Will your Golden Retirement Days really be that golden?

So far so good on both fronts.

HA! Not. At. All.

Finances should be ok. Health? Trying to predict that one would be like being blindfolded, spun around in a weightless sphere, and then being told to find a needle, using only your sense of smell.

I can’t gauge my life by how much money I will have until the end.I will never retire,nor will I ever die.XD

I really don’t see myself retiring. Slowing down, yes…I just don’t really see the point of “retirement.”

I am the grasshopper.

Maybe it will be golden for me, I have recently decided to forget about pension programs, and instead plan on investing in gold bullion. I figure I need to save up 3 kilos of the stuff in the next 30 years or so.

As for health, Im not the most healthy person on the planet, I dont drink but I do smoke. so I guess ill be average in that regard. I did used to be very healthy, training up to 7 days a week in my teens at both karate and the gym, then i quit for a couple of years, then I went back, at the moment I have not trained at all in about 2–3 years, but am thinking about going back, after a couple years of training ill probably stop again for a while. so on an off training until I get too old. as for healthcare, we have free healthcare here in spain so thats no problem.

“Most people in their Golden Age complain that they cannot see, cannot pee, cannot hear, cannot drink beer.”
They say that? Wow; I don’t have any of those problems. I know by 80 my dad could relate, but he never wore a hearing aid and my mother read with thick glasses; that’s it.
But by then she had a big stroke. I’d be much more concerned with major health problems like strokes and heart attacks. So if your criteria for “golden” are the problems you listed, I’m golden.
And until 80, so were my parents. (; Far as finances, they come and go, don’t they? Secure is obscure.

No, because in two years the world will end.

^^^^^ the world as we know it, whatever that means.^^^
heart palpitations

I don’t plan to retire unless I absolutely have to. I will cut back the number of hours I work, but I want to keep working as long as I can.

Financially, we have a plan and things should work out for our future.

Medically, we’ll see what happens. I have asthma and it has gotten worse over the years. There are a number of health issues that run in my family, so if they hit me as I get older, I will deal with them.

@Aster I don’t have any of those problems either, although I do have some rather serious OTHER problems. : )

I had the great good fortune to retire from the US Army, which has a dynamite retirement plan. I also am compensated quite well for having been severely injured in a parachuting accident, and for having contracted cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure from contact with the defoliant Agent Orange while in Vietnam for two years. Truth be known, I would prefer to have my health back, but none of what is wrong with me has debilitated me yet, and I am now 67 years old. My beloved wife and I live quite comfortably on my retirement and disability income, especially since the only thing we owe on is my motorcycle, and that will also soon be paid off.

Oh, and I still have the occasional beer too! : D

Probably not. If I don’t get a job soon, I will either have to sell my house or take my 401k out to pay for it.

I’m damned close to 66, I still work, although I have cut back to 3 days a week so I have more time to play. My husband is almost 70, he still works full time, well 5 or 5 and a half days a week. After spending the last 6 years working 7 days a week, this is like a holiday for us both. I hope our health allows us to work until we keel over on the job. Life seems too boring when there is no structure. Financially we could survive even if we both stopped working tomorrow but I sometimes enjoy spending frivolously on a new gadget (iPad, etc.) and certainly we would have to be more circumspect.

This is one of those times we can learn from our dogs. My 13 year old akita realistically does not have much more time on this earth despite the fact that he is in good health. But he doesn’t care or worry. He loves his morning and evening walks, he meets all his 4 and 2 legged friends and the 2 legged ones always carry treats for him. He can’t wait for his brekky and evening bone. And the rest of the time he sleeps. He stays in the moment. That is the key for dogs and I think humans too. Unless of course, this moment is a bad one, then just sit still and wait for it to pass.

I’m lucky, because I’m already retired and living the ‘golden’ life, and my husband has a good 5 years or more of work left in him.

I feel that retirement is just waiting for death. I may change jobs, do more volunteer work, or just slow down a little but to me, retirement is the kiss of death.

@Ron_C Any person with the least bit of ambition will have no trouble finding suitable activity for your retirement years. The so-called kiss of death is only for people with no imagination and very poor health.

@Ron_C – I am with you 100% on this one. I have tried retirement (not by choice) and while there was plenty to do, I enjoy the feeling of productivity that comes from a real job. And I like money!

People who continue to work live longer. I don’t think that means the work has to be remunerated. I think the take-home lesson is that if you have something to do that engages you and that matters to others in some way, you live longer. Watching TV and playing Bingo don’t cut it.

They won’t be golden, maybe brass, but I lead a pretty frugal lifestyle so it will be OK but I have no plans to retire as yet.

@YARNLADY my Dad retired in the 70’s and was retired for almost as long as he worked as a steelworker. His retirement was very active and one of his “jobs” was to arrange weekend jaunts to Las Vegas for his Legion branch. He said they usually tipped the cabin crew $100 each to make up for the problems caused by 100 drunk old guys on the plane.

I’m not really into drinking, and gambling. I like the loose women they ended up with but my wife frowns on that sort of thing.

Beside like @rooeytoo I like to be paid for my work. Money is the most sincere method of expressing appreciation. I was considering getting a teaching degree but with the likelihood of the Republicans winning the House, there’s likely to be a new round of teacher lay-offs for lack of funds so I guess I’ll stay in my current job for another 10 years or so. That will make me 73 when I retire. I expect another 20 years to fool around after that.

I have about 5 years to go. I am very healthy, but as you all know, that could change on a dime. My house is paid for, my cars are paid for, I have a very modest savings and will receive Social Security and a pension. If Social Security and Medicare goes belly-up, I will start a riot because I have been paying for it all my life.

My son-in-law, who is very knowledgeable on these things, told me that Social Security was invented so that the older workers would retire and make way for the next generation. If they take it away, guess what will happen? We won’t retire, and the country will have an even worse unemployment problem. Then maybe someone in the government will remember why it was started in the first place.

In fact, that might be our problem even now, as Social Security has not kept up with the rising cost of living, so nearly every retiree I know has gone back into the workforce.

They’re not “Golden Days,” they’re MOLDIN’ days. Old age is a train wreck.