BajaNomad - Why 1 in 5 US workers won't retire

Why 1 in 5 US workers won't retire

bajacalifornian - 9-19-2013 at 11:18 AM

Above, on the screen this morning.

Every now and again, A guy drinks or smokes or whatever, and then hits the send button.

Occasionally, best to consider a delete order . . .

Anyway, I say an American is dependent on his stuff and things . . . with ambition for more stuff and things in the future.

A Mexican, well, doesn't have a bunch of storage sheds to hold his stuff.

Talk of 2 thousand $ or less, or should I, or shall I . . .

For me, I had no decision time. A brittle diabetic falling fast, in an unusually stressful occupation, I selected "live".

Best thing I ever did. For my sons too.

If work is getting you down or making you ill, don't let it happen. Live.

I like Eli, the Nomad.

A gringo headed south, you must first learn patience & finally learn, you don't have to spend a bunch of money.

Aside, I believe citizenship supports conviction of your changed value system.

55steve - 9-19-2013 at 03:52 PM

I retired at 62 at the end of April this year - best thing I could have done!

Why 1 in 5 US workers won't retire???

durrelllrobert - 9-19-2013 at 04:48 PM

I watched that on the news this AM also and the bottom line was that they really can't afford too because they have only saved enough to live (with the same lifestyle?) for 10 years (in the USA).
Somebody needs to clue them in about Baja living!

J.P. - 9-19-2013 at 08:23 PM

One of the first things I learned in retirement. once I eliminated the cost assonated with working I had more disposable income than I did when I worked. Then no car payments, no house payment, token property rental and living in Baja I can actually save money out of my Retirement Income.

Heather - 9-19-2013 at 08:37 PM

My 78 year old dad, after 30 years as a US Marine, is on his second career as a security guard. He says he'll retire when he turns 80!

I'm sure he could afford to retire, but he loves his job at a private housing area on the beach in Oceanside. He's a real people person and going to work a couple times a week keeps him busy!

If he retired though he may have to give up his hobbies of the race-track, the casinos, and daily lotto tickets!

Barry A. - 9-19-2013 at 09:29 PM

I retired at 57, 17 years ago, and it has been a total blessing.

Yippppppeeeeee!!!

Barry

bajagrouper - 9-20-2013 at 05:46 AM

I saw a report awhile back that stated people spend more time planning a vacation than their retirement.....

also the average American household has credit card debt at $15.000+, many folks have to keep working well past regular retirement age...que lastima

[Edited on 9-20-2013 by bajagrouper]

dtutko1 - 9-20-2013 at 05:54 AM

Jeff you are right. I was able to retire at 54 in 2001. Lots of planning, paying things off while you're working, and most importantly living within your means and getting off the consumption band wagon. Grow a tomato, catch a fish, and surround yourself with goodtimes friends and family. I can live well and save $ on $2000/month.

yellowklr - 9-20-2013 at 06:24 AM

retiring on my 50th birthday and not a day longer
Can't wait!

Lobsterman - 9-20-2013 at 06:29 AM

I retired 2.5 years ago at 64 after working fulltime since 16. Like others I could not wait for retirement and planned for a blissful retirement life. After about a year of travel, fishing, golfing, and many other activities I felt something was still missing in my daily activities. That being the feeling at the end of the day you had exercised your brain to the max, had productive physical exercise and had a feeling of accomplishment. I looked around for various organizations both commercial and voluntary I could assist. I settled on a nationwide company that would fit my technical expertise and physical needs, i.e. field electronic installations. Since then I've had assignments in Molokai, Tucson, Bellingham, WA and a few San Diego sites. Yesterday I just got back from Redlands, CA. 107 degrees in the shade. I'm writing this piece beat up, bruised and physically exhausted from digging holes in rocky soil, driving in 10' grounding rods by hand, climbing 30' towers replacing the cables (imagine a cellphone tower), j-boxes, as well as replacing equipment racks and its electrical and electronic wires. This was the piece of mental and physical satisfaction that was missing in my retirement. Fitness center exercising, walking, golfing, etc. just did not cut it for me.

I am now vacation relief for the fulltimers and work projects for 1-5 weeks at a time about 3-4 months total yearly. I get to pick where and whom I want to work with. Next year we have a year of work on Maui & the Big Island. The pay is not great less than a 1/3 of what I use to make but the per diem is tax free ($100/day for food in Hawaii). I lost $1800 in SS because I was paid too much last year and thus will not get another SS check until Feb. This year I can make unlimited money.

I'm almost 67 and will probably work until I'm not physically able or my mind goes. I guess I'm just wired differently than others, no pun intended. The extra cash will pay for my upcoming "Bucket List" Baja fishing adventure, 7 days at Rancho Leonero and a week at Mag Bay as well as other similar trips in the future. On the drive home from Mag Bay I will be checking out various spots to rent for a future fishing camp. I'll be a week in BOC in March.

Even though I have a handsome retirement annuity from working, 401k and SS, the part time job allows me extras that I would not normally be able to comfortably afford.

[Edited on 9-20-2013 by Lobsterman]

vandenberg - 9-20-2013 at 07:20 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lobsterman

I'm almost 67 and will probably work until I'm not physically able or my mind goes. I guess I'm just wired differently than others, no pun intended. The extra cash will pay for my upcoming "Bucket List" Baja fishing adventure, 7 days at Rancho Leonero and a week at Mag Bay as well as other similar trips in the future. On the drive home from Mag Bay I will be checking out various spots to rent for a future fishing camp. I'll be a week in BOC in March

[Edited on 9-20-2013 by Lobsterman]

Keep adding to that "Bucket List" and maybe your heirs will be able to do the things you thought of. :biggrin:

durrelllrobert - 9-20-2013 at 10:23 AM

In Sept 1999 I told the company that I was working for in the SF bay area that I would be retiring in Sept 2000. In June 2000 I sold my house up there and bought another in Fallbrook, CA. Sept 2000 came and as I was packing my office stuff the boss came by and asked what I was doing and I said "clearing out my desk because tomorrow is my last day". He asked why and I told him I had given a one year notice of my retirement back in 1999. He said he had completely forgotten about that and could I please stay until he hired my replacement and I trained him. I told him that was not possible since I had sold my home and already purchased another in SoCal.
Well to make this shorter we mutually agreed that the company would hire me back as a consultant for one year with the following caveats:
1. $50 more/ hr than my current salary
2. 40 hour week including a full day for paid travel at both ends of my commute from Fallbrook
3. $750 / week for travel and living expenses
4. No other benefits

So that's what I did for a year. An 8 hour drive form Fallbrook to Hollister every Monday and another 8 hours driving home on Fridays. In between 3 days of work and interviewing training my replacement after he was hired.

After my year was up I still was a consultant to them (and one of their competitors) on an as needed basis until I moved to Baja in 2005.

tjsue - 9-20-2013 at 10:27 AM

I took my Social Security early due to the loss of my job, but I'll never be able to retire. Living in TJ, I'll only have to work part-time, if I stayed in San Diego, I'd have to work three jobs to make rent and ends meet.

Sweetwater - 9-20-2013 at 06:32 PM

I took my pension at age 54, not so much because I wanted to but more because the deck got shuffled and they dealt new cards. I grandfathered into the original deal which allows me open access to double dip or work anywhere for anyone without penalties. If I had not qualified and signed on, I would be subject to the 'new' deal which restricted all those things.

I kept my per diem position for 2 more years, officially, but haven't worked at all for just about 2 years. I have been to England, Italy, Peru, Baja x3 and Barronces del Cobre. I have done activities and spent time with my 86 yo dad. This might not be considered productive by some but it has been great.

My wife chooses to continue to work and enjoys her career. It's not an issue since she can step out at any time but both her positions treat her well. We had a great discussion driving down the local freeway tonight. So many speeding cars, so many new, expensive cars and trucks. So much ego, so much pressure. You can see it on some of the faces......gotta go, gotta get there, gotta look like I'm successful.....

I've learned many lessons since I retired that might have gotten to me eventually but I'm grateful that I understand them now...

:bounce:

MulegeAL - 9-20-2013 at 08:34 PM

One of the great lessons of baja for me was learning how little it takes to be happy and sufficient vs. the stateside mentality of how much does it take. It is a lesson that is kinda tough to learn stateside, but after spending time on remote ranchos in baja, it became obvious how little it takes to be happy day to day, what is important, what is fluff. When I read that managers live 5 to 7 years less than normal people I knew it was time to make some changes.

I "retired" at 54 , and I'm still trying to quit "working" if you can call it that: renting race tracks, filling them with pals on bikes, telling them why they're slow and them thanking me for it! Fun and pays well, I'm a lucky dude.

Really looking fwd to getting down south this winter, too much fluff/silly agenda here up norte.

DianaT - 9-21-2013 at 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by soulpatch
I retired at age 50..... I am almost exactly a year into it! I love it and highly recommend it.

Yes, I could have stayed and exponentially beefed up my retirement income... or, I could have died, that being the only guarantee in life.

I can not believe how full my days are. It is amazing to be retired with a young wife, two active children who's days I am involved in heavily.

But, I appreciate all the workers. If that works for them then that is great. After working my entire life, yes, even as a child, I like the not-working aspect much better.

It is so wonderful that you are having such a great time!

Retiring early does not always mean now working, so to speak. We retired very early --- left well paying jobs and if we had stayed there for another 10 years, we would definitely have more income today, or as soulpatch said, be dead.

We took off for Central American and worked there for a couple of years for very little tangible pay, but a lifetime of memories and experiences that we would not trade for cash. We had applied for the Peace Corp, but a tiny little school in the backwaters of Honduras called first. We would have stayed longer except for some family issues at home.

We decided to work a bit more so spent 5 years teaching in Calexico which is a suburb of Mexicali. :biggrin:

That put us in our late 50s and we decided to figure out a budget and stop working.

Life on this side of work is great for us.

vgabndo - 9-21-2013 at 08:46 AM

I will first admit that I didn't plan very well for my future. When I "joined the system" I had been working in construction management for some time when my developing skills made me valuable on the nation-wide market. The problem was that to survive on the East Coast in the Mafia controlled portions of the country, I had to join the Carpenter's Union. Also, my SF based Corporation didn't offer ANY benefits beyond an hourly wage.

I paid into that system for 14.3 years until I got hurt on the job. My exceptional ability to create good outcomes from the garbage plans and specs I was given had resulted in my being stuck in the field, on the ground, because to promote me was to lose a man far too valuable in my present position. They just started piling-on merit raises above my Union scale wages to keep me in the "trenches". When I got hurt, they looked at my pay, and my age, and after 17 years with the company, called me back for two weeks to get me off disability! (GAP Corporation) They didn't check to see if I survived my surgery.

The Carpenters union prohibited me from doing any non-union work which even resembled construction. They forced me to force them to change their rules for every retired Northern California Carpenter when they illegally declared it illegal to be a Home Inspector in the Real Estate Industry. Having to shut my business while I fought them was disastrous to my reputation.

To take an early retirement from the Carpenters, I had to take a 30% cut in benefits. My retirement was reduced another 75% by my Health Insurance premiums being deducted. And over the years, as the Republican WAR on labor unions became more successful, our Health and Welfare program has been savaged. Each of the last two years, my premiums have increased by $75.00 per month. (now $650.00/ mo.) I expect this will continue until I starve or die from returned gunfire.

When I got cancer, my Cadillac health insurance, proved useless to prevent financial ruin. I kept a roof over my head with a Reverse Mortgage, and at 70 I have a part time job in a fast food joint. (It helps a lot)

Perhaps if BOTH political parties had participated in US health care reform, things might have been different, but the GOP dug in it's heels to insure that Obama failed at EVERYTHING, and their "patriotism" has seen America plummet into an economic septic tank. The liberal "turd" that was my life, was one of the first to be flushed. Thanks a lot.

Unlike dominant Red State demographics, I have never been arrested, never seen a food stamp, never seen a welfare check, don't smoke cigarettes, never got a teen-ager pregnant, I am not obese, and was a Marine before I could vote to have a say in where I was sent to die. I have voted in every national election since I turned 21. I have always paid more taxes than what I got back. (I live a Blue State)

Am I a bit angry at the fools who have voted to savage our social safety net in order to farther enrich the super-rich? Here's the affirmative statement you've awaited, and which I like to put in my posts. Yes! Could I live on two grand a month in Mexico? Hell, that'd be sweet in California!

vandenberg - 9-21-2013 at 08:50 AM

I retired in '91 at age 55.
Had a nightclub/disco in a shopping center in Sacramento.
Got lucky!! The main anchor, a grocery chain, wanted to expand and I was the only business, with a extended lease, in their way. They ended up making me an offer I couldn't refuse, and with that, and some rental properties, and our own house free and clear, decided to call it quits.
Best decision I ever made.
Build a nice house in Loreto/Nopolo, on the golf course and the sea, and never looked back. Believe to be in a very envious position.
Now if I just could keep from getting older.

DianaT - 9-21-2013 at 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by vandenberg
.......
Now if I just could keep from getting older.

Now if you can figure out a positive way to achieve that goal, please share it as it seems to be happening faster and faster and so far, a dirt nap is the only alternative I can find, and we are NOT ready for that. :biggrin:

Then again, we think that to continue to be on the move, with a different definition for all, keeps the brain from growing moldy and that helps. :yes:

Cost of living in Ensenada for retirees?

Whale-ista - 9-21-2013 at 09:06 AM

I'm considering taking retirement soon. What are the living costs like in Ensenada these days? Are there many nomads living in/near Ensenada who could offer their perspectives?

20 years ago a partner and I invested in some properties at San Miguel. Last time I visited in the spring it was busy and crowded at the restaurant. I've been waiting for an opportunity to either rebuild or sell a lot there. Lots of activity going on.

If anyone has direct knowledge of Ensenada as a retirement location, I'd appreciate a reply.

I'm also looking for advice regarding property ownership for non-Mexican citizens.
(We keep hearing rumors of changes to the constitution. )

Thank you!

DianaT - 9-21-2013 at 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Whale-ista
I'm considering taking retirement soon. What are the living costs like in Ensenada these days? Are there many nomads living in/near Ensenada who could offer their perspectives?

20 years ago a partner and I invested in some properties at San Miguel. Last time I visited in the spring it was busy and crowded at the restaurant. I've been waiting for an opportunity to either rebuild or sell a lot there. Lots of activity going on.

If anyone has direct knowledge of Ensenada as a retirement location, I'd appreciate a reply.

I'm also looking for advice regarding property ownership for non-Mexican citizens.
(We keep hearing rumors of changes to the constitution. )

Thank you!

As far as ownership, the Constitution may or may not change now, but it should happen within the next few months. It has passed one house of the Mexican Congress and now needs to pass their Senate and be approved by most of the governors.

If you are not in any rush, I sure would not buy property until it is decided because if it passes, it could save you THOUSANDS of dollars.

[Edited on 9-21-2013 by DianaT]

durrelllrobert - 9-21-2013 at 04:53 PM

Whale-ista wrote:
"20 years ago a partner and I invested in some properties at San Miguel"
___________________________________________________

Sounds like you can kiss that investment goodbye

bledito - 9-21-2013 at 06:58 PM

ASAP !!!!!! I buried my brother in law this day he was just 50, diabetes and other complications related to diabetes. I am 54, retired last august the retirement timing was right. I was able to bring him down to baja his first and now only trip there. My wife and I will be in baja more and more and build a casa over the next few years and spend more time as we go on. a slower approach to full retirement while still working part time 9 months a year and less as time continues till 59 1/2 then it will be full retirement. my brother in law was homeless for a time till i married his sister and met him and had him move in with us. he lived on next to nothing and had minimal expectations of doing better and survived. I should think that anyone of average means should be able to manage to live well enough in baja. life is about happiness and that is free. He thought baja was paradise.

philodog - 9-25-2013 at 02:28 PM

Double income, no kids and those evil government pensions let me cut the cord at 48. Hallelujah! Life is good.

Ensenada

bajaguy - 9-25-2013 at 02:44 PM

Quote:

We retired here and love it!!! I think Ensenada is retirement friendly, and can accommodate most retirees. 90 minutes to the US border on good roads, medical services, shopping, civic and cultural events and great food.

Guadalupe Valley (wine country) is 30-45 minutes away.

Plenty of ex-pats in town, and there is always something happening. Lot's of Ex-Pats living in the Punta Banda area and the Baja Country Club.

For more of a local flavor, you may want to subscribe to the Punta Banda Newsletter:

puntabandanewsletter-subscribe@yahoogroups.com