Hmm..................

[Sandy F.]

One of my best buddies is a CPA who basically has turned her business into the business of helping women plan for retirement.
Her take...as is mine...couples need to plan for living LONGER. With the advancements in medicine...we simply live longer. But living longer does not necessarily mean living with good health. She sees many couples who come to her and never think of long term care. Everyone thinks they will retire and travel...for some couples this is true. But as we age...our health can be great one day...and not the next. It is the medical costs that many times crush the 'golden years'.
Several of my gal pals have the idea they can return to work. That works only if you are not needed to be a caregiver.

There are so many factors in figuring out what to do.

I know that my husband and I have talking about this for the last ten years. We have retirement plans...and reveiw them frequently.

My advice: get involved financially and understand what you have currently...how it growing. Talk to several planners. Look at your options: are you going to 'age in place' or do you want a retirement community? If so what kind...there are different types.
Another suggestion....don't expect the sale of your house to help finance your retirement....not with this current market.

My son is 20 and already has several funds for his retirement. He pays himself first...then budgets the rest.

As my gal pal says..."I scare women SMART". As I have said...learn and understand your finances...because one day you may need to know and manage on your own.
This is personal advice...I was a widow at age 37 with a small child.

FW

[Sandy F.]

In our home I was the one who was taking care of our future. Then I had the accident. . . I had five years paid into county retirement. Well almost, had it been five years I would have been able to keep it there. Now I have to have something done with it by the end of 2009. So now I am just leaving it alone until the last possible moment. this way it will gain the most interest possible. Now the problem is we have no plan. Jeremy's work is hopeless. I can not work. One thing we did learn from the accident was to discuss finances. I always paid the bills. Jer was clueless. He had no clue what was due when or where. He also had no clue how I paid anything. I had a good paying job and I was a worka holic. If we wanted or needed something I either took on a second job or worked overtime. Poof money was there. I wanted new carpet through out the house... just work 30 hours of overtime the next 2 pay periods...done. New roof on the porch 45 hours of over time in the next 3 pay periods...done. At the time of the accident I was working on new windows through out the house that was going to be 95 hour of over time over the next 3 payperiods. I only had 20 hours in. No new windows for awhile unfortunately. Well I hope I will someday be able to go back to work. Although I have no clue when.
By the way Eileen I hope your daughter didn't get hurt too bad in the accident. Rachel

[Annette R.]

Eileen I hope you will give us an update on what you and dh decided about his retirement. We care Ann (been retired eleven yrs. and love every minute of it and looking forward to the next howmany ever years we have.

[Frances L.]

Eileen, Please let us know your decision. I can't remember if I said that my DH has a second career. He's a PI doing computer forensics. He works when he wants to when there are jobs for him to do. He can go months with nothing, so we do a lot of stuff together then. Then there are times like now when he has three jobs. He left town yesterday morning and will be back sometime today. Then he'll still have more work for that job, as well as two more waiting here. I probably won't see much of him this weekend. But that's ok because the kids are going to Dallas next weekend for a convention where they are trying to set a world record for the most people dressed up as video game characters. DD and I need to get her costume made, and I probably have to do something for DS#2's costume also.
Frances in hot, hot Austin

[Frances L.]

Frances the conventions sounds like something my guys would love--I'll have to tell them about it, but after, or they'd be thinking they'd want to go from here :lol: About 9 years ago I made my twins Mario & Luigi costumes... then a few years later had to make Wario for George. They were always VERY popular at trick or treat, seems everyone recognizes the characters, but they're not seen every day (a la Superman, etc.) Hope yours have fun!
Florence

[Eileen K.]

To update you all, Mike has decided on January 2011. (Geez, it's so weird writing the date.) He's figured out that he can stop going to work in October and then burn off all his annual leave. By staying, he'll pick up an extra couple of thousand per year for retirement.
He's going ahead with the pharm tech idea for now. We haven't invested any money yet, so the door is wide open.
I can't thank you all enough for being there for me. It's hard to talk to friends face to face and vent. I'm always trying to put a good front on everything.
eileenkny