15 Ways to Tell if You Are Ready to Retire

Well Joe, if you have spent every stinking every cent you've made, it is your fault and no one else's, that you are going to have to live on just social security. Man up and accept responsibility for your life long screwup. Repubs are blaming government workers for fiscal problems, since they are the last democrat stronghold. They are trying to bust government unions. The repubs are desperately trying to reduce taxes for the rich. They want to reduce services and social security for the middle class, to pay for these tax reductions. So, they make up stories about government workers, to convince blue collar workers to vote for them, but they only care for the rich dudes that fund their re-election. Government workers accept a pay that is 2/3 that of industry, since they have an a decent retirement.

BobK of IL 1:17PM January 26, 2012

I was laid off from my company 2 months ago. My 65th birtday was in late August. I lost my retirement insurance and only have a small annuity along with some extra money that I took out of my 401K (lousy retirement idea) and placed in CDs. I still haven't gotten my social security and don't plan to retire until later. I am looking for work.

I'm not an expert but buy or take out at the library, the book entitled "How to Retire Happy, Wild, and Free" by Ernie Zelinski. It's very helpful and inspring whether you want to retire or keep on working. Gives you many alternatives on how to live your life.

Tips for interviews -- make sure your resume has the last 12 years of experience (don't show beginning jobs that will age you), practice smiling and being confident when going into an interview (this really impresses the interviewer), and go to a hair stylist and have your hair cut and maybe even colored a bit for your interview.

Good luck.

Marilyn of IL 10:01AM August 30, 2010

Any thoughts for someone that was a victim of corporate downsizing at age 55 after almost 33 years of service. Two months prior to being let go, I finished my MBA degree. Even with years of experience and a recent degree, I find it impossible to obtain interviews for positions for which I feel well qualified. My opinion of the online social networking sites it that they are more geared to younger workers looking to move up or established workers that want to let you know how well they are doing.

Although I was fortunate enough to receive the pension I would have otherwise received at age 60, it is the lost income from age 55 to age 60 that is most bothersome to me. All articles that I read online and in financial magazines speak to retirees at an age in advance of mine and many of the suggestions for how to spend the retirement years do not apply to me at this point. If anyone knows of a resource that gives advice to retirees less than age 60, I would be interested in that information. In the meantime, I have had to deal with my resentment of being retired before my time in an economy that does not seem to value the older, experienced worker.

James R. Harper of PA 10:48PM August 09, 2010

Most reports I read about retirement assume the retiree comes from a white collar professional position. As a construction worker, IBEW member, our pension is fully funded and not linked to government pension dollars. Instead of being paid in cash for 35 years my pension grew by 13% every hour I worked. It may not have been the greatest plan but I can retire at 60 with a full pension. It gets tiring reading about company pensions that collapse and leave workers without money that they worked for. I worked in 100 degree heat and -30 degree snowstorms and can tell you at 61 I will be sitting under a palm tree sipping a well deserved refreshment.

Larry 8:34AM July 16, 2010