This terrifies me. A big part of my retirement plan is to have my home completely paid off by the time I retire.
Also scary is the fact that Americans aren't saving enough for retirement. Social Security may be almost all that many people have. Why DO we keep buying crap we don't need?
A New Era
4 hours ago
6 comments:
Well, I can tell you I was well on my way to having the house paid off and several hundred grand in my retirement account before I turned 40, and then BushCo happened, I lost a substantial part of my earnings on an annual basis, a large chunk of the 401 K, and am back in debt again. Working feverishly to pay it off...but it's difficult when you transition to making less money, and having to do more with less.
Vicki
Vicki,
Absolutely. Companies used to also provide pensions. Now, even those that supposedly do use bankruptcy to get out of them.
"why do we keep buying stuff?"
cuz bush told us to. after 9/11, he said, go out and buy stuff. :)
but seriously. it isn't stuff i'm buying. it's heat. it's food. and my boy is going to have college loans up they wazoo, provided he can still get them when he finally goes to college. because i can't afford to send him. even to a state school. thankfully, we have a lot of them here in ma, and he can commute.
--her eyes
I think a lot of it has to do with keeping up with "The Joneses". Now the Joneses might be in serious debit with their 3 SUV car garage 6,500 sq ft home with built in entertainment/sound equipment and lavish vacations but they look good and they look rich!
I personally think it's not only disgusting but stupid. I don't feel the need to impress a whole lot of people. It just seems like such as waste and I really wonder how happy they are with all their goods and lives when they receive their credit card bills every month?
Vicki -
Well said. I've never owned a house, but once upon a time, I accumulated nearly $35K in my IRA (I've never worked for companies that had pension plans), and then...darn, I was totally staying the course while the IRA faltered and fell back. I was supposed to stay the course, because the stock market and mutual funds and stuff, well, they always rebound, don't they?
I even stashed some money for an emergency fund, just as everyone advises. But the economy, and then some health problems, and now - well, I'm not in debt. I don't owe anyone any money. But my savings? Gone. IRA has been cashed out to pay living expenses. Right now I am carefully living within my means. I canceled the magazine subscriptions, the cable TV, the health club. I keep my 1988 Honda Civic in as good repair as possible. I try to stay healthy while using only the most basic medical services. I don't travel, I don't buy up-to-date electronic devices. I haven't splurged on a department store cosmetic "gift free with purchase" in years. I shop at thrift stores. I'm a loyal patron of the local library. I'm getting along.
But no, I'm not rebuilding my IRA. I would dearly love to plan for my final years (let's not call it "retirement": how many of us are really going to be able to stop working?) but I am using all my money to get by.
I wish I could do better by the next generation. I'm not pleased about failing to amass an independent late living, but honest, I'm doing the best I can.
Larkspur
Well, I'm just weird. Never did understand about "having the house paid off," because then what, I'd have to STAY there? What's the point of that? No matter what you do, you die. There's no getting around it.
My wife was a college professor and pianist, decided she didn't want to work past age 55. I was a puer aeternis, put in all kinds of time maintaining the house on 2.5 acres in the country and being every kind of arteest there was. In '99 she quit her tenured job, we moved from MD to New Mexico, and it was my turn. All this after 25 years in the same place, and with her supporting us most of that time. Hah! :-)
You'll note we sold the house before the real estate boom. Yep. Damn place appreciated less than one percent per year over the 12 years we owned it, and this on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Couldn't buy a doghouse there now. Seven years of chaos, loss, a two-year separation, and several years of psycho-analysis later (yay Jung!), we're both together in Taos, barely making ends meet in a cramped rented adobe with incredible views, eating organic food & breathing clean air. Both healthy and still in love.
No, I would not have done this if I had known how hard it would be, but on the other hand, I voluntarily gave up what most people are fighting to hang onto, and I'm still here. WE'RE still here. I ain't no puer no more, but something's stronger than it ever was.
So while I respect and even envy those who have it "all figured out," the fact is you still step off the curb and get run over by a bus. Security is an illusion, and so is the future. It doesn't exist except in the mind. Wanting to have the house paid off is fine, but is that because we're afraid to keep going?! We don't ever want to do something NEW after we reach a certain age?
All the physical and emotional structures we build up in the cause of "safety" and "common sense" are no more than a house of cards. That isn't where peace lies anyway. I'm more lost than found these days, but I think this is closer to the truth.
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