometimes when I almost had a conniption fit about milk being 3.89 a gallon. Of course I told him I couldn't go to the store on a gallon of milk. (unless i buy a cow)
Wendy

Rachel,
Elijah's one smart, funny kid.
You can read on my blog how my weekend is going. To make a long story short-DD had a car accident yesterday with the car we just paid off in March. We have a $1000 deductible and we don't know what's going to happen.
I know he's thinking how bad the money situation is going to be now. He's not going back into car payments. If it's totaled, we're going to get a car with whatever they give us so that we own it outright. He said if payments do have to be made, Keri's going to have to make them.
I'm trying not to have a pity party here, but so far, this Mother's Day sucks.
Oh yeah, gas here is between $3.77 and $3.95 depending on the station.
eileenkny