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Suddenly my sibs talking about....retirement


shootingstar

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Well, we can't help it.  We were born around years very close to one another...  ?

The latest befuddlement is my youngest sibling, who is 10 yrs. younger than I... already thinking vaguely when/how re retirement.  I think she's abit nuts since she has 2 children @ 9 & 11 yrs. old.  She is 49. She is the primary breadwinner.  

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5 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

Well, we can't help it.  We were born around years very close to one another...  ?

The latest befuddlement is my youngest sibling, who is 10 yrs. younger than I... already thinking vaguely when/how re retirement.  I think she's abit nuts since she has 2 children @ 9 & 11 yrs. old.  She is 49. She is the primary breadwinner.  

If she is NOT thinking about retirement at 49, then she is royally screwed (or planning to work forever).  Retirement planning should be in full swing by 40 - preferably from day ONE of first career job start.

My first real job out of college was tough work but I will forever thank the owners of the company for EVERY year, sitting all of us down in the conference room and beating us up on the importance of 401(k) investing.  They matched pretty well back then (full match to 5% and then half match to 7% or so).  "Free money" was what I heard, so I always at least did whatever that matching limit was. Served me well.

So, it's great she is thinking and planning NOW rather than in a decade or more when the "get stuff lined up" window is either drastically shortened (limiting options) or the retirement date drastically pushed out (limiting quality of life).

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17 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

If she is NOT thinking about retirement at 49, then she is royally screwed (or planning to work forever).  Retirement planning should be in full swing by 40 - preferably from day ONE of first career job start.

My first real job out of college was tough work but I will forever thank the owners of the company for EVERY year, sitting all of us down in the conference room and beating us up on the importance of 401(k) investing.  They matched pretty well back then (full match to 5% and then half match to 7% or so).  "Free money" was what I heard, so I always at least did whatever that matching limit was. Served me well.

So, it's great she is thinking and planning NOW rather than in a decade or more when the "get stuff lined up" window is either drastically shortened (limiting options) or the retirement date drastically pushed out (limiting quality of life).

You are right.  When I got my lst full-time job, my father told to invest in RRSP which is a Canadian investment vehicle for tax deferral and saving up on money for retirement, etc.  I threw in $2,000 and then didn't get around to contributing until a few years later.  Like may be 5 yrs. later.  

What puzzles me abit is that as a physician she works 35 hrs. /wk. over 3 consecutive days where she does work night shifts at hospital.  So she has the rest of week...for personal life.  She drives 100 km. 1 way to get to her job.  She jokes that working night shifts will shorten her lifespan...(apparently there is a grain of truth).  Maybe she's done some fab investments.  I have no clue. But the house was paid off.  Hubby is postal carrier/driver.

 

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11 minutes ago, late said:

That's normal, assuming, of course, that I am normal. :D

The older I got, the more I wanted to retire. I even convinced myself for a while that this was the last year...when it wasn't.

For sure, I didn't even think about retirement @50 yrs.  Not at all.  I was unemployed and then @51, I moved to another province because of a job offer and was adjusting.

I only started even thinking vaguely about retirement …..1.5 yrs. ago.

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26 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

My first real job out of college was tough work but I will forever thank the owners of the company for EVERY year, sitting all of us down in the conference room and beating us up on the importance of 401(k) investing.  They matched pretty well back then (full match to 5% and then half match to 7% or so).  "Free money" was what I heard, so I always at least did whatever that matching limit was. Served me well.

Because I've worked for several employers, I can't plan for a big healthy employer-sponsored pension.  I'm probably like many people, saving in a somewhat disconnected way and increasingly getting more streamlined.  (Yea, literally those funds will shrink..in a few decades.)

I'm fortunate to have a job where I am given new types of assignments and client portfolios that present plenty of challenge plus learning new software and developing training curriculum.  It pulls me back in work mode out of daydreaming about retirement.  Still, there's part of me longs for a completely different learning/exploration path of unused skills and desires.  I like to act on creativity unfettered by corporate needs.

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2 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

Clearly he did well on his investments. You're the lst person I've heard of this type very early retiree.

It's great to have family in these locations....for you to visit...hopefully.

Hard work and astute real estate investing and a willingness to gamble it all a couple of times.  Most of us don't take those risks.   

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13 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

Hard work and astute real estate investing and a willingness to gamble it all a couple of times.  Most of us don't take those risks.   

Well, buying and owning a home after mortgage paid off, is enough for a lot of people.  (Meanwhile methinks mine has gone down in value in a depressed local city economy..  Oh well, we'll see in a decade.)

My biggest risk, is a Canadian company that just got added to the TSX index.... share went nuts.  The market is surely emotional and fickle.

I knew someone who retired around 45 and she mentioned to people in our firm that she had over $1 million. That was um....20 yrs. ago. (I wouldn't have even mentioned how much I had.)  That wouldn't have been enough by now if she wasn't aggressively wringing out value.

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3 hours ago, Page Turner said:

...for most of us, if your job is dealing with sick people on a regular basis, it gets old pretty fast.

I think that’s why my doctors always seem happy to see me. They say I’m the healthiest sick person they know. Heidi said today that my heart and lungs sound amazing for someone my age. 

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On 3/15/2019 at 3:01 PM, Page Turner said:

...for most of us, if your job is dealing with sick people on a regular basis, it gets old pretty fast.

It's not alot of romance being a doctor.  Then they get pesky questions from their own family looking for an informal 2nd opinion. 

I think being a doctor (for the sister is one), there's always the threat of malpractice hanging over one's head.  Oh yea, each Canadian doctor pays their malpractice insurance. It's not subsidized.

For the sister who is a pharmacist in a teaching hospital, she participates in drug clinical trials with researchers, patient care teams, other research projects and is coach -whatever to other pharmacy interns.  Being a pharmacist now requires a 5 year university degree in CAnada.  It went from 4 to 5 yrs. requirement a few years ago.  It's not about counting pills...that's pharmacy technician.   I was surprised to hear that she is even considering early retirement when there is still a teen in school.

 

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3 hours ago, shootingstar said:

It's not alot of romance being a doctor.  Then they get pesky questions from their own family looking for an informal 2nd opinion.  

Try owning a pick-up truck and see how many folks ask to borrow it or have you help haul shit every weekend.

Try being a computer guy and dealing with IT issues for all the non-technical folks in your family.

Try being a plumber/electrician/carpenter and deal with folks looking for a friends and family discount or an "instead of a birthday gift, can you install my..."

Try being an auto mechanic and getting non-stop queries about what something should cost, free diagnoses/second opinion, or help with a car on the side of the road.

Try being a massage therapist or a chiropractor or physical therapist and not getting folks asking for you to look at something or help with a "weird pain".

Try being a dope dealer and not have folks try and get just a little something to take the edge off.

No romance in working :(

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25 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

Try owning a pick-up truck and see how many folks ask to borrow it or have you help haul shit every weekend.

Try being a computer guy and dealing with IT issues for all the non-technical folks in your family.

Try being a plumber/electrician/carpenter and deal with folks looking for a friends and family discount or an "instead of a birthday gift, can you install my..."

Try being an auto mechanic and getting non-stop queries about what something should cost, free diagnoses/second opinion, or help with a car on the side of the road.

Try being a massage therapist or a chiropractor or physical therapist and not getting folks asking for you to look at something or help with a "weird pain".

Try being a dope dealer and not have folks try and get just a little something to take the edge off.

No romance in working :(

We try to reserve medical questions for sis by going to our own doctors first.  

As for sister who is pharmacist...she is happy to provide advice for any non-prescription drugs and will supplement drug knowledge after a family receives drug prescription.  

They aren't that grumpy....and it has been extremely helpful to have such professionals within the family.  Within a few hrs. of learning my concussion which confined me to bed for a few wks. before I would walk by myself, unassisted, I did receive caring advice from family.  Doc-sis was the daughter who stepped up and advocated for my father while undergoing treatments over 7 yrs. before he died.  She chose to cut down her work hrs. to part-time for our father.

It's abit strange right now to hear sibs talk about retirement. My memory of them as younger sibs and looking after them whle they played, hasn't dimmed totally. 

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1 minute ago, shootingstar said:

We try to reserve medical questions for sis by going to our own doctors first.  

As for sister who is pharmacist...she is happy to provide advice for any non-prescription drugs and will supplement drug knowledge after a family receives drug prescription.  

They aren't that grumpy....and it has been extremely helpful to have such professionals within the family.  Within a few hrs. of learning my concussion which confined me to bed for a few wks. before I would walk by myself, unassisted, I did receive caring advice from family.  Doc-sis was the child who stepped up and advocated for my father while undergoing treatments over 7 yrs. before he died.

One of my sisters is in her final year in Veterinarian school. Guess who will get all the family questions about pets now? I am thinking about letting her live with  us for free until she establishes her practice just so I can get free dog health care.

My uncle's a doctor, so anytime I get a bad case of poison ivy, I call him and have him send my pharmacy a steroid prescription.  Same for other minor stuff, or for the actual important times we need him to speak directly to our doctor (to get past normal doctor BS talk).

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9 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

One of my sisters is in her final year in Veterinarian school. Guess who will get all the family questions about pets now? I am thinking about letting her live with  us for free until she establishes her practice just so I can get free dog health care.

My uncle's a doctor, so anytime I get a bad case of poison ivy, I call him and have him send my pharmacy a steroid prescription.  Same for other minor stuff, or for the actual important times we need him to speak directly to our doctor (to get past normal doctor BS talk).

:D

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