We started investing in real estate when I was 21 and my husband 27, we bought a 3 family house and rented two of the apts. and five years later moved on to a single and still rented 3. We kept accruing real estate and even in our 70s bought and sold. We're very comfortable and our kids and grands will be all set. We were able to give them down payments on their houses and they did the rest themselves following in our footsteps. I know what you mean Glenda, I went in to business at age 32 and saved and bought the building first so I sold it a year after I retired. We're down to only two houses now and we enjoy both of them. It was a lot of sacrifice and hard work but it really paid off. Haha I stil like to demo a room or install a bathroom, I did my lake home bath last summer. I think that will be the end of it though, getting achy at my age.

I have been retired for almost three years. I was able to sell my too big home and purchase a much smaller one and have no mortgage. I am comfortable and am able to do what I want. I really have a pretty simple day to day life. I am a widow and although my husband had a good job with the FDA he passed away after having been with the government only 9 years which means not a great amount in retirement. Luckily he invested wisely and as I said I am comfortable. Satine

I feel good about my future for the same reasons as you Glenda. One thing you dind't mention though is having good friends, family and a hobby or two to keep your days full and your mind active. When none of my friends are available to do something, I play bridge or quilt. If I had never met my current man friend, my life would have been good. He's just the icing on the cake.

fran, I am an active person, with friends, exercise, church, and play cards at my home almost weekly, monthly luncheon socials with two groups. Don't see my son and grandson as often as I would love, but I know they care! Enjoyed the luxury of traveling with grandson, two years straight, and that was awesome bonding time.

Do enjoy the afternoons at home to relax and nap :o)

It takes good planning to retire comfortably. I'm not talking about the millions Suze Orman thinks you need. With SS, Fla. teacher's retirement and VA I have a pretty steady monthly income and, hopefully, won't have to touch our investments. Not that we had a lot invested, mind you. Harry was 50 and I was 37 when we met and neither one of us had a pot to--you know! So I'm proud of what we managed to do in the 13 years before he/we retired. I do have a mortgage, but the payment is just over $300. Guess I could/should pay it off, but the property tax break is nice to have.

Fran is right about good friends and family and I have the best family ever!! /a few close friends but they don't live close, but we keep in touch by phone/e-mail. Great neighbors, too. She is also right about having a hobby. And I need one besides cooking and baking. When I'm a little stronger I need to get active again.

Glenda, you sound very content with your life. I hope I can feel like that one of these days!

I'm wondering what my life is going to be like when I retire. Most of my friends live very far away and it's hard for us to find the time and money to visit. Visits are years apart.

The friends I have that are nearby are busy with their families and work...and between those things and my work it's hard to find time to see them too.

Lauren hasn't left yet but I already feel alone. I'm thinking when I eventually retire I may volunteer either at the Va where I work or at the local nursing home. I may even have to keep working depending on how well I do paying off my house in the next 13 years.

I have so many places I still want to see and people to visit. I think I want to do some of that traveling while I'm still a little younger, in the next few years and before my kids have families of their own because then they won't want to come with me.

I wasn't expecting this thread to focus so sharply on money. I can say that this point in my life, it's a blessing that I'm frugal. I'm also glad I have no desire to travel, because I'd be disappointed. No pension or anything resembling one, and my husband's years in a nursing home consumed a good portion of our retirement savings. I'm not struggling, but I have to be careful. I do some work at home for a lawyer, and I'm starting to look for freelance writing/editing jobs.

I think of myself as a lucky woman. I do well living alone, and have plenty of things that interest me. (I think it helps that I was an only child.) I'm never bored. I'm enormously fortunate that my kids live nearby (one is just 17 miles away, and the other is my nearest neighbor), and I'm close to my grandchildren. I have good friends. Some of them abandon me to go south for the winter, but enough stay home. :-)

I have been widowed twice...at 33 and 69... The first time, I had three young children...7, 10, 13...and I was working as a secretary, so wages were low. I pulled everything together and was able to put those kids through college and they are doing well on their own now. Neither DH had any life insurance.

Husband #2...our life was a different story. When we married at our late age, he was very well off...that is until his son embezzled DH's entire wealth during a 10 year period.....so I got nothing at all when he died. I am thankful that he and I did a lot of traveling while he was alive, and that was good because my health would not permit me to do much now.

I live on my SS and a very small retirement from the school. I did have a house to sell....took a beating on it, but wanted away from his DS and family to close those terrible memories. So with the funds from that, I was able to build a much smaller house and do have some left to put into my retirement.

I love it here...never regretted moving. Family is very close and I have a lot of contact with them....they are the best! I still maintain long distance friendships and have made many new friends here. I am doing okay financially, but sure have to watch my spending. I am thankful that I took out long-term insurance so I should be able to pay my own way when it is time to go to a nursing home.

We have done alright for ourselves and at this point don't have any financial concerns. We plan to spend as much of what we have as possible enjoying ourselves and making our life comfortable. We live a modest lifestyle and have no debt so we can afford to travel or do pretty much as we please...but that is also because we don't have any desire to live "high on the hog" so to speak...Both of us lost the "I wants" a long time ago.

Our children will have money to do with as they please but only two of them probably have any real need for what we will leave...Our long term health is always a concern but I believe that we have it covered. According to my husbands calculations we have enough to cover our expenses and what life throws at us, with money left over till we are 130....

I also believe that having a good financial adviser is the key to long term planning but you have to make your own decisions with his careful advice... ....

I LOVE being retired!!! I write, bake, garden, spend time with the dogs, and the kids visit from time to time.

We have never been big spenders. We were both brought up with hard working families. My hubby hired into a GM job when he turned 18. He worked 42 years and retired. I always had daycare in my home.. The year before he retired we lived on what he would be bringing in when retired. We had been debt free for many years which helps so much. We don't care to have new cars. I drive a car 10 years old with low miles and runs and looks great. Hubbies is 5 years old and a new truck 2 years old. We plan on keeping them for a long time.

We planned for retirement for about 5 years. We had a new big barn built and built up our checking and savings account. We knew we didn't want to touch our investments. As of today we have not touched our savings and have maintained our checking at the same amount that we had on the day he retired. I am really proud of us.

Fifteen years ago we purchased a second home in the southern part of our state. We were fortunate enough to pay cash for it. It is a really nice get away for all our family.. For us life is good.

I am 69 & hubby is 70 but we still have to work, have no choice. We own a small landscaping business, have for most of our married life (48 years).

Being a small business owner we could never afford health insurance. Over the years I have had over 20 surgeries so most of our money went to Dr's & hospitals. A little easier now because of Medicare but we don't have supplemental insurance. Plus we have 14 years to pay on the house.

We are happy & don't think about what tomorrow will bring. Can't worry about what we will leave to our daughter. We have to take care of one another.

We both say we will be doing landscaping in a wheelchair. There is no such thing as retirement until we can't walk any more.

Mary, are y'all eligible for Social Security?
It sounds like you may have some choices. Can your daughter help a little? You could sell the house and either rent or purchase something more modest.
Many people do not have the resources to make investments or save, but I think it is worthwhile to think about tomorrow because sometimes, there can be ways to plan for a better tomorrow by making some choices with what you have available today.

We have been retired for a little over a year. The recession put a crimp on some of our plans. We will need a vehicle in a year or so. I had planned to get that taken care of before we retired. I am learning to manage my small nest egg. So far so good.. We haven't traveled much because I have been caring for my grand baby and my mother. Busy but so content.

I love being retired. Just owning my own home is such a joy and I love doing improvements on it. I pay someone to clear my snow but I do my own yardwork. I keep busy volunteering at the hospital and at church and I sew and quilt. I also watch precious Finn for a couple of hours on Friday mornings. Twelve of us from church have our season tickets to ISU women's basketball so we can all sit together in great seats. I have a dog and 3 cats to keep me company.

Hmmm, yes and no. I was divorced in my early 40's, which put a crimp in my savings plan (or lack of it). My ex was in a profession where he could have earned a great deal of money but due to poor business sense, he didn't. He never saved for retirement or anything else, so once I was on my own and working, I saved as much as I could. Then in my 60's my job was eliminated so I just considered myself retired. I wish I could have kept working for a few more years but finding a new job at that age is not easy, and frankly I did not try very hard! It's one thing to keep working at a job you know and another to start new at that age.

So, I am okay financially and one day will come into a nice inheritance. The only bad part about that is it means my mother has to die and I don't want to lose her!

I am very happy being on my own and sometimes I feel bad for my retired married friends who are bugged by bored husbands all day. I swear my one friend's husband calls her in her cell every 15 minutes when she is out of his sight. My ex now has health problems and I'm glad his GF has to deal with it, not me.

So, the things I miss about being not married are most likely having more disposable income, not having a traveling partner (not that I could ever have gotten my ex to budge) and being the fifth wheel when I go out with married couples. I wish someone else would deal with the car and put the trash cans at the curb.

However, I just love being totally independent and free to do what I want, when I want. If I had had a good marriage and a life partner that I dearly loved, I might feel differently, but I am quite content the way I am.

Marrying in college ,we started out poor although I didn't know it. Our families had money, but we never asked for any. I was a stay at home mom and even as a college grad he made very little at first. Never asked for help from parents, just knew our means. I dressed my kids very well, couponed, and searched for bargains. Husband kept a solid state job as a director till he retired. Had great benefits and health care and wisely have a financial investor who conservatively has grown our money. We've owned the house for years including renovations, own both new cars and make payment on noting but credit card. We still coupon and are frugal, but if we want something , we buy it.

Lucille, I will answer your questions.

Yes we get SS but because of me we have had to cut down on work some, so the SS makes up the difference for working less..

This is the 1st home we have ever owned so we will not sell it until we have no choice. We live in a very rural area & the rental market is nothing unless you want to live in a mobile home that is falling apart.

My one daughter passed away 2 years ago & my other daughter & son in law just get by week to week. Even if they had extra I would not ask them for help. They have their own family to take care of.

We have no choices as we have been paying off medical bills for year & there will be more.

We don't have savings or investments but we have something that is worth a million dollars. My husband & I have each other. I don't look past tomorrow, what will happen will happen. We have nothing available to change & I don't worry about it.

This post was edited by mary3444 on Tue, Jan 21, 14 at 19:16

My Dad didn't mind travelling ... if there was a friend or relative at the other end to make the trip worthwhile. I like it better than he, but did trans-Pacific three times, and round -the-world once, so have done a good bit of it, in earlier times.

On the first trans-Pacific trip (I'd never seen the ocean till that summer of '53) we left Los Angeles on a Swedish ship with six passengers, travelled north of Hawaii, not too far from the Aleutians, I think, on our way to the Philippines .... out of sight of land for 18 days: gives one an idea that this world is a big place!

As we entered Manila Bay, about 30 miles long, we passed Corregidor, the last hold-out as the Japanese took the Philippines, from which Macarthur departed by sub, vowing to return. I thought that, had our ship been in those waters, 10 years earlier, we'd have had two choices - go into port, to be interned ... or go below.

I figured that in that great war, those guys and gals had bought us some time, and that it was our job to learn how to build a world where we could get along with one another, not just "without fighting" ... but where we could have really positive lifestyles, respecting and caring for one another.

I get some lonely at times, but have lived alone for over 40 years, some of it sharing with an arm's length friend, and have learned to build pretty well the life that I choose.

Some have suggested that I get on with life - to remarry, etc. but I maintained a sense of affection for the former spouse, even though we scarcely ever spoke. Part of it related some to the situation that, after one had been run over by a truck ... when one heard truck wheels coming down the road ... one started to shake. She died nine years ago.

Not having come to terms with that and having taken more active interest in finding another candidate for a closer relationship may have meant a less interesting life ... but we'll never know about that.

One offspring married for about 5 years, broke up and has had a couple of relationships since, one currently operational. The other hadn't had a close relationship till past 40, has built one in recent years but is keeping that at somewhat arm's part-length (his instigation, I think).

I have a number of interests, including that mile of garden row last summer, that I did only a half-assed job of operating: last summer was not a good time for gardening, many local gardeners claim.

I have interests at church and in the community, and friends in different areas of living. I've sometimes suggested to folks approaching .. or in ... seniorhood that it's a good idea to keep making new friends ... cause the current ones tend to die off on one: a tendency that becomes more pronounced as one advances in years I've heard.

I find that as I move about in the community, I'll make a comment to strangers on the street, in the checkout line at the store, etc., and suspect that I'd do less of that if I shared house with someone(s). Usually there's a good, short, exchange ... and seldom do I get chopped of, and seldom by women, either: I look rather old and harmless, I guess.

I enjoy living in the country, grew up on a farm, and figure that I can live in what used to be uncle's house as long as I can drive. I've suggested to landlord that one of his becoming-adult sons may want the house, but he says that I can live there as long as I choose. I think that the eldest might want to have a fancier house than the one that I inhabit. He and his girlfriend broke up a while ago, which set him back on his heels some.

We have a non-contributory government payout program, (term of residence required) and a mandatory contributory national pension plan, plus my partial private pension and personal retirement program ... and I am able to manage, Frugal Fella that I am (by choice) to live within them.

While many clergy in an earlier time lived in employer-provided housing, they knew that when they became unemployed or retired ... that deal would die, so they'd need to provide their own. They had the advantage of being able to save for that, not be living in accommodation only partly theirs, and partly the bank's ... for which the bank expected (reducing) compensation, over many years.

Along with that saving plan, however, it was important to put some current income aside for possible need during one's retirement years.

As I live within my pensions ... I regard my investments as more or less "play money" ...

... that I may need in case of health problems or need for care in future.

Or can leave to offspring and charities.

As my body has seldom told me, "Listen, you darned (now 'old') fool - I can't do that for you any more!" ... I've been sort of spoiled, over the years. I think that one of my major concerns is the possibility of becoming disabled, of the physical or mental variety.

All in all ... I'm pleased with my life as it is. And very thankful.

ole joyful ... well - that, too!