How old were you when you retired?
I am 58 years old, work full time and even do some welding and construction on the weekends. The latter is where we get a lot of our RV and travel budget. Most of our trips are 1 week with a few that ...
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Retirement before 55, even before 50, pension, health insurance? I thought that was an anachronism. Haven't seen any of that in the last 40 years I've worked.
Actually not quite true. The company I worked for starting in 1979 had what they laughingly called a (discretionary) profit sharing fund. After working there 15 years, I figured I had enough to last one week for every year I worked there. I was lucky because people who hired on a couple of years later than me had less than $1000 in there after working over 10 years. It had great investments in the owner's private charity projects (at one time it owned a retirement home for nuns). Eventually, they gave it up and rolled over into our 401(k). It never had a dime of matching funds added. Before I got there, it had a stock option fund if and when the company ever went public. Started, employee contributed, then folded. 45 years later, still a privately held company.
Not bitter, just noting that some people with these packages don't realize this ain't the norm. I visited my parents when I was nearing 50. My parents' neighbor wondered if I'd be retiring soon, having "my 30 years in." His son, my age, started a union factory job right out of high school and had just retired. I sort of looked at him incredulously. Two years later, I quit my job and started my own company. I was just starting a new career, not retiring from one.
Actually not quite true. The company I worked for starting in 1979 had what they laughingly called a (discretionary) profit sharing fund. After working there 15 years, I figured I had enough to last one week for every year I worked there. I was lucky because people who hired on a couple of years later than me had less than $1000 in there after working over 10 years. It had great investments in the owner's private charity projects (at one time it owned a retirement home for nuns). Eventually, they gave it up and rolled over into our 401(k). It never had a dime of matching funds added. Before I got there, it had a stock option fund if and when the company ever went public. Started, employee contributed, then folded. 45 years later, still a privately held company.
Not bitter, just noting that some people with these packages don't realize this ain't the norm. I visited my parents when I was nearing 50. My parents' neighbor wondered if I'd be retiring soon, having "my 30 years in." His son, my age, started a union factory job right out of high school and had just retired. I sort of looked at him incredulously. Two years later, I quit my job and started my own company. I was just starting a new career, not retiring from one.
