Do you still think retirement will be possible for you with the current situation of the country? I retired partly and am finding I need more money than I originally thought. I can manage it however by cutting back on some things so am luckier than most.

Hi Chatty,

Personally, I don't think we Boomers are going to be able to retire the way that our parents did. I think most of us will be doing some sort of work for the rest of our lives.

I'm excited that one of NABBW's August teleseminars is with Mary Eileen Williams. We will be talking about her new book, "Land the Job You Love: 10 Surefire Strategies for Jobseekers Over 50."

If you're interested watch the IA's - Important Announcements. The call will be on the 12th @ 8 PM ET.

Anne

I know some boomers who already retired, but are already back to work due to changes in the market. Thought they had a lot more money until about half disappeared!

I watched my dad's generation retire too young. Little did they know they might live another 20 - 35 years. I don't think they would have retired so young had they known that.

We started planning for retirement 10 yrs ago and really 'stepped it up' at the 5 yr mark. I retired in 2006 when my MIL sold her house and moved in with us; she's reasonably independent but doesn't drive and shouldn't live by herself due to a gradual dementia.

DH retired in Dec 2009. We are in our late 50's and although not wealthy, having a financial plan aided by professionals (I worked for almost two years for an independent Certified Financial Planner, and DH's employer holds extensive planning classes year-round) made the big difference. We paid down debt, got our legal stuff in order, worked out a budget that would handle a wide variety of scenarios, including inflation and declining health changes for either or both of us.

We have friends who retired but didn't plan properly, so they are scrambling to stay afloat. Some have gone abroad to live, reluctantly but no choice. Others are continuing to work.

Because we don't have children, getting LTC insurance was a huge part of our strategy. It was the right decision for us - DH suffered a stroke barely 4 yrs after purchase; we would never be able to afford it had we listened to conventional wisdom and waited until later to buy it. Now we feel we have options available to us as we age that our friends/family don't.

I elected to skip the long term health care - am I crazy?

That depends on WHY you are 'skipping' LTC. Are you just ignoring a future need, or can you afford to self-insure? Do you have family who can honestly, in this uncertain financial environment, afford to take care of you and hire the home healthcare services you will need as you age?

The people I know who have retired and not been hurt by these bad times had good financial advisors with fiduciary responsibility to them; e.g., they were able to pay, and WILLING to pay, for good advice.

The people I know who are having a much tougher time, refused to pay for good advice and thought they had done a good job planning. But it turns out they hadn't, and when the economy went bad so did their retirement plans.

We were fortunate to have received good advice even though we are not, and never have been, wealthy or even upper middle-class. We weren’t even good savers and used to carry a lot of debt. But 10 years ago, we ‘buckled down’ after realizing it was time to get serious about planning for a good retirement, instead of just HOPING for one.

So we paid off our debts, including the mortgage; got our affairs in order, and went through every ‘worst case’ scenario we could conceive of, so that we would have options not only now, but for the future. We have weathered the market storms with very little damage.

More importantly, what little loss we suffered has made absolutely no impact upon our lifestyle. Disability, lingering illness, or death to one of us, will not adversely affect the surviving spouse. This was our true retirement goal - not just an age but a lifestyle goal.

Financial planning is a holistic process. You cannot take one element out and expect to have a comprehensive plan uniquely suited to your own set of circumstances and preferences. Ignoring unpleasant scenarios will only weaken the strength of your planning process.

It would be like pulling the legs off a spider, one by one. Its balance might survive the loss (ignoring) one leg; possibly even two. But remove (ignore) too many supports, and the spider eventually falls down and is unable to get up again.