7 Retirement Risks You Need to Prepare For

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When I was young and dumb I did not plan for next week, let alone the "golden years". At age forty I attended a seminar concerning self empowerment....the essence was Pay YOURSELF FIRST! About that time I ceased a few self-absorbed nasty habits (alcohol and tobacco) and started contributing 10% of my gross pay to my employers 401k. I totally bought into the concept of "living beneath my means"; staying in a modest though modern home, saving for "stuff"; paying down credit card debt and limiting credit card use.Staying in conservative funds preserved my nest-egg through the '08 debacle.
I retired at age 63 1/2 and find myself comfortable and content. I've never been rich but always okay and I am still that way. Health insurance is a risk, but one I am okay with. My biggest blessing is good health and a positive attiude. The second biggest blessing is that I listened to sound advice 24 years ago, paid myself first, stayed the course despite wanting to tell my company to shove it many times. Life, especially retirement life is what YOU make of it. Social security is great, but you MUST take care of YOURSELF and start early. The only regret is that I did not start YOUNGER!

Brian Petersen of OR 12:13PM November 04, 2010

Born in1951 and started to work at 16 years of age and retirement age being raised t0 65. Excuse me but we have paid our dues by working not figureing ways out of work to collect money.The truth of matter is that our so called goverment along wit another type of people simply don,t care that you have worked all your life put THEIR kids thr school, paid for THEIR health care. We all know the honest answer, THEFT of Money earned by honest hard working peopleTimes have changed and people dream of things to change instead they dream in their heads of a cure that they want to happen You can pray for a loaf of bread but untill you actually go out and earn money to but it you won,t eat bread

arnold Hinkle of OH 1:08AM August 23, 2010

I dream of the day that I can retire-but that is all that it is a dream. I have had cancer twice in four years and also have fibermeragia, which for those of you that don't know what that is, it is very painful. I have to work everyday at a job where the stress is over whelming. I work second shift and wanted to be put on first as the DRs say it would benefit me health wise. No such luck, I am stuck. I probably will never see retirement. I sam 60 years old and would love to retire at 62. NO insurance company will look at me. It is hard to take when you have worked so hard and then told you have to work until you are 66 in order to get any health care and even at that, you have to have to have supplements and RX insurance. Thought these were to golden years. When you retire at 62, you can go out and make a whole 14,000 a year, but you have no health insurance. When you work until you are 66, you can go out and make all the money you want and you have medicare...even though you need additional insurance. Who in the ---- wants to work all they want when they are 66???? Why not let us Baby boomers get our meger SS check at 62 and also let us continue to work so we can have insurance. It is so disheartening to want to spend time with kids and grandkids and fear that your time is running out but you have to keep punching the ole clock.

Marlene Lawton of WI 10:18PM August 22, 2010

I can't believe people make statements without merit and expect others to accept them as the absolute truth (which I must admit many a people do, sad to say). I never understand people whom point fingers and provide no resolution to issues. Nor people who judge others and claim to be righteous. As Americans, we have been through times like this before (the Depression years beginning 1929 as an example) and survived and we will survive this time but it will not be because someone is a democrat or a republican; white, black, red, etc.; baptist, protestant, jewish, catholic, etc. It will be because we are Americans and Americans are survivors.

Jay of VA 6:44PM July 10, 2010

Only the people who can afford the best doctors deserve their services...
Health care has never been equal for both the rich & and poor in this country, or in reality, probably any other either.
But dann of CT I guess that's the way you think it should be. If the CT stands for Connecticut, then I fully understand your reasoning!
Health care should be equal for all and a life saving procedure or a specific medicalion that costs more than others should be availabe to EVERYONE, not just the people who can afford them.
While I do not believe for a second that O's health care policy will accomplish this, I do believe that everyone should be treated as equals when it comes to health care!

bob ascani of NY 11:22AM June 22, 2010

I'm always amazed at the ignorance portrayed in these blogs. ie. see "Bunny from AZ. What a cry for better education! Politician on both sides of the aisles have raped this country for years with no consequences dealt to them. They need to wake up and realize not all voters have the mental capacity of "Bunny" and they are about to lose their jobs.
If you want YOUR job back, fire the incumbants next election and give Washington a jolt that puts the people back into the equation.

Terry of MO 4:47PM June 17, 2010

The Bush's preserved your freedom = 9/11 happened just 9 years ago and President O Reform just spent 75% [national debt given to your children .. that's a smart move mom and dad] of our GDP!! And for those that need a reality check = you .. yes, you o followers IF YOU have just a 38% debt you can't get a loan folks - BUT YOUR GOVERNMENT has no rules except there own, the democrats who contol both house and senate with the president.
November 2010 elections will joyfully overturn the democrat Congress and the president will become a lame duck except his veto.
Can I get aN AMEND.
May be Michelle will run .. born in the United States.

mx360 of VA 3:05AM June 06, 2010

Socialism is a time honored proven failure.
Look at Europe today. Democratic presidents Clinton and Obama have tried to model our healthcare and social and economic issues on European utopia.
Put all domestic issues aside for a moment.
President Obama's presidency has been destroyed by the economic situation in Europe. This is the moral equivalent of International terrorism. Everything he stands for is destroying Europes financial and social structure.
As for our great capitalist country to preserve our health care and social security before we raise taxes we must first depopulate this country of the ten to twenty million unproductive illegal aliens over a reasonable period of time. We lack the resources to educate their children give them free health care and provide them with almost free housing in order to maintain an American style standard of living.
There is nothing immoral about preserving our own society.
The next step is to take our mass prison system and turn it into an industrial complex catering to all levels of government which will drastically reduce purchasing budgets while cutting the cost of keeping each inmate and making rehabilitation more likely than the current system with criminals learning a skill to take with them other than sports and weight lifting.
The legal profession must be turned upside down with the system of losers paying legal fees and tort reform must be a reality especially in the medical profession.
Last but not least good doctors are superstars and we should be producing them more than ever. In a capitalist world all superstars get rich. Cutting malpractice insurance premiums is a good way of increasing a doctors well deserved wealth.
All Americans must understand that you never get a job from a poor man and you never get a life saving operation from a poor doctor.

dann of CT 2:45AM June 06, 2010

I agree with Dennis of Texas, "People are starting to wake up", however I think what we woke up to is that for the biggest part Obama told us the truth and weve been suckered by a lot of people for the past 16 years!!!!we had two terms of two differnt Bush Generations and it appears that the truth was held in a back room in a lil golden box an possibly Obama has began to tell it but we are not liking how the real truth sounds!!!!!

Bunny of AZ 12:08AM June 06, 2010

Too many people are quick to judge him. Let him have his time. I always knew it was bad to have two Bush presidents. Obama is allowed to make mistakes just like the rest of the world. If John McCain was the president, people wouldn't be saying all positive things about him. So I don't want to hear anything about Obama messing up the country when we all know he walked into this mess. It's just another president dealing with the problems we already have.

? of NJ 11:50PM June 05, 2010