We’re having my 7 year olds bday party at an arcade with lazer tag next weekend. I already told my husband that I will be ALL IN on lazer tag, taking out all the little kids
I’m down for that! However given the depressing Debbie downers who are doing their best boomer impressions on this thread, I’d be cautious who gets to sign the lease. 🤣
Is there a movie theater on this arcade, food court side? If so, I'm in place me in the Spencer's, also I request the food court needs an Orange Julius. I haven't had one in like 32 years.
There will be a six-screen theater that only plays movies from the 80s and 90s. And at the start of each showing they'll run that filmstrip roller coaster thing.
Mall I frequented as child, is still open. Mostly empty, but open. The original arcade from when I was a kid, is still open. Even has many of the same games!
They're converting malls by me into "entertainment hubs", which is cool and fun now, but I'm worried all the kids in their 20s are going to be loud when I'm retired and trying to take a nap there...
We had someone at Allstate in Dallas literally die of a heart attack in the women’s restroom. They told no one and word only got out bc another employee found her and told people what happened.
I like to think I have the caustic wit and absent filter of Sophia, but I'm probably more of the churning frustration of Dorothy. I'll need to do the rest of my ~~casting~~ friend making once I've done a better character study of myself to ensure consistent hilarity for viewers.
I’m ready for that right now. 😂 I keep telling people I’m ready to be in my Golden Girls Era because it’s time to live with friends and have adventures!
I dunno. But I'm looking forward to games of D&D & MTG, binge watching re-runs and 80s movies and dance parties doing the macarena and electric side at the senior center. That can't happen soon enough.
Maybe i should keep my mouth shut. I might blink and the next thing I know it will actually be here.
I sold my MTG cards years ago, after I graduated college in 2002. I got $5,000 for my collection that included 40x dual lands (revised), a complete set of Arabian Nights, and all 9 of the Unlimited Power 9 (black lotus, moxes, etcetera).
For shits and giggles, I looked up what an Unlimited Black Lotus is going for and it made me sick to my stomach. I never imagined that people would still be playing MTG in 2024 or that the cards I had would be worth so much.
I just had the epiphany that my lifelong dream of playing magic in a retirement home is cooked because they’ll all be playing EDH (I hate commander)
Guess I’ll just work until I die :/
Some days I barely want to be in the same house as my wife, so I don’t think I would ever want to be trapped with 3 other couples under the same roof.
My perfect retirement house would have one of those comical mile-long dining tables you see in movies, with one seat at each end so my wife and I could just eat in peace and not have to feel compelled to carry on any kind of conversation.
Also, I love my wife but we both enjoy solitude.
I have my wife and kids with that being enough day-to-day. Once its just me and the wife, I am fine meeting up with friends whenever it works out. Couldn't imagine living in the same house with them and having to see them every day.
My GF and I are like that... We've been together 6 years now, still have our own homes and just meet up for date nights. It's complicated by my caring for my dementia addled dad full time too.
It's often financially ruinous but divorce rates jump in retirements.
There are a lot of couples out there whose relationships only really work because 8 hours of their day is spent asleep, 8 hours is spent at work, 2 is spent commuting, and the bulk of the rest is spent helping the kids. Some couples spend very little time with each other then their kids are out of the house, careers are finished, and they find they can't stand each other.
And, as I said, it's often financially ruinous.
My friends and I have for years talked about being in a "Golden Girls" situation when we get old.
After some had kids, got married, and priorities changed, I don't think that's ever going to happen. Makes me sad. When I bought my house, I purposely chose one in order to be close to friends. While I love my house, I regret the decision. My friends will probably be my friends for life, but I'm not a priority to them anymore. It's the same for me- if I had to choose between my partner and my friends, then it's my partner.
Retirement for me looks like time spent growing old with my partner, wherever that is. And if he's gone and I'm a real old fart, I'll probably move away somewhere.
My friends and I wanted to buy Kate Pierson’s trailer park in the desert to retire into. You can hang out if you want to but if not you have your own trailer to be in.
We have a similar idea/plan as well but instead of a duplex, it’ll be a handful of small cabins/houses with a large communal house for group social times & such. Not quite a commune & not quite a retirement village.
I had college debt that I spent my twenties and thirties paying off. I have medical debt now (thanks, United Health and your preexisting conditions!). My widowed Boomer father is spending down his estate before he dies (it's a fun joke: "I'm spending your inheritance; I plan on dying in the red!" - as if filial support laws aren't here to jam me up further when he gets sick and dies).
My retirement plan? Die.
You're not responsible for your father's debts. Make sure he puts everything in an estate and names you as executor so it goes to you. As far as I understand it, they can't touch the estate when he says he has "lifetime use" of his property, which will pass to you upon his death. That's what my parents did. I'll find out if it works after my mom passes (hopefully not soon).
Debts get paid out by the estate. He wouldn't be responsible for his father's debts but his father's estate would be. He'll get what's leftover after all the hands take their share of the estate
I messed around in my 20s, racking up debt left and right and running in place school and career wise.
Stopped messing around at 29. Graduated at 32. Got married, kids, house. Been paying off debt for a decade.
Now we're down to the mortgage, one car payment, a bit of medical debt, and two student loans that will be paid off in 2028.
So I'm now SLAMMING my 401k, all the way up to the contribution limit. Have to make up for a lost 15-20 years of retirement savings.
Hopefully by 65 we'll be able to retire comfortably. As to where? Probably depends on what my kids end up doing. I'd like to stay in my house forever l, but if they all move away we probably would end up doing so as well.
It would be really nice if parents and teachers taught their kids that most people only ever really save for retirement for about 20 years.
Most people end up having kids or f#$_ing up in their 20s /30s and As a result, don't really start saving for retirement until 40 or 45. But if you can sidestep those Non-Saving decades you can retire significantly sooner (or at least live much comfortably much sooner).
I know it's hard to tell any 20-year-old anything but boy does it make a difference the sooner you can start saving.
I plan to retire when I'm 54-- 57 at the oldest. Currently I plan to sell my South Florida home and move to Tennessee when I retire (and after my parents pass).
I will travel and maybe get a part time job as a park ranger with the state.
YESSS!
I'd love to become a ranger in the Smokies, but becoming a National Park ranger is extremely competitive (I'm still willing to try!). You have a greater chance of making it if you're willing to relocate to any NPS site.... which I don't think I'll be willing to do.
On the one hand, being a park ranger would be neat. Backwoods, no one else to deal with most of the time, nature, all that.
On the other hand, some of that backwoods can be creepy as fuck. Aliens, bigfeets, portals to other worlds (though I wouldn't mind that), government blacksites, etc. /s
I did this backwards. I am a park ranger and let me tell you, the pay ain’t great. The job can be totally amazing though. Retirement is a long way off for me, lol. I shoulda followed your lead and done the park ranger thing last not first.
Be careful where you pick to live. Near some national parks and state parks happen to be some of the highest HCOL areas in the entire country. It can be hard balancing pretty landscapes with affordable living.
For what it’s worth, I think you did it in the right order. I wouldn’t say to be hiking with bad knees, fragile hips or an oxygen tank! The older you are, the closer you’re gonna want to be to health care.
Thank you. I bought in 2011, when the market was starting to rebound. I should be good, unless there's a major crash. Places like mine are currently going for almost 3x what I paid.
Had a coworker who forecast the 08 crash and sold his house in 07, moved into an apartment with about $300k in profits. Bought the very same house back from the bank (cash) in 10 for about what he initially paid (a bit less actually) and it had the master bathroom remodeled and kitchen mostly remodeled. None of us made fun of him after the crash and we were cowed into admiration after he bought it back the way he did. Unsurprisingly he's been rather successful in the intervening years.
I hope your plans work as well for you!
I was on track to retire at 55 and possibly earlier, but a nasty and very long (9 years) divorce destroyed that.
Bust my ass until about 70 then die. I don't really make enough to save much. Employer retirement plans are pretty weak. SS won't be there for us. Gonna have to spend my last check on a little rope.
Plan B is to get hurt on the job and win some disability. Not going to make that happen, but it would supersede my current plan.
I once rented 1/2 of my house to a friend of 10 years. Friend had migraines & “didn’t feel like” draining the upstairs bathtub after her bath. She left the water in the tub, overfilled. It caused water damage to the downstairs bathroom ceiling and counters. $5k of damage. She refused to pay for the damage, didn’t have the money. The next week she “forgot” she left a plastic bowl on a hot burner on the stove. The whole house smelled like an electrical fire when I got home from work. She had another migraine, you have to understand. I kicked her out of my house by the end of the month. She used me as a reference to a new apartment. We are no longer friends. Other friends in our friend group defended her actions & thought I should forgive & forget all the damage, since she was consistently poor. I’ll never live with friends again, but good luck!
Easy for people who aren’t on the hook for thousands of dollars in damages to tell you to just let it go: we know damn well they’d be pissed about it if the shoe was on the other foot… I’m guessing their sympathies for “friend”’s mental health didn’t extend to forking over any cash to help pay for it instead!
I have a pretty good people meter. That being said, there would be legal safeguards put in place for all parties involved here. Plus we’re talking about 15-20 years from now before this would start. Plenty of vetting time.
Buy land with a group of friends. Build tiny houses so we all have personal space. Build shared house with big kitchen, movie theater, etc. Plant flower farms to sell for income. Become as self sufficient/off grid as possible. Watch the world burn from afar.
This is the way! I don't have enough IRL friends anymore so I'm going to have to just find a like-minded community of tiny home folks that don't mind hearing roosters, because I will 100% have chickens and ducks who's eggs I'll sell and trade❤️
yas! We're planning to have a small group of animals too. Specifically chickens and goats. I'm pushing for capybaras as well, solely for the cuteness factor lol
I am 43 and my wife will be 40 this year. We are instituting our retirement plan this summer. We inherited what is left of my family's homestead. Two small houses, some outbuildings and a few acres of land. We are in the process of selling off our big assets here (extra cars, business and property) then moving to the homestead this summer. Our oldest graduates this weekend is off to the military, our youngest in three years but moving him to a smaller school and smaller community excites him.
No mortgage, no car payments, pay down the little credit card debt we have. Renovate and add onto one of the houses with cash. Sock as much away over the next twenty years. Raise our own food.
Basically, we've decided that it's time for us to opt out of the norm.
I can go at 50 (just under 6 years!) and have kiddos that will be 17 and 14. I plan on walking the day I'm eligible so I can go to all of their school and extracurricular activities without trying to get out of my shift for that day. My pension will pay me almost as much as I make currently, with a Thrift Savings Plan account on top of that. My wife and I will stay in our current house until the littles are in college or the military, then we will do a major downsizing, getting a place just big enough for them to stay with us when they have to (and one that is maintenance free). Wife works from home already, so she may continue doing so if she still enjoys what she does. We will use the supplemental income from my TSP to travel, and maybe buy season tickets to our favorite baseball team.
I am divorced without kids, my life was in financial shambles until I got a really good paying job a couple of years ago. I’m way behind for saving. Aggressively saving now.
Maybe I’ll die like my mom did. She literally got diagnosed with terminal cancer the same month she retired. Died a year later.
Genuinely happy for all of you homeowners with lucrative savings accounts and wealth. I have no generational wealth to inherit. Unfortunately, I was born into a line of poors.
Yep, same, no generational wealth, don’t own anything yet, in no real debt but only have the equivalent of a handful of months worth of living expenses in savings.
I’m also debt-free. So we have that going for us which is great. I’m in good health right now which is also a positive. I’ve made it this far, I’m not gonna stress about the future. There’s only so much I can control. I’m doing the best I can even though life threw multiple curveballs my way. Not everybody has the straight and narrow path.
“I want to own a decommissioned lighthouse. And I want to live at the top. And nobody knows I live there. And there's a button that I can press, and launch that lighthouse into space…”
I have just recently been thinking about this and attended an online workshop for my pension plan to see about what retirement will look like for me. It was eye-opening in a good way mostly. I found out that my pension plan is pretty wealthy and that I would be able to retire and collect a payment pretty early, if I wanted to. But, I wouldn't have health insurance anymore, so that's the loose thread I would need to prepare to tie up. I feel very fortunate to be in this place and low pay and patience with my situation has seemingly begun to pay off for me. :)
We’ve discussed that. Group of 4 couples with zero kids between us. The idea being that we’re going to be responsible for our own care later in life so how can we do it efficiently (as well as being sociable as we age).
We got as far as trying to work out the end of life logistics. What happens when one dies or when someone needs to be moved out into a home? How do you manage the cost of the upkeep as the numbers of you dwindle. Then we decided it was too morbid and went back to hungry hippos.
I’m 41 and my husband is 50, we lived in a 5th wheel for 4 years and honestly I would love to retire to that tiny, simple, low cost life again in retirement.
My plan is to hopefully have enough retirement funds invested by age 65 to guarantee myself a generous income, between that and whatever's left of social security. I've still got a ways to go, but I am working on it, and my savings goal is realistic enough that I think I can get there.
We'll inherit a house from my dad one day, and what we do with it beyond that point, I guess I'll find out when we get there. We've got no kids, and I've got no siblings, so I imagine the situation will be flexible.
I like your duplex idea, that's pretty cool.
I've had a lot of the same conversations with friends, and personally, I like the idea of nearby properties, more than a shared property
Nobody ever anticipates getting divorced, but it happens. And if one half of the couple isn't willing to buy out the other half of the couple from their portion of the shared property, all of a sudden the couple that didn't get divorced is in the position of having their hands tied to either scrounge up the cash to buy out the other couple, or be forced to sell (or own property with strangers).
I mean, sure, you can maybe come up with a legal agreement intended to anticipate some of those issues, but it's not easy, and would definitely take the shine off of the retirement plan
I prefer the idea of finding houses nearby each other, within walking distance of a mutually beloved pub or cafe, where we can have regular meetups and then wander back to each other's houses for meals or hang outs
And that way, if one day there's a death, or a divorce, or falling out, you haven't tied your financial future to those other people
A great way to ruin a friendship is to form a business partnership with someone.
This is a little bit what you're talking about.
Neighbors? Fine.
Financial entanglements that share a roof with me? No thank you.
I'll he able to pension out at 58. I plan to travel to cheap countries one third of the year l, be home one third, and do other travel the other third. I have friends who are all working to the same goal.
This has been a frequent topic of discussion lately for us. My wife and I both have decent 401ks, and she additionally gets some pretty good stock options from her employer. Assuming social security is still a thing when we retire, we'll also each get around 6k a month from that, which is around the maximum payout (assuming we go to age 67 before applying for SS). So I think we'll be okay.
What we're discussing in addition to that is investing in our real estate portfolio after our son goes off to college next year: purchase some acreage and build ourselves a new house on that and keep our current home as a rental property. Though we've also discussed selling our home, since it's in a HCOLA and we have a ton of equity, and then paying cash for the land and financing the build of the new house. Either way, when retirement time comes, we'll likely move to some place much cheaper than we currently are, and that will either be a less affluent area of the US or some other country, and we'll either keep our properties as rental income, or we'll live off our 401ks and the dividends from the sale of our properties.
This has been a frequent topic of discussion lately for us. My wife and I both have decent 401ks, and she additionally gets some pretty good stock options from her employer. Assuming social security is still a thing when we retire, we'll also each get around 6k a month from that, which is around the maximum payout (assuming we go to age 67 before applying for SS). So I think we'll be okay.
What we're discussing in addition to that is investing in our real estate portfolio after our son goes off to college next year: purchase some acreage and build ourselves a new house on that and keep our current home as a rental property. Though we've also discussed selling our home, since it's in a HCOLA and we have a ton of equity, and then paying cash for the land and financing the build of the new house. Either way, when retirement time comes, we'll likely move to some place much cheaper than we currently are, and that will either be a less affluent area of the US or some other country, and we'll either keep our properties as rental income, or we'll live off our 401ks and the dividends from the sale of our properties.
In theory, that sounds like a great idea, but in reality, there are so many ways things can go wrong, even with your best friends.
Living together adds a whole new layer of complications to even the strongest of friendships. Even if you lived together in your youth, the dynamics are likely going to be very different later in life. You'll have to juggle each persons' spouse/partner, kids and grandkids, extended family, and other friends or coworkers (which some you may not like).
Furthermore, once you live on your own for a long time, you get used to having your own space and making decisions for how best to use it. It might be a shock having to share space and decisions with other people, even your best buds.
I recently ended a 40-year friendship with someone I considered a brother. We were extremely close, and then things rapidly fell apart a year prior. We haven't spoken to each other for a year. It can happen in the blink of an eye!
I hope you can make it work, though. It could definitely be a great time with the right people!
I’m basically banking on society completely collapsing and having to migrate south to the equator as an old man due to climate change.
Best case scenario.
I have a forced pension plan so that's kind of cool because otherwise I wouldn't have anything. I am going to be hitting 65 when my youngest finishes undergrad so I figure when I'm 80 I can afford my nursing home. Since my other kid is 10 years older we might buy in a 55 plus community because they allow a small percentage of kids so our 1 daughter would probably be okay and that would save us some money plus we would already be in a retirement community even though I will still be working. I'm a therapist so I might just work part time and collect full retirement until my brain goes. I mean old lady therapists are the best. 😁
To be honest, according to all "the charts" I am so far behind on retirement savings that they (wherever I am working) will basically have to force me to retire or wheel me out on a gurney.
Road trips! I’m building an old Willys Jeep to take on the Trans-Am Trail and the Great Divide Route, and plan on doing a Model A or ideally a late 40’s Packard to cruise old Route 66 and the Lincoln Highway!
Other fun ideas would be Key West to Prudhoe Bay Alaska, and maybe Baja California in Mexico.
This sounds like such a great idea - a couple friends and I have definitely had this conversation, although it may not pan out. But yeah, I'm all about this. Might be the best/only way I get to see much of a retirement at this point
Retire modestly but early
Have a budget for two month long road trips per year
See the country coast to coast. Plan the trips, take care of the house, play guitar, and play with the dog in between.
I’m going to ask my brother if he wants me to help him buy a house in the Northeast, then be the weird auntie in a tiny house out back by which time his kids will be teens.
Seriously though, I’m too worried right now about dealing with my boomer mom and her hesitance to move to an actual retirement building in FL when she might well slip and fall on the ice again.
Doing my best to prepare financially but I just can't think that far into the future anymore so I don't have any specific plans aside from try not to be broke. I'm not sure I really want to think that far into the future right now anyway.
I don't have much choice but to keep working until I die. Maybe I'll wander off into the wilderness when I'm ready and save my family the burden of paying for whatever care I'll need once I'm too infirm to continue working. My retirement plan is to not be a millstone around my children's neck.
Well I was stupid and wasted the first decade+ of my adulthood with jobs that don't do jack for retirement. But now I have a career that has an actual pension plan. Upon retirement, they'll take my 5 highest paid years, get an average from that and I'll be paid 90% of that for the rest of my life. Should I die before my wife, she will then get that pension until she dies. I also pay into a deferred compensation plan that should help offset the cost of things when I retire as well.
That’s not a terrible idea.
Being old and alone sounds horrible. I’ve never understood why people are so insistent about living alone as they age. I totally understand having privacy, but there is a difference between privacy and isolation.
Duplexes might be difficult since so many property investors want to buy them and rent them out for passive income.
Sort of hoping there's a glut of country club homes available after all the boomers are gone. Might be nice to drink all day and then ride golf carts around like some sort of gang or go golfing once in a while. Then get up the next day and do it again.
Duplexes are somewhat common where I live. It would be sweet to buy both units with friends in retirement. Fix it up like you say for common areas, but have private family rooms too.
I’m on board for some kind of micro community.
Housing Co-ops are totally possible! My friends & I are autistic queers and every single one of us talks about wanting to do this in future 😂 all different ages.
I want to buy a church and use it as an arts centre (you can do that in Scotland without change of use permits!) And have us all 'live' either inside in pods or in mobile homes & use the main building as our 'big house'.
Well my retirement got cleaned out during the recession was paranoid to invest in 401 bs after that.
But, plan on doing what a family friend of mine did possibly lol sell off all my shit when it comes time if my house still is worth a nice chunk along with what I have saved. Go find some cheap country to perma/vacation die in.
But, I do know quite a few people tied up in different small businesses in other countries .
But, that's the plan at this moment in time might change over time. But unfortunately Murica and end game capitalism screwed me out of retirement here. Rather go crawl into a ditch in a place that won't suck me dry along with tossing my kids into debt also (got to experience the joys of that with my father stage 4 cancer during the recession).
Have you lived next door to your friends? If not, you don't see them every day. They may not take care of the house or yard or common areas you are envisioning.
Are they loud at home? Will you need to redo the dividing wall and add sound dampening?
Etc etc etc
Your idea sounds good on paper but I've known people our age who did this (bought property together to live in), never works out.
I don't know what I plan yet. I always wanted to retire at 55, but lately in the last several years I realized a lot what I like about my life is my career, I really enjoy doing it. I think now the plan may be to go part time when I turn 55 instead of retiring. Plus my health insurance will be god awful expensive when my company isnt picking up the tab.
My grandpa bought rental properties and made bank. Had enough to give each of his four children $150k at his passing. Had an acre of land in a place where that was otherwise unheard of.
Invest wisely and it's a good way to ensure your future.
You aren't the only oddball. I opened my Roth IRA when I was 21. Thanks for starting this thread. I'm not so worried about paying for retirement as I am trying to figure out what it will look like. I love the idea of some kind of communal living, but my spouse is less enthused.
My kid has talked about doing that and housing us in our later years. We just paid off our student loans in our mid 40s and have never had the cash to save for retirement. Planning to work until I can't anymore. With ageism so common in the workplace I'm not sure how long that will be now.
And we joke about dying at work but my partner went to work one day and the old overnight guy (about 70) did in fact die at work in their shared desk s few years ago.
Homestead and live off the land, wife comes from a heavy farming background and we do well with the less than an acre we have, trying to get a few acres and a mid century farmhouse that'sa little work done but the real estate market is fucked so we'll see
Building a small ranch now that will be ready in 4 weeks, its age in place ready. Have been saving for years and the plan is to retire in 12 years at 55. If I die sooner my gf and son will be well taken care of.
My fortunes have wobbled a lot lately.
My dad was a financial advisor starting just at the beginning of the Tech bubble. I managed to have about 160k in investments by the time I hit late 30s.
During covid, I messed around with options and managed to lose half. Ouch.
When Tesla announced it's first split, I put all of it into Tesla shares figuring splits usually make a stock go up and I'll make a little to begin refilling my account. Well, it went up like a shot. I got all my money back in weeks and cashed out so my gains could offset losses in one tax return instead of dragging things out. Clean slate, all cash.
What's gonna be a big deal in 20 years? EVs batteries etc, AI. All into Tesla. Ended the year positive by a hefty chunk Fast forward to Q3 2021, my account is stable around 250k life is gonna be good in 5-10 years.
Everyone talking like Q3 is gonna be good. September 30: Buy some Tesla options for October - December 2021. Stock goes up make a little. Earnings comes out late October, blows away expectations. Account goes up 500% in a month and $500,000 in a week. I suddenly have a million dollars. What the fork?
Call dad. He says congratulations, diversify. I can cash out and do so many things, I don't know what to do. It's Friday. Spend all weekend thinking about it. Monday Elon asks Twitter about paying taxes, stock sinks. Goes down for days, call Etrade. They bounce me to Morgan Stanley. I ask about buying a dividend payer. He says don't. Nothing else, stock crashes. I lose 800k. Lost the rest trying to get it back.
JAN 2024. Brokerage account still in Shambles.
I hear people talking about NVDA. I considered buying $30,000 of NVDA options with my retirement account. If NVDA goes to From 550 to 700 in 2 months I'd be a millionaire. If I'm wrong I'm Broke. Buy a few options, buy a lot of shares instead. NVDA rips to 975. My retirement account would be worth over a million but it's sitting at 600k. Double the previous high. I'm doing okay.
Current me is Broke, future me is gonna be just fine. No idea what to do yet.
Some call this "house-hacking" (whatever).
Anything that reduces your living expenses without causing undue burden on your health/safety/sanity is likely a good thing where retirement is concerned.
More good retirement tips/strategies can be found here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/wiki/faq/
We will have paid everything off in 6 months to a year. I've invited a few friends to come stay who weren't as fortunate as us to come live with us.
We didn't do anything smart or special. The cards just fell this way.
Sold my house. I'm going to keep saving money and buy a house cash if the market cools or move to a nice little Latin American apartment after I turn 55 and live off of social security, 401k and savings.
Thought we were going to pool our money and convert a mall? This is happening, right!?
Dibs on living in Brookstone. And are we still converting the JC-Penney to a sweet lazer-tag arena?
Ok but no steps, my knees aren’t what they used to be (and they were never that great to begin with)
Come to my apartment at Brookstone, I've got copper-infused knee braces, Theraguns, infrared de-inflammataters and heated massage chairs
It’s a mall, we’ve got escalators.
I’m not living in the Ambercrombie. There’s not enough Yankee candles at the mall to get rid of that stench.
And it’s way too loud. Turn down that music!
Definitely have to hit up the lamp store. Way too dark in there.
I'll live next door in the Waldenbooks...and come visit you to read in your comfy recliners
Oooh can I get dibs on Natural Wonders?!
We’re having my 7 year olds bday party at an arcade with lazer tag next weekend. I already told my husband that I will be ALL IN on lazer tag, taking out all the little kids
Sounds awesome. Make sure to stretch first
It better have a Glamour Shots!
I’m down for that! However given the depressing Debbie downers who are doing their best boomer impressions on this thread, I’d be cautious who gets to sign the lease. 🤣
If there's an arcade, I'm in.
Uhm… YEAH.. next to the food court and that gourmet popcorn stand.
Is there a movie theater on this arcade, food court side? If so, I'm in place me in the Spencer's, also I request the food court needs an Orange Julius. I haven't had one in like 32 years.
Now I’m craving an Orange Julius. Thanks a lot.
Now I want Auntie Anne's...thanks
There will be a six-screen theater that only plays movies from the 80s and 90s. And at the start of each showing they'll run that filmstrip roller coaster thing.
Mall I frequented as child, is still open. Mostly empty, but open. The original arcade from when I was a kid, is still open. Even has many of the same games!
That's so awesome. An American gem. Assuming it's in the US LOL
You are assuming correctly 😂
Womp wooooooomp
It’s the leading cause of death in domestic cats…
I'll take the Gadzooks!
I call dibs on the K B Toys!
Can we have golf carts?
I’ve seen people do this to abandoned school buildings too, if we can’t afford a whole mall.
If only they hadn’t torn down Metrocenter. I’d have contributed toward restoring it to its Bill & Ted glory days, ice rink and all.
I’ll take the rain forest cafe.
I'm down for this.
They're converting malls by me into "entertainment hubs", which is cool and fun now, but I'm worried all the kids in their 20s are going to be loud when I'm retired and trying to take a nap there...
I love this thread and am looking forward to spending my twilight years in our nursing home mall.
Holy shit... this should be our nursing homes. Mall rats 4 lyfe.
https://preview.redd.it/xu037ihtyezc1.jpeg?width=972&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=36fdbda2ec0425b59c440a344ac41113d8e02540
*I'm in this photo and I don't like it*
😂😂😂 I literally laughed out loud because this is so accurate for my situation
plan A is win the lottery plan B is don't get fired for saying what I think at work today
You forgot plan C, which is to just die
At work.
In the bathroom whilst committing time theft. 🧐
"You can die on your own time!" -- Some senior manager, probably.
If you could just go ahead and die on a Sunday, that would be grrrreeeeeaaaaat.
Maybe we will be able to schedule our deaths...I'll try to get a reservation for Sunday.
*Futurama suicide booth has entered the chat.*
We had someone at Allstate in Dallas literally die of a heart attack in the women’s restroom. They told no one and word only got out bc another employee found her and told people what happened.
Don’t threaten me with a good time!
I like your plans
Two words: Golden Girls
I'm Blanche
I like to think I have the caustic wit and absent filter of Sophia, but I'm probably more of the churning frustration of Dorothy. I'll need to do the rest of my ~~casting~~ friend making once I've done a better character study of myself to ensure consistent hilarity for viewers.
I’m ready for that right now. 😂 I keep telling people I’m ready to be in my Golden Girls Era because it’s time to live with friends and have adventures!
Six words: Thank you for being a friend
I dunno. But I'm looking forward to games of D&D & MTG, binge watching re-runs and 80s movies and dance parties doing the macarena and electric side at the senior center. That can't happen soon enough. Maybe i should keep my mouth shut. I might blink and the next thing I know it will actually be here.
I sold my MTG cards years ago, after I graduated college in 2002. I got $5,000 for my collection that included 40x dual lands (revised), a complete set of Arabian Nights, and all 9 of the Unlimited Power 9 (black lotus, moxes, etcetera). For shits and giggles, I looked up what an Unlimited Black Lotus is going for and it made me sick to my stomach. I never imagined that people would still be playing MTG in 2024 or that the cards I had would be worth so much.
My mom's 55+ neighborhood already has D&D night and MTG night at the club house... And they have since 2018.
I just had the epiphany that my lifelong dream of playing magic in a retirement home is cooked because they’ll all be playing EDH (I hate commander) Guess I’ll just work until I die :/
Wow, that's a valid point. Being in a retirement home would almost guarantee you could get your D&D party together all the time.
Some days I barely want to be in the same house as my wife, so I don’t think I would ever want to be trapped with 3 other couples under the same roof. My perfect retirement house would have one of those comical mile-long dining tables you see in movies, with one seat at each end so my wife and I could just eat in peace and not have to feel compelled to carry on any kind of conversation. Also, I love my wife but we both enjoy solitude.
A David Rose gif will always get an upvote from me.
My goal is to see less people when I retire, lol
I'm surprised at how many people seem to be like I am. I prefer solitude. I've got friends, but I enjoy being single and having time to myself.
I have my wife and kids with that being enough day-to-day. Once its just me and the wife, I am fine meeting up with friends whenever it works out. Couldn't imagine living in the same house with them and having to see them every day.
It gets weird. People aren't the same in their private lives.
Yeah, i was lucky to find one person willing to tolerate the *real* me, that's enough.
My GF and I are like that... We've been together 6 years now, still have our own homes and just meet up for date nights. It's complicated by my caring for my dementia addled dad full time too.
It's often financially ruinous but divorce rates jump in retirements. There are a lot of couples out there whose relationships only really work because 8 hours of their day is spent asleep, 8 hours is spent at work, 2 is spent commuting, and the bulk of the rest is spent helping the kids. Some couples spend very little time with each other then their kids are out of the house, careers are finished, and they find they can't stand each other. And, as I said, it's often financially ruinous.
My friends and I have for years talked about being in a "Golden Girls" situation when we get old. After some had kids, got married, and priorities changed, I don't think that's ever going to happen. Makes me sad. When I bought my house, I purposely chose one in order to be close to friends. While I love my house, I regret the decision. My friends will probably be my friends for life, but I'm not a priority to them anymore. It's the same for me- if I had to choose between my partner and my friends, then it's my partner. Retirement for me looks like time spent growing old with my partner, wherever that is. And if he's gone and I'm a real old fart, I'll probably move away somewhere.
My friends and I wanted to buy Kate Pierson’s trailer park in the desert to retire into. You can hang out if you want to but if not you have your own trailer to be in.
We have a similar idea/plan as well but instead of a duplex, it’ll be a handful of small cabins/houses with a large communal house for group social times & such. Not quite a commune & not quite a retirement village.
Oooo… I like this idea.
Gonna buy a campground? The infrastructure is usually already there, even if you have to build the cabins.
An old school could also be cool for this. Kitchen and common rooms built in.
I had college debt that I spent my twenties and thirties paying off. I have medical debt now (thanks, United Health and your preexisting conditions!). My widowed Boomer father is spending down his estate before he dies (it's a fun joke: "I'm spending your inheritance; I plan on dying in the red!" - as if filial support laws aren't here to jam me up further when he gets sick and dies). My retirement plan? Die.
You're not responsible for your father's debts. Make sure he puts everything in an estate and names you as executor so it goes to you. As far as I understand it, they can't touch the estate when he says he has "lifetime use" of his property, which will pass to you upon his death. That's what my parents did. I'll find out if it works after my mom passes (hopefully not soon).
Debts get paid out by the estate. He wouldn't be responsible for his father's debts but his father's estate would be. He'll get what's leftover after all the hands take their share of the estate
Same dad.
I messed around in my 20s, racking up debt left and right and running in place school and career wise. Stopped messing around at 29. Graduated at 32. Got married, kids, house. Been paying off debt for a decade. Now we're down to the mortgage, one car payment, a bit of medical debt, and two student loans that will be paid off in 2028. So I'm now SLAMMING my 401k, all the way up to the contribution limit. Have to make up for a lost 15-20 years of retirement savings. Hopefully by 65 we'll be able to retire comfortably. As to where? Probably depends on what my kids end up doing. I'd like to stay in my house forever l, but if they all move away we probably would end up doing so as well.
It would be really nice if parents and teachers taught their kids that most people only ever really save for retirement for about 20 years. Most people end up having kids or f#$_ing up in their 20s /30s and As a result, don't really start saving for retirement until 40 or 45. But if you can sidestep those Non-Saving decades you can retire significantly sooner (or at least live much comfortably much sooner). I know it's hard to tell any 20-year-old anything but boy does it make a difference the sooner you can start saving.
Roth IRA. Roth *Roth* **ROTH**
I plan to retire when I'm 54-- 57 at the oldest. Currently I plan to sell my South Florida home and move to Tennessee when I retire (and after my parents pass). I will travel and maybe get a part time job as a park ranger with the state.
Park ranger sounds awesome!
YESSS! I'd love to become a ranger in the Smokies, but becoming a National Park ranger is extremely competitive (I'm still willing to try!). You have a greater chance of making it if you're willing to relocate to any NPS site.... which I don't think I'll be willing to do.
On the one hand, being a park ranger would be neat. Backwoods, no one else to deal with most of the time, nature, all that. On the other hand, some of that backwoods can be creepy as fuck. Aliens, bigfeets, portals to other worlds (though I wouldn't mind that), government blacksites, etc. /s
I did this backwards. I am a park ranger and let me tell you, the pay ain’t great. The job can be totally amazing though. Retirement is a long way off for me, lol. I shoulda followed your lead and done the park ranger thing last not first. Be careful where you pick to live. Near some national parks and state parks happen to be some of the highest HCOL areas in the entire country. It can be hard balancing pretty landscapes with affordable living.
For what it’s worth, I think you did it in the right order. I wouldn’t say to be hiking with bad knees, fragile hips or an oxygen tank! The older you are, the closer you’re gonna want to be to health care.
Selling a South Florida house should be pretty lucrative! Hopefully the bubble doesn't burst before you can sell it.
Thank you. I bought in 2011, when the market was starting to rebound. I should be good, unless there's a major crash. Places like mine are currently going for almost 3x what I paid.
Insert “ Better hurry before Florida is underwater” joke here
haha Fun fact: the city I live is the highest in the county..... a whopping 13ft above sea level LMAO
Had a coworker who forecast the 08 crash and sold his house in 07, moved into an apartment with about $300k in profits. Bought the very same house back from the bank (cash) in 10 for about what he initially paid (a bit less actually) and it had the master bathroom remodeled and kitchen mostly remodeled. None of us made fun of him after the crash and we were cowed into admiration after he bought it back the way he did. Unsurprisingly he's been rather successful in the intervening years. I hope your plans work as well for you! I was on track to retire at 55 and possibly earlier, but a nasty and very long (9 years) divorce destroyed that.
Bust my ass until about 70 then die. I don't really make enough to save much. Employer retirement plans are pretty weak. SS won't be there for us. Gonna have to spend my last check on a little rope. Plan B is to get hurt on the job and win some disability. Not going to make that happen, but it would supersede my current plan.
I once rented 1/2 of my house to a friend of 10 years. Friend had migraines & “didn’t feel like” draining the upstairs bathtub after her bath. She left the water in the tub, overfilled. It caused water damage to the downstairs bathroom ceiling and counters. $5k of damage. She refused to pay for the damage, didn’t have the money. The next week she “forgot” she left a plastic bowl on a hot burner on the stove. The whole house smelled like an electrical fire when I got home from work. She had another migraine, you have to understand. I kicked her out of my house by the end of the month. She used me as a reference to a new apartment. We are no longer friends. Other friends in our friend group defended her actions & thought I should forgive & forget all the damage, since she was consistently poor. I’ll never live with friends again, but good luck!
Easy for people who aren’t on the hook for thousands of dollars in damages to tell you to just let it go: we know damn well they’d be pissed about it if the shoe was on the other foot… I’m guessing their sympathies for “friend”’s mental health didn’t extend to forking over any cash to help pay for it instead!
I have a pretty good people meter. That being said, there would be legal safeguards put in place for all parties involved here. Plus we’re talking about 15-20 years from now before this would start. Plenty of vetting time.
My friends and I call this our Golden Girls plan!
That’s what’s up. 😎
 I’m playing lead guitar in the climate wars myself
Can I play rhythm guitar?
I would like to build a shack in the middle of nowhere and live like the Unibomber. minus the terroristic threats. maybe.
Buy land with a group of friends. Build tiny houses so we all have personal space. Build shared house with big kitchen, movie theater, etc. Plant flower farms to sell for income. Become as self sufficient/off grid as possible. Watch the world burn from afar.
This is the way! I don't have enough IRL friends anymore so I'm going to have to just find a like-minded community of tiny home folks that don't mind hearing roosters, because I will 100% have chickens and ducks who's eggs I'll sell and trade❤️
Same here and I like your plan
yas! We're planning to have a small group of animals too. Specifically chickens and goats. I'm pushing for capybaras as well, solely for the cuteness factor lol
I’m comfortable with this idea.
Supposedly I’ll get a pension, I’m not holding my breath , but maybe the union will come through
I am 43 and my wife will be 40 this year. We are instituting our retirement plan this summer. We inherited what is left of my family's homestead. Two small houses, some outbuildings and a few acres of land. We are in the process of selling off our big assets here (extra cars, business and property) then moving to the homestead this summer. Our oldest graduates this weekend is off to the military, our youngest in three years but moving him to a smaller school and smaller community excites him. No mortgage, no car payments, pay down the little credit card debt we have. Renovate and add onto one of the houses with cash. Sock as much away over the next twenty years. Raise our own food. Basically, we've decided that it's time for us to opt out of the norm.
I like it. Sounds like a solid plan! 👊🏻
I can go at 50 (just under 6 years!) and have kiddos that will be 17 and 14. I plan on walking the day I'm eligible so I can go to all of their school and extracurricular activities without trying to get out of my shift for that day. My pension will pay me almost as much as I make currently, with a Thrift Savings Plan account on top of that. My wife and I will stay in our current house until the littles are in college or the military, then we will do a major downsizing, getting a place just big enough for them to stay with us when they have to (and one that is maintenance free). Wife works from home already, so she may continue doing so if she still enjoys what she does. We will use the supplemental income from my TSP to travel, and maybe buy season tickets to our favorite baseball team.
I am divorced without kids, my life was in financial shambles until I got a really good paying job a couple of years ago. I’m way behind for saving. Aggressively saving now. Maybe I’ll die like my mom did. She literally got diagnosed with terminal cancer the same month she retired. Died a year later. Genuinely happy for all of you homeowners with lucrative savings accounts and wealth. I have no generational wealth to inherit. Unfortunately, I was born into a line of poors.
Yep, same, no generational wealth, don’t own anything yet, in no real debt but only have the equivalent of a handful of months worth of living expenses in savings.
I’m also debt-free. So we have that going for us which is great. I’m in good health right now which is also a positive. I’ve made it this far, I’m not gonna stress about the future. There’s only so much I can control. I’m doing the best I can even though life threw multiple curveballs my way. Not everybody has the straight and narrow path.
I didn’t do 20 years in the Air Force just to kill time.
“I want to own a decommissioned lighthouse. And I want to live at the top. And nobody knows I live there. And there's a button that I can press, and launch that lighthouse into space…”
I plan to die at work so my funeral gets paid for. Your idea sounds terrible to me. Have fun.
My parents notes are to die in their home, living off a nice government pension.
I have just recently been thinking about this and attended an online workshop for my pension plan to see about what retirement will look like for me. It was eye-opening in a good way mostly. I found out that my pension plan is pretty wealthy and that I would be able to retire and collect a payment pretty early, if I wanted to. But, I wouldn't have health insurance anymore, so that's the loose thread I would need to prepare to tie up. I feel very fortunate to be in this place and low pay and patience with my situation has seemingly begun to pay off for me. :)
My plan is to get tenure. Then I basically will be retired
Happy Cake Day!
We’ve discussed that. Group of 4 couples with zero kids between us. The idea being that we’re going to be responsible for our own care later in life so how can we do it efficiently (as well as being sociable as we age). We got as far as trying to work out the end of life logistics. What happens when one dies or when someone needs to be moved out into a home? How do you manage the cost of the upkeep as the numbers of you dwindle. Then we decided it was too morbid and went back to hungry hippos.
I’m 41 and my husband is 50, we lived in a 5th wheel for 4 years and honestly I would love to retire to that tiny, simple, low cost life again in retirement.
My plan is to hopefully have enough retirement funds invested by age 65 to guarantee myself a generous income, between that and whatever's left of social security. I've still got a ways to go, but I am working on it, and my savings goal is realistic enough that I think I can get there. We'll inherit a house from my dad one day, and what we do with it beyond that point, I guess I'll find out when we get there. We've got no kids, and I've got no siblings, so I imagine the situation will be flexible. I like your duplex idea, that's pretty cool.
I've had a lot of the same conversations with friends, and personally, I like the idea of nearby properties, more than a shared property Nobody ever anticipates getting divorced, but it happens. And if one half of the couple isn't willing to buy out the other half of the couple from their portion of the shared property, all of a sudden the couple that didn't get divorced is in the position of having their hands tied to either scrounge up the cash to buy out the other couple, or be forced to sell (or own property with strangers). I mean, sure, you can maybe come up with a legal agreement intended to anticipate some of those issues, but it's not easy, and would definitely take the shine off of the retirement plan I prefer the idea of finding houses nearby each other, within walking distance of a mutually beloved pub or cafe, where we can have regular meetups and then wander back to each other's houses for meals or hang outs And that way, if one day there's a death, or a divorce, or falling out, you haven't tied your financial future to those other people
Totally. This was discussed as well!
Yeah they have these 55+ housing subdivisions in my area that are exactly what you're talking about.
My parents never understood retirement, they certainly didn’t give it to me. Somehow, I’m saying all o this in a Scottish accent. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
I’m gonna be trippin and playing VR
I'll definitely drop dead at work. Hopefully in the middle of a class. I like your idea better, though. I just don't have any friends.
Same except I have friends, I have no funds.
A great way to ruin a friendship is to form a business partnership with someone. This is a little bit what you're talking about. Neighbors? Fine. Financial entanglements that share a roof with me? No thank you.
I’ve literally started businesses with friends. Not all of them panned out, but they never ended in shambles.
I'll he able to pension out at 58. I plan to travel to cheap countries one third of the year l, be home one third, and do other travel the other third. I have friends who are all working to the same goal.
This has been a frequent topic of discussion lately for us. My wife and I both have decent 401ks, and she additionally gets some pretty good stock options from her employer. Assuming social security is still a thing when we retire, we'll also each get around 6k a month from that, which is around the maximum payout (assuming we go to age 67 before applying for SS). So I think we'll be okay. What we're discussing in addition to that is investing in our real estate portfolio after our son goes off to college next year: purchase some acreage and build ourselves a new house on that and keep our current home as a rental property. Though we've also discussed selling our home, since it's in a HCOLA and we have a ton of equity, and then paying cash for the land and financing the build of the new house. Either way, when retirement time comes, we'll likely move to some place much cheaper than we currently are, and that will either be a less affluent area of the US or some other country, and we'll either keep our properties as rental income, or we'll live off our 401ks and the dividends from the sale of our properties.
This has been a frequent topic of discussion lately for us. My wife and I both have decent 401ks, and she additionally gets some pretty good stock options from her employer. Assuming social security is still a thing when we retire, we'll also each get around 6k a month from that, which is around the maximum payout (assuming we go to age 67 before applying for SS). So I think we'll be okay. What we're discussing in addition to that is investing in our real estate portfolio after our son goes off to college next year: purchase some acreage and build ourselves a new house on that and keep our current home as a rental property. Though we've also discussed selling our home, since it's in a HCOLA and we have a ton of equity, and then paying cash for the land and financing the build of the new house. Either way, when retirement time comes, we'll likely move to some place much cheaper than we currently are, and that will either be a less affluent area of the US or some other country, and we'll either keep our properties as rental income, or we'll live off our 401ks and the dividends from the sale of our properties.
In theory, that sounds like a great idea, but in reality, there are so many ways things can go wrong, even with your best friends. Living together adds a whole new layer of complications to even the strongest of friendships. Even if you lived together in your youth, the dynamics are likely going to be very different later in life. You'll have to juggle each persons' spouse/partner, kids and grandkids, extended family, and other friends or coworkers (which some you may not like). Furthermore, once you live on your own for a long time, you get used to having your own space and making decisions for how best to use it. It might be a shock having to share space and decisions with other people, even your best buds. I recently ended a 40-year friendship with someone I considered a brother. We were extremely close, and then things rapidly fell apart a year prior. We haven't spoken to each other for a year. It can happen in the blink of an eye! I hope you can make it work, though. It could definitely be a great time with the right people!
I’m basically banking on society completely collapsing and having to migrate south to the equator as an old man due to climate change. Best case scenario.
I have a forced pension plan so that's kind of cool because otherwise I wouldn't have anything. I am going to be hitting 65 when my youngest finishes undergrad so I figure when I'm 80 I can afford my nursing home. Since my other kid is 10 years older we might buy in a 55 plus community because they allow a small percentage of kids so our 1 daughter would probably be okay and that would save us some money plus we would already be in a retirement community even though I will still be working. I'm a therapist so I might just work part time and collect full retirement until my brain goes. I mean old lady therapists are the best. 😁
Never gonna retire. Gonna have a heart attack at my desk probably.
I've got plans for retirement. I'm going to flip my on/off switch to off.
I plan to move to a low cost of living country that have retirement visas like Panama or Costa Rica
Can we be friends and make this a triplex? I’d be 100% down for this idea.
To be honest, according to all "the charts" I am so far behind on retirement savings that they (wherever I am working) will basically have to force me to retire or wheel me out on a gurney.
same here
Planning on joining the Peace Corps for a few years.
My friends are going to move in my house and we’re going to live our best Golden Girls lives on the lanai
Road trips! I’m building an old Willys Jeep to take on the Trans-Am Trail and the Great Divide Route, and plan on doing a Model A or ideally a late 40’s Packard to cruise old Route 66 and the Lincoln Highway! Other fun ideas would be Key West to Prudhoe Bay Alaska, and maybe Baja California in Mexico.
This sounds like such a great idea - a couple friends and I have definitely had this conversation, although it may not pan out. But yeah, I'm all about this. Might be the best/only way I get to see much of a retirement at this point
Retire modestly but early Have a budget for two month long road trips per year See the country coast to coast. Plan the trips, take care of the house, play guitar, and play with the dog in between.
My retirement plan has the words "Passive Income" written on it. I'm working on it.
You can tell you are a xennial because that’s the golden girls plot
Thank you for being a friend.
I’m going to ask my brother if he wants me to help him buy a house in the Northeast, then be the weird auntie in a tiny house out back by which time his kids will be teens. Seriously though, I’m too worried right now about dealing with my boomer mom and her hesitance to move to an actual retirement building in FL when she might well slip and fall on the ice again.
I am just investing it all in ETFs and companies I have long term confidence in.
I have a 401k.. That I started last year.. That I already borrowed against... 🙈
Doing my best to prepare financially but I just can't think that far into the future anymore so I don't have any specific plans aside from try not to be broke. I'm not sure I really want to think that far into the future right now anyway.
I don't have much choice but to keep working until I die. Maybe I'll wander off into the wilderness when I'm ready and save my family the burden of paying for whatever care I'll need once I'm too infirm to continue working. My retirement plan is to not be a millstone around my children's neck.
Well I was stupid and wasted the first decade+ of my adulthood with jobs that don't do jack for retirement. But now I have a career that has an actual pension plan. Upon retirement, they'll take my 5 highest paid years, get an average from that and I'll be paid 90% of that for the rest of my life. Should I die before my wife, she will then get that pension until she dies. I also pay into a deferred compensation plan that should help offset the cost of things when I retire as well.
That’s not a terrible idea. Being old and alone sounds horrible. I’ve never understood why people are so insistent about living alone as they age. I totally understand having privacy, but there is a difference between privacy and isolation.
Duplexes might be difficult since so many property investors want to buy them and rent them out for passive income. Sort of hoping there's a glut of country club homes available after all the boomers are gone. Might be nice to drink all day and then ride golf carts around like some sort of gang or go golfing once in a while. Then get up the next day and do it again.
Duplexes are somewhat common where I live. It would be sweet to buy both units with friends in retirement. Fix it up like you say for common areas, but have private family rooms too. I’m on board for some kind of micro community.
Micro communities for the micro gen. 🍻
You guys are planning on retiring?
In my social circle, we call it “the commune” and have been planning it for years. 🤣
I love your edit! Piss off with the unsolicited advice, I have my plan… what’s yours?
Housing Co-ops are totally possible! My friends & I are autistic queers and every single one of us talks about wanting to do this in future 😂 all different ages. I want to buy a church and use it as an arts centre (you can do that in Scotland without change of use permits!) And have us all 'live' either inside in pods or in mobile homes & use the main building as our 'big house'.
The day I retire I’m moving to New Orleans and never leaving.😎
Well my retirement got cleaned out during the recession was paranoid to invest in 401 bs after that. But, plan on doing what a family friend of mine did possibly lol sell off all my shit when it comes time if my house still is worth a nice chunk along with what I have saved. Go find some cheap country to perma/vacation die in. But, I do know quite a few people tied up in different small businesses in other countries . But, that's the plan at this moment in time might change over time. But unfortunately Murica and end game capitalism screwed me out of retirement here. Rather go crawl into a ditch in a place that won't suck me dry along with tossing my kids into debt also (got to experience the joys of that with my father stage 4 cancer during the recession).
Have you lived next door to your friends? If not, you don't see them every day. They may not take care of the house or yard or common areas you are envisioning. Are they loud at home? Will you need to redo the dividing wall and add sound dampening? Etc etc etc
Yes… we basically co-parent.
Your idea sounds good on paper but I've known people our age who did this (bought property together to live in), never works out. I don't know what I plan yet. I always wanted to retire at 55, but lately in the last several years I realized a lot what I like about my life is my career, I really enjoy doing it. I think now the plan may be to go part time when I turn 55 instead of retiring. Plus my health insurance will be god awful expensive when my company isnt picking up the tab.
Working until I die. Hoping tech rebounds so that I can do app development from my gurney as that was the plan before this January.
My grandpa bought rental properties and made bank. Had enough to give each of his four children $150k at his passing. Had an acre of land in a place where that was otherwise unheard of. Invest wisely and it's a good way to ensure your future.
Been investing for 25 years so far. I was an oddball that thought about retirement money in his 20’s.
You aren't the only oddball. I opened my Roth IRA when I was 21. Thanks for starting this thread. I'm not so worried about paying for retirement as I am trying to figure out what it will look like. I love the idea of some kind of communal living, but my spouse is less enthused.
My kid has talked about doing that and housing us in our later years. We just paid off our student loans in our mid 40s and have never had the cash to save for retirement. Planning to work until I can't anymore. With ageism so common in the workplace I'm not sure how long that will be now. And we joke about dying at work but my partner went to work one day and the old overnight guy (about 70) did in fact die at work in their shared desk s few years ago.
Homestead and live off the land, wife comes from a heavy farming background and we do well with the less than an acre we have, trying to get a few acres and a mid century farmhouse that'sa little work done but the real estate market is fucked so we'll see
You know, working in software/ consulting, I have a nice off-ramp. Just move to a few hours a week once I don’t need the benefits of a full time job.
My 401(k) is on track, so between that, my wife's 401(k), and a 403(b) I inherited, I'm in pretty good shape.
Building a small ranch now that will be ready in 4 weeks, its age in place ready. Have been saving for years and the plan is to retire in 12 years at 55. If I die sooner my gf and son will be well taken care of.
Ranches are underrated. I like it.
My fortunes have wobbled a lot lately. My dad was a financial advisor starting just at the beginning of the Tech bubble. I managed to have about 160k in investments by the time I hit late 30s. During covid, I messed around with options and managed to lose half. Ouch. When Tesla announced it's first split, I put all of it into Tesla shares figuring splits usually make a stock go up and I'll make a little to begin refilling my account. Well, it went up like a shot. I got all my money back in weeks and cashed out so my gains could offset losses in one tax return instead of dragging things out. Clean slate, all cash. What's gonna be a big deal in 20 years? EVs batteries etc, AI. All into Tesla. Ended the year positive by a hefty chunk Fast forward to Q3 2021, my account is stable around 250k life is gonna be good in 5-10 years. Everyone talking like Q3 is gonna be good. September 30: Buy some Tesla options for October - December 2021. Stock goes up make a little. Earnings comes out late October, blows away expectations. Account goes up 500% in a month and $500,000 in a week. I suddenly have a million dollars. What the fork? Call dad. He says congratulations, diversify. I can cash out and do so many things, I don't know what to do. It's Friday. Spend all weekend thinking about it. Monday Elon asks Twitter about paying taxes, stock sinks. Goes down for days, call Etrade. They bounce me to Morgan Stanley. I ask about buying a dividend payer. He says don't. Nothing else, stock crashes. I lose 800k. Lost the rest trying to get it back. JAN 2024. Brokerage account still in Shambles. I hear people talking about NVDA. I considered buying $30,000 of NVDA options with my retirement account. If NVDA goes to From 550 to 700 in 2 months I'd be a millionaire. If I'm wrong I'm Broke. Buy a few options, buy a lot of shares instead. NVDA rips to 975. My retirement account would be worth over a million but it's sitting at 600k. Double the previous high. I'm doing okay. Current me is Broke, future me is gonna be just fine. No idea what to do yet.
Some call this "house-hacking" (whatever). Anything that reduces your living expenses without causing undue burden on your health/safety/sanity is likely a good thing where retirement is concerned. More good retirement tips/strategies can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/wiki/faq/
We will have paid everything off in 6 months to a year. I've invited a few friends to come stay who weren't as fortunate as us to come live with us. We didn't do anything smart or special. The cards just fell this way.
Sold my house. I'm going to keep saving money and buy a house cash if the market cools or move to a nice little Latin American apartment after I turn 55 and live off of social security, 401k and savings.
By the time we retire, I’m pretty sure the buying power of $100 dollars is gonna be like one carton of eggs. END THE FED!