what will be your primary source of income when you retire?

[acheron]

If I ever get a city or federal job it will be my pension.

Sorry to hear you've been in a coma for the past 10 years. Welcome back though. By the way, you may want to read up on the news a bit. I suggest you start here.

 

[Slew Foot]

1. Vote for democrats
2. Complain about not getting enough money for sitting around
3. Profit

 

[HardcoreRobot]

royalties from my rap albums and adult films

 

[BrownShoes]

Avon, slot machines, checking account interest, selling my collection of Pee Wee Herman memorabilia on eBay, lottery and, of course, social security.

 

[dullard]

Interesting, do you have any handy links on that? What's the theory behind it? Is it because of a recession like drag on the economy from the loss of income earners and people never can afford to retire? Or is it because the number of vacant jobs cause employers to offer lucrative salaries to keep people in them instead of retiring?

The closest thing that I can point you to would be this recent article in The Economist:
http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14743589
Start reading where it says "The Goldilocks moment". That isn't word for word what I was referring to, but it'll get you started. I didn't want to search for more articles, but they exist.

Basically you have three possible situations that are common.
1) You have a young population where there are significant numbers of children. Think many African countries. There is a huge burden to feed/clothe/shelter the kids that the country needs as many workers as possible. Retirement is rare.

2) You have a old population where there are significant numbers of elderly people. There is a huge burden to keep these people alive. Think Japan and soon the US and parts of Europe. There aren't many workers per elder and everyone who can work, needs to work. As this ratio gets worse, the country cannot sustain the idea of retirement.

3) In between. Most of the population is working. There aren't too many kids nor too many elders. This golden era is ripe for retirement. Plenty of people can take your place and support your retirement.

We are leaving #3 for #2.

 

[FoBoT]

you guys just made me realize is should stop putting money into 401k
that gets taxed at future tax rates
and i am not planning on retiring (so my income level won't drop a lot when i am older)
that means (since i believe tax rates will be much higher in the future) i am dumb for saving in a 401k

 

[dullard]

you guys just made me realize is should stop putting money into 401k that gets taxed at future tax rates and i am not planning on retiring (so my income level won't drop a lot when i am older) that means (since i believe tax rates will be much higher in the future) i am dumb for saving in a 401k

The conventional "wisdom" was that you will retire while earning ~80% of your current income. However, it appears that people tend to want to spend just as much after they retire as before. Thus, in reality, you need to plan on earning just as much then as you do now (earnings include your 401k withdrawls). Meaning you'll be in the same tax bracket. Meaning with tax rates historically quite low, you really should be doing post-tax retirement contributions.

 

[Slew Foot]

The conventional "wisdom" was that you will retire while earning ~80% of your current income. However, it appears that people tend to want to spend just as much after they retire as before. Thus, in reality, you need to plan on earning just as much then as you do now (earnings include your 401k withdrawls). Meaning you'll be in the same tax bracket. Meaning with tax rates historically quite low, you really should be doing post-tax retirement contributions.

My thoughts exactly, except that most people "should" have their house paid off by the time they retire so they can relieve themselves of their mortgage burden at least.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

People used to be able to retire at 60 or 65. But the working age is getting older. I think if you're in your 20s or early 30s, you should be prepared to work till 70.

 

[Miramonti]

Ebay.

 

[Ausm]

1. Vote for democrats
2. Complain about not getting enough money for sitting around
3. Profit

I think you would make more money being a Republican's fluffer.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Income from my rental properties.

 

[Ausm]

People used to be able to retire at 60 or 65. But the working age is getting older. I think if you're in your 20s or early 30s, you should be prepared to work till 70.

More like 80.

 

[darkxshade]

Your grandchildrens tax dollars

 

[Farang]

Reverse mortgage until suicide at 75

 

[olds]

Employers retirement 2%@55 (I'll be at 80% when I go)
401k
SS

 

[Elbryn]

People used to be able to retire at 60 or 65. But the working age is getting older. I think if you're in your 20s or early 30s, you should be prepared to work till 70.

people used to live within or even beneath thier means. retiring at 60/65 or even retiring early is a feasible task. it does mean one has to plan and have realistic goals.

 

[Zebo]

I am retired. Oil and gas properties. I bought small working interests all my working life 10K here, 12K there, 25K there over period of about 15 years and can live OK. Not rich but not wanting either.

My 401K/403b sucks so I can't count on it.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

I will be a resthome gigilo, and supplement my income by selling plasma

 

[bignateyk]

Hookers and blow.

Some people become campground hosts when they retire. I'm gonna be a drug dealing pimp.

 

[BassBomb]

rrsp
children
pension

i'll work as long as I can i bet

 

[Zebo]

DLeRium - It's not that hard. We never made more than 80K working but I saved a lot at least half of take home.. Drove old cars and worked on them myself. Bought cheap computers not "highend". Ate at home always. Scraped jars and tooth paste tubes and just about anything else to get last drops. Bought houses that were 'fixers' since I'm handy. Never used credit to buy things. Basically millionaire next door stuff. Once you get to 100K or so you can make some moves into secondary and tertiary income streams from owning a franchise to building houses to investments like commodities and stock (I generally don't trust stock unless I have inside info or it's a staple like Proctor and gamble).

 

[The-Noid]

Turning tricks, obviously.

 

[DrPizza]

Pension
403B
Social Security

I plan on working til I'm at least 70 though, maybe longer. If they give me an awesome buy-out package to get me to retire earlier, I'll simply drive to Pennsylvania & teach there for a few years, earning an income in addition to my pension.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

1. Vote for democrats
2. Complain about not getting enough money for sitting around
3. Profit

nah, the seniors didn't even complain and obama gave them a cost of living increase when the cost of living didn't increase this year.