Since about 30, I've been saving, scrimping and hoarding pennies, working 2 jobs, 3 sometimes, all so that I could retire at 55.

Everything ... mortgage, debt, housing amenities, shop, tools ... everything was set up on this idea that I could retire with reasonable comfort and then work as I wanted, when I needed and do what I liked.

The last year has seen that dream slowly dwindle into the reality that I will have to work at this stinking job till I'm a hundred and 55. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

My job is great ... been there since March of 1982. I really like what I do. Unfortunately it comes with it's share of migraine headaches, mostly with the title of Manager attached somewhere.

I was talking with a very good friend yesterday and he made some really good sense. Might as well pull all the money from market accounts and buy a new car. The drop in value couldn't be any worse.

Oh well, just thought I'd rant a while ... kind of feeling sorry for myself. So I want all of you to feel bad, too. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/drink.gif)

Amigo, I feel bad with you. Don't buy a new car, buy one a couple years old that has already taken the depreciation hit.

Besides, I love a good rant.

ps - I still have the 69 Camaro I bought in 1985; I think it's up in value. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/ph34r.gif)

I know how you feel on a smaller scale. Sat the motor went once again on the 3rd lap of the race, along with 3rd place for the year(maybe 2nd).

My view of the situation is simple, unless you are with in 5 years of your retirement age, this market drop is a good thing.

Yes, it sucks in the short term and we are going to have a nice chunk of stagflation to deal with. The flip side is that the stocks you need to invest for retirement, those core companies that are not going out of business regardless of the economy, are all on sale right now. The average blue chipper is down nearly 10%, the dollar is gaining strength against the rest of the world in leaps and bounds, and every investment house on the planet is tripping over itself to get you to trade through them for less and less per transaction.

The current economy has it's downside, but it is all short term(2-3 years) With the bail out, the economy is going to be priming itself once for a big come back as soon as the banks get done buying each other(that will last another year or so).

The moral of the story, if you have a few extra pennies around, your investment strategy should be BUY BUY BUY.

-Tim

Thanks Tim ... you just deepened my depression.

(IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

Damn this single story home ... no windows to jump out of. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

Dude!
You got to be kidding me! That soooo sucks.
Hate to kick you when you are down, but you are putting the LT1 on the endangered species list.

You can try it, if you're lucky you might twist an ankle. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Yea, I'm wanting out of here too and I'm stuck in a job I now hate with a house I can't give away. Guess that's life. I've actually been back thinking about selling the Camaro (again), this time it would come with an Alan Blaine cage kit (unless it gets here and I get it installed soon). I'm feeling the urge for a change, not sure when and where, but I'm thinking it may involve a new job and a new city. Of course the job market sucks right now too.... (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/nutkick.gif)

...damn you are hard on motors...... (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

Sorry to hear of your plight Mitch.....this year has been really tough! I was out of work for 4 1/2 months, and just recently found new work. The prospects were bleak while I was looking I CAN TELL YOU....so at least you have the "job you love" thing going for you....don't knock that!

Hope it all turns around.....for ALL OF US! (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/cool2.gif)

I'll toss in a change up here. (note tongue firmly in cheek here)

Im thinking about changing my race car back into a street car...its more fun & gets better mileage and its way cooler than a pick up truck. Plus the insurance and upkeep is way cheaper. Premium Gas is dropping like a rock so I can even go fast sometimes if I want.

Then Im going to pack a big bag, as big a bag that will fit in the Camaro, and just move from one declining real estate investment to another. They are in really cool places, and I can deduct the whole trip as a business expense from my nonexistent salary this year and next....making me eligible for welfare, and food stamps. And for a change...I'll be eligible for the earned income credit instead of the AMT. Uncle Sam to the rescue again.

When my trip is over, maybe the real estate market will have bottomed out and I can retire and sell everything at huge loss and report it over the next 14 years of McDonalds paychecks so that I wont owe any taxes at all.

Then I can retire on social security at age 65 just like everybody else... just me and my 96 Camaro.

Call me nuts....but this sounds good to me

bock

Hang in there Mitch! Your dream hasn't disintegrated, it may need a minor adjustment however.

From where I sit you have and have had a life to be proud of. Don't let all the doom and gloom in the media change who you are.

The ray of sunshine about the whole situation? At least the market tanked before you pulled the pin and you still have a job while your investments are in the crapper.

Need a little pick me up? I've got 37 years, 4 months, and 14 days left until I can collect my pension assuming the Republicans don't kill Unionized labor before then and 42+ years left until I can collect SS even though it'll already be broke and gone by the time I get there.

"Load the wagons, boys, the mule is blind."

This post has been edited by nape: Oct 7 2008, 04:11 AM

I think we are all having a crappy year. As for me: My business went out of business under my wife's expert management in the spring. We sold our house on a short sale in the summer. Got tax audited a month ago (a bit of back taxes there). The wife is divorcing me (that one might be a financial improvement) and my employment contract at my day job is expiring in December. At this point it can only get better.

As someone who is just starting his career in January (finally graduating with PhD in Mechanical Engineering in December), I really feel for you guys close to retirement. I don't have a house or a retirement fund, when you have nothing you lose nothing. Both of my parents retired this year, my dad fully retired and mom is working a side job. My mom is counting on pulling Social Security in 7 years which I don't think is going to be around or at least not in any real form. I think we are just at the beginning of this economic down turn and if it gets much worse I think she will have to move in with my wife and I. I'm sure many families are going to be in the same boat, I think this is what my generation is going to have to do to cover the Social Security my parents aren't going to get and help the government control it's spending to get out of debt.

The housing market had to deflate. Prices were running out of control and the only thing that could stop it was people not being able to pay, and that's where we are now. Most of my friends that didn't buy a house before 2004 have moved far away from DC or to other states to be able to afford to live. These are people making over $100,000 combined that can't afford to buy even a crappy 70 year old house in this area.

Mitch, if you wanted to retire at 55 you were looking at an uphill battle to stay retired anyway. The inflationary course that the country was on was increasing costs out of scale with traditional inflation. Retiring at 55 and living to an average age of about 80, your expenses would have more than quadrupled by the time you were "done being retired: anyway. Sorry to say it, but it is rare to find a professional financial planner that can properly plan beyond expenses doubling, much less tripling or more.

You said you like your job for the most part, you have your health, a cool hobby, and some pretty cool friends from the looks of things. Doesn't sound to me like you are really doing too bad.

-Tim

When one door closes another one opens. Sorry Mitch, only thing I got. Knowing that it could be worse isnt much consolation I know, but hang in there and enjoy life now instead of waiting to enjoy it later.

Social security will be around as long as there are working people paying FICA taxes. With the baby boomers bubble, the funds may be spread thin, but there will be something.

That said, I would not plan for it when doing your retirement planning, rather accepting it as icing on the cake.

The good and the bad:

The world economy is in the crapper, no doubt about it.

Stock prices are meaningless until the end of the year at least. There's a lot of institutions being forced to sell whether they want to or not. Until that's done, who knows what the real values are. They certainly aren't based on the business fundamentals. Those fundamentals are declining, but not as fast as the prices.

My employer decided a few years ago that pensions were out of style. So, the only pension I have is my invested savings. Watching those savings plummet a month's pay per day is getting painful. It's going to take a long time to get out of this hole.

This post has been edited by sgarnett: Oct 7 2008, 02:19 PM

Chuck...I hope it is there....but I am like you, I certainly do not even consider it in my retirement planning. Could be my Corvette money though. (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

After talking with Mitch a few days ago... I decided to look at my 401k and IRA and it really scary to see the drop in the last 3 months since I looked at it last, but I still have a minimum of 15 years to work so it should come around by then.

This post has been edited by AllZWay: Oct 7 2008, 02:22 PM

I feel for you Mitch. Two years ago I was racing a Corvette that rode safe and sound in a 30ft. enclosed trailer, pulled by a motorhome, now I am piecing together a $5000 Trans Am that has to fight the elements on a open trailer behind a pickup.

At least your situation can be fixed, I am knee-deep in dirty diapers and screaming kids.

Listen to this horror story: 4month old, 3 year old, 5 year old and the best of all 12 year old girl!

I have 18 years before I can even think about quiet in house, financial prosperity or retirement seems like a pipe dream for me.

Let's see, I'm 35, so in 18 years when my youngest is going to college, I will be 53.

Score for me too!!

How about you throw me out the window first, and then you can go.

With my luck, I will just have to go back to work with a broken leg and a demotion because I can't work as hard because I have a broken leg (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/banghead.gif)

Hang in there. From some point, the only way left to go is up.