Four wks to retirement - mixed feelings
sherwoodva
10 years ago
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sushipup1
10 years agojim_1 (Zone 5B)
10 years agoRelated Discussions
Retirement: Sooner or Later
Comments (59)Boy, I've been thinking about this stuff recently myself. I just turned 50 this yr, and my husband will be 52 in January. We don't really make much money, but it's enough to get by with and still afford the multitudes of roses that I don't really need, plus his tinkering around with cars and stuff. I work in retail, so don't earn alot, but I get such a great discount that it's worth staying, plus the hours are easy. I'm just not feeling that well physically any more. The floors at work are concrete and I have all sorts of foot, back and hip pains, plus increasingly worse varicose veins. But at my age, what am I going to find that pays more than minimum wage? My poor husband is uneducated, altho not totally illiterate, and has dyslexia (which contributed to his lack of education). He managed to handle 10 yrs in the Navy, but was "let go" back at the end of the 80's when they started cutting back on the military and weeded out those who were not the "cream of the crop." We had the two boys and came home to be close to family. He had a hard time getting a decent job. But he ended up becoming a garbage man. Not the best job in the world, that's for sure, but it pays decently and we have medical, dental, optical, 401k. He's been doing that for going on 18 yrs now, and is sooo sick of it, he actually makes himself ill nearly every morning before leaving for work. He hates the job so much he coughs himself to the point of often throwing up. I lie in bed hearing him and want to cry. I feel horrible that he hates it so much. I just want to find a way to let him be able to quit. But we have a mortgage and a few bills too many for either of us to be able to quit working for at least 10-15 yrs. I know he's not going to be able to do this that many more yrs. He's in a deep depression. He comes home and does nothing but lie on the couch and watch tv and sleep. He even quit drinking beer because he feels so lousy. I recently made a decision tho. I told him if he can stick it out about 6 more yrs, I think he will be able to quit. His parents both died in the last 4-5 yrs, and his 4 sisters and he decided to sell the family home next summer. The house is practically a tear-down, but it's on a beautiful canyon-view lot, that's worth more than the house. So I figure once they sell the property, we'll get a decent chunk. Then, my dad passed away in Feb at 93, and my mom just turned 89. She's in somewhat ill health, and I know she won't be around forever. I know it's awful to think about losing her, but we all know it's an inevitability. If she doesn't end up with some catastophic illness that wipes out their money, I will stand to inherit a pretty good amount. Then, we can pay off the house. If this happens within the next couple of yrs, I told him if he can handle working about 4-5 yrs beyond that, we'll save up his income and then he can quit early and we can live on what we've saved up until he's eligible to collect his 401k and then SS. So, that's our tentative plan. But things change. As for winning the lottery... you can't win if you don't play. I keep telling our younger son, who has OCD, to try and come up with the winning numbers so we can all live happily ever after. He just laffs....See MoreCitrus Container Mix - Best Mix ?
Comments (63)Plant54, In reading over this thread again, making sure I did not miss any points. I noticed you stated this... "repti bark! Is this the pine bark shaving for hamster's.?" If you didn't even know about the repti bark till this thread, how could you have tested for a fair amount of time to compare to coconut husks? Not 2 years for sure. Am I missing something..? My hats off to you if you can grow in coconut anything. Josh, I can tell you that everyone I know from across the country, from the deep south to the north, into the Carribeans is in love with the 5.1.1 mix over any mix, even with husks. In fact, my father's Aunt in the Carribeans has dumped all her coconut husk chips into the garden and has chosen bark it, because all her plants were rotting from compaction in less than a year, nutritional problems, and from many rains..I guess I just know more that like the 5.1.1 mix than any other as you do.... Does anyone here ever visit the "container forums"? The percentage of those that are successful with coconut products, pales in comparison with pine bark.. Mike.:-)...See MoreRetired Racing Greyhounds
Comments (69)Willow is so beautiful!! saltidawg, just a note that after years of living in big kennels with lots of handlers and greys around, greyhounds can get lonely by themselves in a room. If she's still minding the crate you could try putting a radio in with her, putting the TV on or putting her in with you at night :) I used to volunteer for a grey rescue up here in Nova Scotia. Here's a picture of my parents' two greyhounds Frank and Molly. Molly has since passed away. Grey hounds are like pringles, it's hard to stop at just one! Especially since they enjoy each others' company so much :) Frank enjoying his in ground pool Frank getting not only a bed but a comforter on top (he likes to nest) This post was edited by robotropolis on Thu, Nov 20, 14 at 11:51...See MoreWhat is the Point - Saving for Retirement?
Comments (42)Both of my grandparents stayed at home until they were in their late 80's and then Mama had no choice but to put them into a nursing home. My GF lived about 3 years after and my GM is still living. She turned 100 in Sept. She has very good care and is the favorite in the home. She has a double room and has been lucky for the most part about room-mates but she has had a couple that were a chore to deal with. When they retired they had a substantial amount of savings and their home with a few acres of land. We hired one of the home health aides to come spend the night with them for a few months but were paying out about $300 a week and all she was doing was sleeping there. Anyway now my GM has been in the home for about 13 years and all of her money is gone. She gets $30 a month and goes to the beauty shop in the home once a week and the family pays for her TV and phone and any other things she needs. Her money was building up in her account and they told my sister that we needed to spend some of it because she wasn't allowed to have but a certain amount and she was over the limit. Family members moved into their home for a few years and then when it was vacated we sold it and the money went to the home. We had no problem with that. They've taken good care of her and know they will continue to. The main point is that people save their money for their old age and then when they get their and need it for health care the other family members often think it should be theirs. Yes, we've paid taxes most of our lives but nobody can live on the amount of taxes you pay in for a month. Probably the best solution would be to go back to many years ago where extended families just built onto the family home and the kids stayed after marriage and were there to help care for the elderly family members (great-grandparents) and the grandparents are there to baby sit for the grandchildren. Thus cutting out a lot of expenses. Of course we've gone away from this custom for too many years for most to want to do it. G'nite John-Boy! lol Nancy...See Moresherwoodva
10 years agojim_1 (Zone 5B)
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10 years agoMags438
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