Retirement Planning and HIV

[OneTampa]

Give me a moment...I am amazed to even begin such a thread. I am less than 10 years away from the usual retirement age and hope to hang on to my job until then.

I am re-assessing the 401K at work, contributing to Roth and Traditional IRAs along with reducing debt (especially credit cards) in the hopes that I can survive financially in retirement.

As I've noted before on other threads, I am doing well mentally and physically at present and hope to continue for a while longer.

It is just that I have been busy for so many years and with a recent birthday, it just really hit me, Wow! I am getting older!  My age is now around the "speed limit on the open highway and not a built-up area." (Are You Being Served, 1970s).  "Not that there is anything wrong with that." (Seinfeld, 1990s).

I am curious how others who have managed to hold onto decent health and their jobs feel about getting older with HIV and planning for retirement.  I also realize that a number of Board members are on disability having stopped work early in their careers and that represents a host of daily challenges.  Can we learn from each other?

Forgive me as I seem to ramble and stumble and miss the train to Articulate Land this round but I just wanted to get these random thoughts out. 

Your thoughts?

[WillyWump]

I just plan on marrying a rich queen when I turn 65.

-Will

[denb45]

What would you like to know? I've been on disability & a pension from my last job since 98, I'll have to wait till I'm 66 and 4 months to get my full retirement, in the mean time, I do just fine, I'm not rich, but I'm not really poor I'm 200 to 250% above the FPL, I also live with someone else (who been disabled since 94) makes the same amount of income that I do, we split everything 50/50, so that helps a lot.........hope that helps you out some  

[phildinftlaudy]

One -
I don't think it is ever too early to think about retirement planning - I wish I had felt that way about 10 or 15 years ago (LOL) - but, unfortunately, somethings don't kick in as "important" until we age --- and retirement seems to be one of those.

I have about a year and a half left until I am fully vested in the state's Florida Retirement System (FRS).  My employer pays about 7.5% of my salary and I kick in 3% (we just started having to contribute this year - it is actually being fought by the unions - but I doubt the state's decision will be overturned).

I will be eligible for early retirement as soon as I am vested, but we lose 5% off our benefit for every year we retire early - so, I would take a beating if I retired in two years ---- next week I will be turning 45, so I hope to put in another 15 years minimum and 20 years max. --- our retirement is computed on a few factors, years of service and the average of our five highest years of salary.  

If I retire at 60, I would get around $1,700 a month + annual cost of living adjustment
If I retire at 65, I would get around $2,400 a month + annual cost of living adjustment

If I retire way early - let's say when I am fully vested in a year and a half, I would be eligible to start collecting my retirement - but the amount would only be $147 a month - and that would be it (except for cost of living adjustments - which are capped at around 2% annually depending on the rate of inflation - that is a new calculation that our wonderful governor just put in - in addition to having us contribute)

Plus, if Social Security is still around, that would probably amount to another $2,000 a month - if I retire at 65.

It won't be much, but should be enough to cover a fairly durable cardboard box and a bed mat.

I get depressed when I look at how much I would have to be putting away monthly if I wanted to retire and maintain even 80% of my current income.  It is completely cost prohibitive.

I'm not complaining though as overall we have great benefits - the state also kicks in a health insurance subsidy when we retire ($5 for each year of service, up to a max of $150) so, I will get around $100 extra a month towards health insurance costs (WOW!!! - that covers 2 days of Atripla).

I definitely think that anyone in the position to plan for retirement should do so --- and I encourage any of the "younger" members to listen to your "elders" (LOL) and plan now -- even the smallest amount saved can go a long way when you look at compounded interest and/or investment returns.

[hope_for_a_cure]

I definitely think that anyone in the position to plan for retirement should do so --- and I encourage any of the "younger" members to listen to your "elders" (LOL) and plan now -- even the smallest amount saved can go a long way when you look at compounded interest and/or investment returns.

This is great advice for the most part.  A fixed income is always going to be an adjustment for most.  Of course the assumption is that the market where investments are made is a stable if not upwardly trending one.  Currently those markets are so volatile the projection of return is not as certain anymore. 

[MitchMiller]

Tampa:  

We're probably the same age.  My thoughts are that you shouldn't wait too long to retire if you have the capacity.  Although we may have our health now, who knows what it might be like in ten years.  My thoughts are to make a compromise between wealth and time.  The longer you wait to retire, theoretically, the better off financially you would be when you eventually do retire.  But then again, if you have thoughts about doing other things besides work before you die, how can you put a price on the free time to be able to pursue other interests?  

I'm maxing out my 401K.  I'm putting in 20% of my gross. Remember we're eligible to contribute "catch-up" contributions on top of the normal before tax amount.  I'm also saving about 45% of my take home pay.  I hope to retire around the beginning of 2015 when I'm 58.  I know I'll pay a big price in the ultimate amount of $$$ I'll draw from Soc Sec, but I plan to live off my savings first so I can delay at least the age that I begin to draw.  If possible, I'll possibly work part-time or seasonally.

My advice, based on all the scary scenes of unemployed fifty-somethings, totally unprepared and rapidly  going broke, would be to save all you can and do whatever it takes to stay employed so you can end the slavery on your own terms!  Good luck.

[OneTampa]

Mitch,

Thank you for your thought provoking alternatives.  

I am already 58 and in the process of reducing expenses.  

Your suggestion to save is spot on.  That is what I am doing and hope to increase the amounts I put away.

I have a good job and want to continue in it for some time.

I also have other interests I'd like to pursue on a greater scale.

Finally, I love your bit about "ending the slavery on your terms". Primo classic!  

Thanks everyone for your input!

[bear60]

All good advice.
Saving alone is not enough........pay down your debt.
I just retired and the only way I can survive is the fact that I have NO credit card debt and own my home with no mortgage.   I have a $40,000 line of credit on the housse which I am using to pay for maintenance on the house and etc.

I was one of those HIVers who figured they would be dead in a few years.  Back in 1990 i basically stopped planning for retirement.  In 1999 I realized I HAD to ...and fast.  Results are I am living very frugally.

[OneTampa]

Bear60,

Congrats on your goal to retire at 58. 

Paying down debt is definitely on my "keep doing" (quick, fast, and in a hurry) list.

Thanks!

[mecch]

I thought I was in a two-income couple for life, with a partner a decade younger. Oops. Now will turn fifty, single, without a realistic plan to afford my retirement.  There are no inheritances, either.  

I fell apart psychologically after my breakup, fell apart a bit more after serocoverting, but now I feel 80% repaired and functioning.  Now I do feel like 2011-12 I'm ready to at least look at current situation and maybe get some advice about how much better I could make it by taking certain steps.  I have a very gloomy outlook about this, affording retirement -- very high anxiety, but I guess it has to be looked at in clear daylight and be reckoned with.

When i was in my late 30's, I had a colleague who was 50, got dumped by her husband, didn't get much money. She went back to work and worked so so hard, for 10 years, to get some sort of comfortable retirement befitting her previous "lifestyle" since her married life had been upper middle class. I'm sorry, she was miserable those 10 years of hard work, and BOY did it age her...

I really don't want to have every financial expert I see tell me that I have to repeat my colleagues experience.  

I don't know anything about retirement in Switzerland really. I know there are a fair number of group homes if you can't afford your own apartment or have health problems, etc.  I know as in other countries, some people retire to developing countries where the money goes further. I really don't like that idea at all. I want to be old man wandering around MY town, around a culture I know and feel homey in.

I think I might like a group home, if I'm broke, but on the other hand if I had to live in a spartan life tomorrow, I would be depressed, I think.   But maybe if the company is fabulous, it would just be a change, not depressing.

What I would really like is just to keep working until I die. Maybe not 100% but I have always been a worker. 

The few times I have ever been very sick or very emotionally unstable, the first thing I would ask my doctors is to "put me into shape to keep working".

I love me a long holiday, but I also love working. 

Maybe thats an idea about how to deal with retirement. I should investigate people who manage to continue to work past the mandatory age, and make plans so that could be possible for me.

[bear60]

One Tampa
I am retired but I HAD TO WAIT TO RETIRE UNTIL I WAS 67, due to poor planning.  So, work hard now to get set to retire


Joel

[OneTampa]

One Tampa
I am retired but I HAD TO WAIT TO RETIRE UNTIL I WAS 67, due to poor planning.  So, work hard now to get set to retire


Joel

Got it!  Thanks.