Apparently a lotto win is my retirement plan.

[Bertha Venation]

I have no retirement to speak of. I do have a 401(k) but there's not much in it, not speaking in retirement funds, anyway. Hopefully SS will be there for me. Can't wait for Medicare and that blessed donut hole. Mrs. V. will have her pension.

I am very. Very. Very nervous about retirement. (I'm 50.)

What's your retirement picture?

[Turbineguy]

1. Look at the bright side.

Somebody on Wall Street gets to drive a Ferrari.

I've sprung for a couple of Bentleys myself.

[Bertha Venation]

3. You know, you're right!

I'd forgotten about those little tidbits of joy we've provided for those underprivileged bankers and such.

[woodsprite]

2. I just turned 50 and am in the same boat as you are.

I'm actually eligible to retire next year, but that isn't going to happen. I have a 401K that I've put the minimum into yearly, just until these last 6 years. Hubby has the same, he's 51. We don't have a lot in there, but it's more than some people. I consider ourselves very lucky because where we work doesn't have high salaries, but they contribute 10% of our salaries into our plan, where we have to at least put in 5%. We also will retire with medical/dental/eye/educational benefits from work.

It looks like we can make it with part-time work as long as we don't do anything really costly before we retire. BUT, we have 2 kids - one's almost out of the nest - the other just turned 13, then we have college. We're making plans now, including attempting to refinance our house to lower the payment. We can't do it yet until the roof gets fixed from the Sandy damage. Which should be soon........ anytime now....... that's what the builder's and the city says......

In the past 6 yrs, since I was making the lower of our 2 salaries, I've added whatever I actually got in any raises to my contributions. I started contributing about 10 yrs later than my husband had. We were advised to make mine 'less conservative' in investments, but considering the economy, I'm sticking with what I have.

[Bertha Venation]

10. Ah, school.

The cost of education throws a wrench into the retirement works, I see. I have no children and so avoid that complication. Does it make you anxious? (I'm not trying to start anxiety . . . )

[woodsprite]

12. Not anxious. I'll just keep plodding away at what I do.

I think if I really liked what I did, I'd go out on retirement when brave enough to make the real break, ensure my benefits, and then come back as a contract worker. BUT, wish I liked what I do (started out as web design, over the years it's morphed into more coding/programming).

I hoping our retirement will be when my hubby and I spend more time together doing the stuff we used to do before kids (crafts, camping, etc). We have never taken a trip away from the kids just for the two of us unless it's been a conference (and that was about 18 yrs ago).

How retirement happened for my dad makes me anxious. He got really bad with what we thought was arthritis of the spine. It turned out to be multiple myeloma. He retired at 66, got one trip in with my mom down to FL and died at 68. Never had any hobbies, nothing but work. When he wasn't at the docs, he'd just sit around the house - no keeping in touch with family, work buddies, or friends. I want to go out early enough that I can enjoy my retirement, my kids (maybe grandkids), and my husband.

[Denninmi]

4. Bleak. Kind of like yours.

I have some $ stashed away in an IRA. Not nearly enough based on what "they say you will need in retirement." Never worked anywhere with any kind of formal plan.

Looking forward to the dumpster diving, the gathering of roots, nuts, and seeds in the parks and roadways, and the joys of choosing between medical care or utilities.

But, hey, at least millions of people will be in the same boat.

IF we had wised up in the country, not let Occupy gone down the toilet, that sort of thing, maybe we could do something about all of this.

[woodsprite]

8. I've stopped trying to figure anything based on the retirement calc

they link to from any investment site. It's too depressing!

The only thing I can figure from them is that most of us will be working the rest of our lives.

[DFW]

5. I think I'm OK

My wife and I are both 61, and you never know what the future will bring, but I made a few investments about 18 years ago that turned out to be sage, and they probably saved my sorry ass from having to worry about what would happen when I retire. IF I retire. It's said that mine is a profession from which the only way you retire is horizontally. We'll see. My wife retired last year, and on her own, she would collect just about enough from the German government to allow her to sleep in a homeless shelter and eat at soup kitchens.

I guess I can start to collect SS in a few years, but I will put it off as long as possible, and if I'm still comfortable after that, and look like I will be for the next couple of decades, I'll just give my SS money away to people that are less well off. I know I have a 401(k) too, somewhere, but what's in it wouldn't keep me afloat for more than a few years, if that.

On the flip side of all this, I guy I know, who had been battling a nasty form of cancer for four years (was supposed to be dead 3 years ago), just died at age 63, and another guy I know back in Dallas, 58, skinny as a rail (high BP) just had a major heart attack with 70% damage to the lower ventricles. Another guy I know from California is lying in a hospital unable to move his arms or legs, and no one knows why.

So I'm not going to dwell on too many long-term details. We'll just keep on keepin' on, and hope we're around in ten years to worry about some situation we can't possibly imagine today.

[hollysmom]

6. I was 48 when I got divorced

My husband had a job with a retirement plan, I gave up claims against it (and all savings and investments and cars and possessions) for the house. I had very little in retirement because many companies ripped me off when I quit them by undervaluing the investments (that was when they could invest your retirement in company stock) or adding fees (before reform). I started a very strong retirement plan of my own - (as a consultant not an employee), saved 50 percent of what I earned in retirement Keough, SEP, IRA self set up retirement or just plain savings and managed to save enough that , barring some horrible illness, will keep me in comfort for the rest of my life. It requires modest vacations, enough earnings and not having things like cable TV, expensive cell phones, and doing most of you own repairs if you own a house. I learned cement work, plumbing, electrical, etc. Bought very little in clothes and no furniture. Bought garage sale curtains. Made extra money by selling collectibles on E-bay. heck, I was divorced, couldn't sleep and had lots of energy. Entertainment was free concerts in the park and walks with the dog and dinner and movies with friends. Some broadway plays still have 20 dollar tickets for standing room only.

Just make a plan and do it. You can do it. You just have to have a job and make decent money and then decide you don't need things like HBO, real life is better than TV.

Getting your spouse to agree might be the hardest part.

[OmahaBlueDog]

7. I don't plan to "retire" in the sense that I'll sit on a beach somewhere

What I plan to do is step away gradually from work as I approach the so called "retirement age." The work I do now is of a professional and somewhat complex nature. By my mid to late sixties, I intend to do something more along the lines of delivering pizza or taking inbound calls in a customer service call center. Work fewer hours, and do simpler work, but continue to get up and do something most days. I intend to work as long as I am able to do so. It seems to work well for my Dad, who still works full time at 80, and has no plans to stop anytime soon.

If people are planning to regularly live to 90+, they are deluding themselves thinking they can just quit working at 62, 65, 67. Even with a million bucks, the odds of outliving your resources are high.

You should seek out a trustworthy financial advisor. Discuss your options. At 50, you could still save a fair amount in 17 years. Since there is not "much" in your 401 K, find out if you'd be better off taking the tax hit now, and converting that money into a Roth IRA that would allow for tax free disbursement at retirement. Find out about annuities. Find out about long term care insurance.

[blueknight]

9. im very lucky

worked over 30 years on the railroad and have a good pension, thanks to the brotherhood of locomotive engineers. my wife is a university professor and should have a decent pension

[olddots]

11. I never wanted to retire

one day I woke up unemployable knowing that S.S. would gross me maybe 600$ a month .At 65 I don't what's going to happen but I will be in good company with my liberal sisters and brothers .We are all we have .

[mockmonkey]

13. No retirement for me

No job, Partner found someone better after 10 years (he made the right decision) I can never hold onto a job, every 6 to 10 years I'm out of work and end up using what ever I have in my 401k to survive that length of time.

I'm not even depressed.

[femmocrat]

14. Finally looking feasible.

I could not retire because of health care so I hung in there long after everyone else my age had retired. Looks like I have finally hung in there long enough to actually start putting things in motion for a well-deserved retirement next year.

[HipChick]

15. I plan to retire early..

no kids...sell my home,move to an Island and be a beach bum..