Retirement Planning - Lessons Learned

[Septemberwheat]

Don’t underestimate:
The need for family (stay close).
The need for interaction with others.
The need to be a contributing player in society, even a part time bird house maker can keep busy & provide a quality product, while being a contributing person in society.
The desire to continue learning.
The need to give to others.
The need to read scripture, ask the difficult questions & search for answers.

Don’t overestimate:
Your need for money (many will tell you that you need more, stay away from these people).
How much stuff you really need.
That spending time at the doctor & taking medication will help you live a longer happier life.
That pastors have answers.
Your weakness & inability to do anything.

 

[JethroB]

I spent some time in manufacturing (world-leading company) and we'd upgrade and automate with the introduction of a new product line.

I worked in food processing industry for 35 years. Very labor intensive. It was interesting to learn early on that the price of new automation machinery was heavily based on the number of workers it would replace.

 

[DieselBound]

I worked in food processing industry for 35 years. Very labor intensive. It was interesting to learn early on that the price of new automation machinery was heavily based on the number of workers it would replace.

Yes. There's insurance and what not to consider as well: assembly lines can be, and usually are, big risks to humans operating them.

I have no answers. I just know what the equation is currently outputting and it's not real conducive to regular humans. I also know that, just as one cannot operate in perpetual growth, one cannot operate in perpetual deficit. (there's really nothing as stasis, so we're really only moving in one direction or the other)

Lyrics in an Ozark Mountains Daredevil song includes the line: Everything you do and nuthin' that you did...

 

[Gale Hawkins]

One retirement planner shared the biggest retirement wrecker she saw was to add in a divorce around retirement time. Had a neighbor get a divorce which lead to selling the farm that somehow lead him to paying back some of the SS payments he had received. He was madder than an old wet hen. Had a friend close to retiring talking to me about getting a divorce. Gave him the story shared by the retirement planner and that ended that talk.

 

[California]

One retirement planner shared the biggest retirement wrecker she saw was to add in a divorce around retirement time.

Similar: a mid-career acquaintance that I heard of, had to raise massive cash to pay his divorcing wife who had never worked, money to go buy an annuity. ie a one-time huge payment to buy a contract for a monthly 'pension' for her lifetime, to start today, that paid her half what his pension would pay monthly if he retired today.

I think he had to cash out all his IRAs, with penalties, to raise the money ordered by the divorce court. Last I heard he had a companion 20 years younger. With no intention to marry her.

Caveat Emptor .....

 

[Frankenkubota]

Was it Twain who said that golf was a good walk gone bad?

i think it was churchill who said

Golf is a good walk spoiled.

the english are great walkers.

robin williams does a thing on utube as a scotsman explaining golf, it's very funny. 2 versions, the original is full of vulgarities, he redid a clean language version.

 

[Frankenkubota]

Similar: a mid-career acquaintance that I heard of, had to raise massive cash to pay his divorcing wife who had never worked, money to go buy an annuity. ie a one-time huge payment to buy a contract for a monthly 'pension' for her lifetime, to start today, that paid her half what his pension would pay monthly if he retired today.

I think he had to cash out all his IRAs, with penalties, to raise the money ordered by the divorce court. Last I heard he had a companion 20 years younger. With no intention to marry her.

Caveat Emptor .....

my divorce was uneventful but i will always remember the lawyer saying.

a marriage license is nothing more than a legal contract.

Amazing to me the value we put in a failed institution.

I've become a beverly hillbillies expert, the primary goal of that show is to get elly married. Then get jed married.

Tell me how difficult it would be to marry off elly mae....nuff said there. and how difficult it would be to marry off a 65 year old widow with $85 mill.

good luck everyone

 

[Frankenkubota]

LOL.

I get a few of those every few years. It's crazy.

As a side note, your personal information still bleeds through.

thx....first time i tried anything that complicated and as usual, i screwed the pooch again!

 

[Gale Hawkins]

my divorce was uneventful but i will always remember the lawyer saying.

a marriage license is nothing more than a legal contract.

Amazing to me the value we put in a failed institution.

I've become a beverly hillbillies expert, the primary goal of that show is to get elly married. Then get jed married.

Tell me how difficult it would be to marry off elly mae....nuff said there. and how difficult it would be to marry off a 65 year old widow with $85 mill.

good luck everyone

Good point.

Going from a one house to a two house household costs may be the main cost difference in the case of a divorce. Emotional cost is a wild card.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Getting rid of my first wife was the best retirement move I ever made. She never had a job she couldn't quit in 6 weeks or less. I caught her once vandalizing her own car because she wanted a new one. I sent her to college three times, and she dropped out each time after it was too late to get a tuition refund. All she wanted to do was stay home and watch soap operas all day and scream at me all night. I think she filed for divorce because she wanted to force me to give her more money, and totally freaked out when I held the line and forced sale of the home to split our assets. She wanted alimony, and didn't get that either. The woman was an anchor chain around my life.

Marrying my second wife was the best retirement move I ever made. For the past 35 years, she has been a true life partner. We have worked toward shared life goals, and the marriage has helped both of us be successful and happy. There have been some bad times, even terrible times, on the way, but not because of us. Our home has always been a place of peace and refuge.