Just had enough

kyle86 wrote:
What do you suggest for someone not established in the work force yet? I'm 29 and since I graduated from college I have been bouncing from not so good job to not so good job. Long hours and hard work with a questionable future for my generation. You seem like a person with a good outlook on life. Just curious if you could start over, would you stay with the same employer and work towards traditional retirement or something else?

I was forced into retirement a couple years ago by job cutbacks. Luckily I was only two years away from my planned retirement. My suggestions to someone just starting out in life:

Don't base your plans on promises of the future made by your employer(s) or Government. Expect the worst case and plan for that. If the promises hold true you'll just be much better off when retirement comes your way.

Don't just dream about retirement, plan for it. Make sure you know what you'll be doing in the "retirement career" and test those plans while you still have time to change them. Far to many people just dream about retirement and when they get there they're bored to tears with the lack of activities, goals, etc.

Young people just starting out do tend to jump around in jobs. First is usually the idealist job - you studied some field in college and your ideal job is shaped by that. In reality that first job isn't what you imagined. The second job is more about money. The third job is more of a balance between money, work and environment. After that the jobs tend to be about location, money, work, people, etc. Understand your job benefits and try to maximize them towards your retirement target, such as taking advantage of 401K plans, exploring different places you might want to live, expanding your work and hobby interests, etc.

Start early tracking of your finances and stick with it. Know what you have coming in and where it's going and make sure part of it is being saved for your future. Try to live below your means rather than at or above your means. As you get closer to retirement (within 10 years), start trying to live your retirement lifestyle financially and see how it works. Make adjustments as needed so that your transition into retirement isn't a financial shock.

Finally, there's nothing wrong with going into debt to get the things you want or need to live the lifestyle you'd like. But having a good financial plan to retire that debt before you retire can make for a much more stress-free retirement. Part of your retirement plan might include being debt-free and having already purchased your retirement toys beforehand. That also gives you an opportunity to test-run your retirement lifestyle before you are committed to it and make adjustments while you're still working.