I have to laugh at the Piggs’ (primarly Gen Y on this forum who have worked less than a decade and already want to “retire,” lol) opinions on why I don’t deserve my small pension. [/quote]
BG,
I was in no way, shape or form hinting that you somehow didn’t deserve your pension so I hope you didn’t take it that way at all. Absolutely I think that almost most people that are receiving a pension these days probably earned it through lots of years of hard work or service to their employer.
I do partly agree with your point that it is laughable at some Gen Y’s (I’m not referring to anyone on this forum) that want to retire early without many years of hard work. I’ve met several young Gen Y’s that want to get rich with a good idea or the next Iphone App. Sure, that can happen but it’s not likely.
At the same time, I don’t think you can look at some of the Gen X’ers and Y’s and assume they have done no hard work or have it easy. I’m sure some people that I don’t know mistakenly think that I’m some trust fund kid or something. But what they don’t see is many many years of 17 hour days, lots of stress, difficult working environment, etc. The path to early retirement can’t always be assumed that someone had it easy just by looking at their age.
Some of these Gen Y’s or X’s might work in one 24 hour period what a Boomer might have done in 3 normal business days. I guess it just depends on the exact situation. But you have to keep everything relative. Just because someone worked 25-30 years for a company doesn’t necessarily mean they worked as hard or as many hours as someone else working 10-15 years for another company/industry. It’s all relative.
I can almost assure you that my 18 years working since graduating college is going to be more long hard hours working vs. some boomers and probably more stress as well.
[quote=flyer]
Agree, ER. As I mentioned in the response to flu, we’ve pretty much lived a “retirement lifestyle, ” most of our lives, and tried to enjoy life to the max, even as we planned for the future.[/quote]
Absolutely! This is the best way to go, IMHO. You have to have a good balance. I’ve seen and met people that didn’t really live life at all. Some have never left the State they were born and raised. (and it’s perfectly ok if they didn’t like to travel) but some always talked about that exotic trip they were going to take or had magazines stacked up in their house of all the things they planned to do in retirement. Some drove crappy cars around their entire lives, never dined out at a nice place, and were very stingy with money with their kids who could have used it.
Then they die and all of a sudden you hear that they had an estate worth millions and millions. I always kind of laugh in that situation. While I do agree that you should save and prepare for your retirement and older age….. there are lots of people that don’t really “live”.
You said it best flyer.. “enjoy life to the max”. That’s what we do too. I’d rather really enjoy life, travel and see things and go places that I’ve always dreamed. Expose my kids to new cultures, new languages, new cities, new countries, new experiences. Try not to spoil them but to give them things my parents could never give me. That vs. leaving my future grandkids sizable fortunes.
“Enjoy life to the max” like you said. Which if you can afford it means living in a great house in a great area, driving a nice car, traveling to the places you want to go, etc. You only live once.
[quote=UCGal] (Heck, I don’t count my primary home’s equity since I don’t plan to move,sell, or borrow against…. ever. So in my mind it’s kind of like a car… an expense that provides shelter.)[/quote]
That’s exactly right UCGal. I don’t count my primary home’s equity either in my “#”. Although it’s completely paid off, I don’t plan to move, sell it or borrow against it. If I did sell it, I’d buy another place to live in so I look at it like you and just look at it as shelter.
Too many people count their nest egg on the value of their house.
