Retirement and still owing on a mortgage?

955er · Feb 17, 2011

With everything happening in this world, there is no givens. When I retire in 20 years at 65, I plan on having zero mortgage or car payments. Only have 5 years left on the 15 year mortgage.

wdchyd · Feb 17, 2011

With no mortgages and less than a year to pay off all loans, my retirement will be here when someone puts enough zeros on the check when they buy out our business of 33 yrs.....as Shania Twain would say...."I'm Outta Here..!!"

Of course that could be 20 yrs from now.....:laughing:

grsthegreat · Feb 17, 2011

er....im 53 and semi retired. my wife is still working full time for a few more years. i never wanted to retire before we paid off everything, and we did that about 2 years ago....no debts at all. and still, were afraid to fully retire due to health insurance costs. my wife has full benefits with a good company, and having to pay for the insurance is a daunting task. with pensions and investments, i think were sitting good, but the health costs are the great variable in life.

ultrarunner · Feb 17, 2011

grsthegreat said:
er....im 53 and semi retired. my wife is still working full time for a few more years. i never wanted to retire before we paid off everything, and we did that about 2 years ago....no debts at all. and still, were afraid to fully retire due to health insurance costs. my wife has full benefits with a good company, and having to pay for the insurance is a daunting task. with pensions and investments, i think were sitting good, but the health costs are the great variable in life.

Seems like a lot of TBN members in the 40 to 60 age range.

I know a few that would have long retired if it wasn't for Health Insurance.

Just got a letter today saying my employee share of insurance is going up across the board... can't really blame the company... the total cost per single employee is $9400 per year and this is far from a Cadillac plan... no vison or dental and co-pays and deductibles are steep. The only prescription I ever had in my Adult life was denied???

Mom is the only person in my family to ever retire... she did so at 62 and shorty after suffered a vicious attack by a wild dog... the attack made her uninsurable until she was 65 and medicare kicked in.

I have mixed feelings on insurance... working in Health Care... I know that every emergency that comes through the door is treated... I also know families on public assistance that have a child that received over a million dollars of free Health Care at Stanford for a heart defect and the child is doing just fine as a teenager.

Seems the biggest reason to have insurance is to protect what you have... land, home and assets... those that have nothing don't have a lot to loose.

I grew up in a family where no one had insurance... everyone worked and the Doctors would bill in 3 payments over 12 months for anyone that asked... My father's happiest day for me was when I got my first job with Health Insurance... he said it was something he had never been able to achieve.

Skyco · Feb 18, 2011

Lots of good info here!
Closing in on retirement myself. One of the happiest days of my life was when my home of 27 years was paid off.
Right now I don't owe anyone anything, that too is a great feeling.

Re: Home Equity Loans....have one that is about to expire. Talking with the banker they want around $500 to renew it. Not sure if I should or not, I like having the instantly available line of credit it brings, although in the past I used it maybe a little too much for toys, way too scared of the economy to do that anymore

I will mention one thing that startled me in case someone else doesn't know...I never noticed the fine print that said the entire amount on it was due at the end of the 10 year period!
At one point I had $100,000 on it, would have sure ruined me to have that due at once and not been expecting it. caveat emptor

Medical insurance- I can retire and continue my very good insurance at the companies rate...but that is $14,000 a year:shocked:

Transit · Feb 18, 2011

Ultrar, the reason for the high price of health insurance is to pay for the free loaders, and we feed them too.

wdchyd · Feb 18, 2011

Transit said:
Ultrar, the reason for the high price of health insurance is to pay for the free loaders, and we feed them too.

Health Care Employees don't seem to be starving either......:confused2:

RSKY · Feb 18, 2011

My wife retired last June. She is not in Social Security but in the Kentucky Teachers Retirement System. That is completely seperate and the older teachers did not pay in to S.S. If something happens to me she cannot draw anything from my S.S. account. The reason is she gets more from hers than she could from S.S.

But !!

Now, at age 56 she is having to pay 1/3 Medicare part B premiums. It is called 'Shared Responsibility'.

She got the letter right after last years elections.

In other words she has to pay more than $1000 a year for insurance she cannot use. The 'Shared Responsibility' is to pay for those who have no insurance because they do not work, have never worked, will never work, and would not work if given a job!

I will never again vote for a Socialist Democrat !

cdaigle430 · Feb 18, 2011

My 401k is below what it should be for my age but, I have my Air National Guard pension (which I start collecting at age 60), my disability pension (now), my work pension. social security and hopefully a modest 401k amount in 15-20 years. My mortgage should be paid off by age 64, hopefully sooner if I can make extra payments.

Also I will get full medical from FEHB or Tricare when I reach age 60.

ultrarunner · Feb 18, 2011

wdchyd said:
Health Care Employees don't seem to be starving either......:confused2:

The demand is way down where I am... we had 10% layoff 18 months ago and none have been recalled... there was also a mandatory 10% workweek hour reduction.

All of the perks like pension, stock options and profit sharing were eliminated around 5 years ago.

It wasn't all that long ago new RN grads could pick and choose where they wanted to work and who was offering the best sign-on bonus... my little Hospital had a hard time finding Nurses and now we get unsolicited resumes daily...

By no means am I complaining... just saying Healthcare has not gone untouched.

None of the above applies the County and State Healthcare facilities