How to avoid running out of money in retirement...

[seriously]

gcvmom

you did not read the list carefully. (sniff)

item #2 was leech off our kids, this is true

however, as noted in items #6 and #7 this plan will not work for us as we have difficult child's

I figure that even if my difficult child's become financially successful, being difficult child's and about as egocentric as it is possible to be, they will not respond to "passive manipulation" or any other kind of manipulation or pleading or whatever.

On the bright side, we have not raised children who are co-dependent. :difficult child:

I am planning to start a dumpster survey of my area in the near future so that I am well prepared.

Do you suppose there is a fairy bag lady? What sort of wish do you suppose she would grant????

 

[gcvmom]

Hey, just because you have a difficult child does not preclude them from being able to be leeched upon! My husband has two VERY difficult child siblings (and he is one in his own right) who are contributing to their parents' retirement fantasy world. Their very difficult child-ness makes them prone to poor judgement calls in the first place!

And my humble apologies, you are right, I forgot about #2. That's what happens when I stay up until the wee hours watching old b&w movies (The Razor's Edge with Tyrone Power and Gene Tierny ) -- as "on" as your brain is today, mine is mush.

 

[gcvmom]

Fairy bag lady, hmmmm. Perhaps she'll grant you a cadillac shopping cart, complete with safety flag and reflectors with which to haul around your treasured finds. And a rusted-out oldsmobile to live in down at the wharfs. And an oil drum BBQ/space heater. If you're lucky.

I know those would be at the top of my list.

 

[seriously]

excellent point about the gfgness making them susceptible to guile and underhanded treatment from their parents.... do you suppose your in-laws learned these skills from their difficult child's??

i think that didn't come out with the wry and ironic twist it had in my head.

please apply wry and ironic twists when reading.

thank you.

 

[InsaneCdn]

What are you implying, Insane?!

Malika... just implying that Europeans are much more sophisticated, sensual and seductive... It might be something a European could pull off... but I don't know many North Americans who could...

Not that you would do something like that... just that "we" can't likely pull that one off!

 

[seriously]

speak for yourself Insane.

it's so darn cold up there in CA that I doubt anyone wears anything less than a parka even when they're inside in the summer. (bad joke OK??)

there are any number of us from California (the other CA where everyone wears bikini's year round and generally live a lacivious ) who could manage speedily seductive I'm pretty sure.

Not ME mind you.

Lumbering seductive maybe.

 

[InsaneCdn]

I plan to just croak.

On a similar "manic funny bone" note, heard on a morning radio show...they were discussing a "cure" for death. They said that even if they did come up with a "cure", insurance wouldn't cover it, cause it would be a pre-existing condition.

I plan on croaking too... but it would be nice to not run out of money before I do so... whether I actually get to retirement or not is another question.

 

[Malika]

Ok, ok, enough with the speedily seductive jokes already

 

[InsaneCdn]

it's so darn cold up there in CA that I doubt anyone wears anything less than a parka even when they're inside in the summer. (joke OK??)

(can't get them silly emoticons to work today... or I'd have pasted a rofl)

Seriously, now, seriously... are you talking about northern CA? or northern Canada? <joke>

Actually, come to think of it, the only time Canadians are rapidly seductive is when it January, -40 (and worse), howling winds, using wood in the furnace faster than you can chop it, and not enough heat off that to cook enough food to fuel the wood-chopper... its time to get rapidly seductive, 'cause the only cure is body heat.

 

[seriously]

ROFL

yes i can totally see that

 

[gcvmom]

Those manipulative difficult child skills are genetic. Inbred. Or was that the result of inbreeding? Whatever. They were BORN that way.

 

[Malika]

And whose fault is that, then?

 

[muttmeister]

I've had several funny emails suggesting that you should retire either on a cruise ship or at a resort motel. They are cheaper than a nursing home and the services are better. LOL

 

[donna723]

gvcmom, I think you've figured out the secret of the State of Tennessee retirement system! And lucky me, I get to participate in it! A few months before you plan to retire, the HR people take you to the more disreputable parts of downtown Nashville and let you choose which bridge you will spend your Golden Years living under because that's all you will be able to afford. And if you have at least thirty years of service, upon your retirement, they will present you with your very own recycled Kroger's grocery cart, plated in faux gold, to push your belongings around in!

 

[DDD]

Two things I wish I knew when I was younger.
1. Social security benefits are taxable. Bummer.
2. If you get divorced (and don't remarry) you can draw SS benefits from Ex's earnings.
DDD

 

[AnnieO]

Warning: The Surgeon General has determined that breathing is hazardous to your health.

And DDD? I found out that #2 is only true if you were married to them at least 10 years - AND - even if they HAVE remarried - there are certain circumstances in which you still can...

 

[DDD]

I forgot to insert the ten year rule. You're absolutely right. I didn't know that "back in the day" and my first marriage officially ended after nine years three hundred and sixty four days. Honestly, lol. DDD

 

[Malika]

That is terrible DDD! Are you being serious?! Can you write to the pope about this to get a papal bull?

 

[DammitJanet]

I know many elderly people who live together without marrying because one or the other gets more social security if they are not married. Either they draw off an ex-spouse who made more money or their own earnings alone give them more than the couple's benefit