I'm sure my ex-husband is looking forward to retirement since he ended up with most of my retirement savings. While I was accumulating assests he was accumualting debt because he assumed my family and myself would take care of him! Thank God there were no children! Well part of the joke is on him, he can't touch my pension until I retire. Guess who isn't retiring anytime soon. Another perk of a family business I don't ever really have to retire!

In the 1980's and 1990's private equity came in and destroyed companies and seized the pensions of workers. The shortfall was left with the US government to pay, adding to the national debt. If private equity had not done that, workers would still have defined-benefit pension plans instead of the massive retirement crisis about to hit. Your retirement is in Mitt Romney & others' Cayman Islands bank accounts.

I was doing pretty good for being on track with my 401k. It hasn't went anywhere in value. I gain back some of it, then Wall Street has a panic attack and I'm right back to the same amount. Our government is determined to keep us working they way it looks. The 401k's are a pile of crap as far as I'm concerned. It's all a huge investing game. Not many people know how to play it. The information they put out is oh it's long term, don't do anything drastic it will come back. I don't see that happening at anytime soon. Wall Street plays the whole media thing, for instance one day employment is up but Europe has worries, market down, Employment is up but housing is at it lowest ever, market down, Employment is up, consumer spending is up, Greece looks better, market down, go figure, how do you play a market like that. I all know is that someone else is playing with my money and my future. At 55 years what do you do? Take it all out and stuff it in your mattress before it all slowly dwindles to nothing? It sounds very dissappointing, and really it is in my opinion. I'm not the only one riding in this boat out to sea without a paddle, guess I have friends there.

Not only will I not be able to retire, but I also will likely never be able to get married or have kids. Who can afford it? A study last week says it costs $235,000 to raise a kid to 17 years old.

I expect to work until 77 (another 36 years), then die a year later; alone and penniless.

i tried to work the numbers to retire but it just dont come out right, how much and what 401'k could i have invested in that at the end of say 30 years could pay me $25,000 a year for say 10 years

I became inadvertently semi-retired after being laid off my position as a Sr. Financial Analyst with Lockheed-Martin in Nov 2009. Being unwilling to move (there are always aerospace jobs if you are willing to move)and collecting unemployment for the 99 weeks enabled me to survive, without too much stress.

My unemployment ran out in Nov 2011. I appreciated it very much, since it was the first time I had ever collected unemployment. I have now embarked on a second career as a substitute high school teacher. I love the job since its a very people oriented job compared to my cubicle computer existence of my previous career. The pay is about 1/2 - 1/3 of my previous wages but it pays my bills and allows me to save a littl each month. The best part is that my 401K ($250K+) remains untouched and in bonds. I stand to received accrued pension benefits in ten years but for now, I am pretty content.

We are prepared for retirement. We have lived within our means, paid off the house early, and have no car payments. At the rate the government is spending money, there will not be any Social Security or Medicare. Unfortunately, because my wife and I did the right thing by living within our means and maxing out (or at least trying to max out) on our 401(k) contributions, our reward will likely be higher taxes to take care of the hordes of irresponsible people who have done nothing to plan for their retirement.

I've said this before, and I'll bore you by saying it again. Take Congress and put them on the same footing that we are on. I will guarantee that the problems revolving around SS, Medicare, Medicaid, etc will all be sorted forthwith. Congress has no motivation to fix any of these problems. They talk the talk (to get elected/re-elected), but have no motivation to walk the walk.

I retire in 165 days. Couldn't stand another day at my job. I'll have no extra money, but I can live for awhile. Have reduced expenses as much as possible. I'm going to enjoy my life as much as I can. Have lots planned to do as well as see grandchild more. Volunteer work, part-time job if I have to. But I REFUSE to worry about it! Society makes you think you need to panic and worry. Conservatives want you to spend all your money buying their unnecessary products and then blame Obama cause people are being more frugal. I'm backing away from society. It's shown me nothing but greed and stupidity. I trust I'll be just fine....or I won't. Makes no difference in my plans.

I am retiring the end of this year. I have been saving for 38 years. I will be 54 next year and do not forsee any problems with money having 401K, Pension, Savings, Stocks and hopefully some SS in the future. I plan on working part time somewhere later just to help keep busy. I am just ready for less stress in my life. I have no debt and live fairly cheap, but happy and can afford anything I need or want.

My dad is a vet. He worked his whole life, and is approaching retirement. Only now he can't, because half of it was lost in '08. He did it the right way, you know...the way most did, but got screwed...so no, he is not looking forward to his retirement...because it won't be until he CAN'T work anymore. I have zero hope for myself, because I had to withdraw my 401k to pay for expenses while I go back to school. The only way this pays off is IF I can get a job. Hope comes with jobs...and people not gambling with your money.

If companies didn't decide to eliminate pensions and pocket the money, people would be a lot better off. There weren't any unions to stop the greedy SOB's. That was a major wealth redistribution. Companies should have changed from funding pensions to funding 401K's. When someone retired, they'd have a fund and be on their own.

I have been in financial services in one form or another for 45 years, and from most of the comments that I see here it is obvious that the majority of the folks on here and in this country really have no idea the state of affairs this country is in. Within two to three years the goverment debt bubble will collapse along with the dollar bubble, TRUE inflation will be running around 10%, the dollar will, by design, be devalued to such and extent that the average american will not know what hit them, and the bought and paid for "talking heads" on the various networks will be singing another tune as opposed to the garbage their putting out today.

If you chart the increase in the stock market over the last 3 years, they are in a direct correlation to the QE1 and QE2 money printing schemes, and declined after those events were done. Money printing, and nothing more in my opinion, created this false sense of recovery. I believe anyone who is intersted in retaining what the have should read two books, The American Bubble Economy, and the follow up to that called Aftershock, both by authors David and Robert Wiedemer. Their insite may well save your retirement from what I belive is surely coming.

I think the country needs a better retirement transitioning approach. If older folks don't retire on a consistent rate then the young workers will not have jobs consistently when they enter the work force unless companies can expand and that won't happen unless we export a lot more goods, but we have lost most of our factories and industries to other countries so that ain't going to happen. The industrial world is much more efficient with robots and computers, even the business world is, look at all the replacement of people with computers and machines in business. So what does this all mean? The tech improvements on efficiency and computers/robots/machines has and is continuing to replace the human body as a needed resource by business. So business leaders wonder why people don't like them? They can't see that people need income and jobs, that their computers and robots are taking? The term Human Resources is so true today in a cold way, they look at bodies the same as materials to make their products, disposable if they can get away with it to cut costs....So this never want to retire attitude is going to kill the opportunity for young folks in this country, there is a generational war coming if not here already. Our business leaders are not thinking of the good of the whole country, they don't want to plan on how to keep everyone employeed, especially the youngsters coming in and the older ones that would like to be semi-retired say after 55 just working part-time. That is the best scenario, start giving phased in retirement to part-time work after 55 for those that can afford it, they can stick around at the business for a few hours a week to show the youngsters how to handle the complex problems as they come in from college/trade schools. If we don't do something to smoothe the transitioning out of the workforce into retirement like that to at least give younger folks wanting to start families and careers a chance, this world is going to suck a lot more.

Not much to enjoy about retirement when your body is so beat up from working that you cannot get around. Yea, just keep increasing the retirement age so that when you are over 65 all the joy has been sucked out of your life!!!!

Congress needs to raise the Social Security retirement age to 75. When Social Security was enacted, you had to be 65 to be eligible for retirement payments. At that time, the life expectancy was around 65. Life expectancy has since increased to around age 75, yet there has been no corresponding increase in the eligible retirement age for Social Security.

Companies also need to stop treating their employees as burdens and parasites. I worked for a company in the 80s when the economy was booming, all they did was cry poverty, citing that the problem wasn't the corporate jet and company cars and decorative fountains and company "retreats" the problem is that we have to pay you $16,000 a year.

I didn't retire yet..but four of six persons I know who did retire enjoyed it for a year or two years..then died.

Those with corporate welfare want medicare and SS stopped. Pay for your own Healthcare for 2 years then come back and tell us what you're paying.

I retired because the congress kept authorizing the H1B Indians to undercut the American Worker and corporations has the "No Americans" sign out.

Way too much BS being slung around here. It negates the possibility of any meaningful discussion or intelligent comments. Prime exemplar of this is "willowbrook". S/he's a perfect example of the 1st amendment running amok.