Have Americans Given Up on Saving for Retirement?
By blackrusty
@blackrusty (3519)
Mexico
March 11, 2013 9:30am CST
Have we all but give up on retirement I have in my younger year saved every penny that I made even when I was married, but when we got Divorced she got it all.and now I am disabled and can't work but here and I had burned though every penny I had saved before I went on social security at the young age of 37 now I am 47 and own nothing to my name and forced to live off the very same amount of money the government gives me and forced to live in a 3rd world country just to live so are you ready to retire do you have money set aside
2 people like this
10 responses
@mariaperalta (19073)
• Mexico
11 Mar 13
Your right David, but as you know Mexico isnt all the bad to retire to. We have some very nice and cheap places to live here. Take care there. Adios......
@mariaperalta (19073)
• Mexico
11 Mar 13
Sure has will be 80s by thursday here. Yipeeeeee
1 person likes this
@blackrusty (3519)
• Mexico
11 Mar 13
thanks for the reply hope that it has gotten nice and warm for you
@PointlessQuestions (15397)
• United States
11 Mar 13
Hi Rusty,
I am sorry to hear your ex wife took you to the cleaners. When I divorced I didn't ask for anything.
I have not saved anything either. I get a little over $1100 a month in Social Security. I am just getting by. I make a couple hundred dollars a month online as a web writer, but that has taken me 6 years to accomplish. I'm not able to save that either. I have hopes of saving $75 this month, but I don't know that it will happen. It costs so much to buy food here. Even Walmart isn't the cheapest. I shop at Walmart for nonfood items and shop yellow tags at Ingles to get the best deals.
So Mexico has Social Security too? I know some countries don't have any form of support for their people. If one lives in the US, can he or she move to Mexico and continue to get their Social Security? It seems if that were possible one would be rich in the new country with American money. In other words, would my $1100 go farther in Mexico?
@blackrusty (3519)
• Mexico
11 Mar 13
ok I make just over 900 per month on SSI and the average is for every one us dollar you get around 12 pesos and so yes depending on your living habits you could live very well here my current rent is 1500 pesos my water is 200 pesos my electric is 200 to 300 pesos every three months most places you rent here you will have to buy stove and other stove but you can buy them used all day long here if you want to know more send me a private email
1 person likes this
@sid556 (30960)
• United States
12 Mar 13
I have not been able to save. Raising kids single does not really allow for that. I am still working and my youngest just moved out last fall. Then my other daughter moved in temporarily to get on her feet. Hopefully I will stay healthy and fit and be able to continue working for a long while. Retirement is not looking like a good option for me. I have been putting into the Soc. Sec. System since I was a teen but I think our wonderful government has gone and fked that up so there probably won't be much if any there when I'm ready to retire.
@blackrusty (3519)
• Mexico
12 Mar 13
and the truth is it is not getting any better I hope that you will be able to plant your feet and get a little saved up for they day that you do retire good luck thank you for the reply and you have a happy and great mylot day
@sid556 (30960)
• United States
12 Mar 13
I'm already 56..almost 57 so there is not a whole lot of time to save and with the economy being what it is, well, I don't really see it happening. I don't know what the future will bring. Hopefully, I will be able to work beyond the usual retirement age. Maybe I'll have to come join you guys in Mexico. And does that not seem odd to you that Americans find it easier to live in Mexico upon retiring whereas Mexicans are constantly crossing our borders for better wages and a better life?
@francesca5 (1344)
•
12 Mar 13
blackrusty, mexico is not a third world country it is a developing country, whereas the US is a developed country, that could be going downhill.
while mexico is at least going upwards. though the 2008 financial crisis did affect it, its economy has grown through exports, and its biggest problem in terms of poverty, is rural poverty.
I reckon, even if it was only because you had to, you may well be in the right place.
I'm making a wild guess here but I imagine you used to do work that required a lot of physical activity, and now you find yourself forced to enter the knowledge economy, unexpectedly.
But there is lots of space in it for different voices, and our brains are very flexible and can easily learn new skills if we treat it well. so who knows what good things the future might hold.
@francesca5 (1344)
•
12 Mar 13
thats terrible, I'm sorry to hear that. Especially as you now have now been forced to move to a different country that you can actually afford to live in, despite it being an accident at work that made you unable to work.
I blame the massive growth of the financial sector, in the us and the uk for falling living standards, and I don't see that changing for a long time. So I think you are better off not being there.
However I do still think you might find you like mexico, as it seems, from this distance, which is a long way off, to be changing quite fast, and in a good way. And there are lots of opportunities on the internet, for doing different things.
I just think people are approaching retirement in a different way now, I know people who have had the same, or a similar job, for years, who have been redundant, and don't know what to do. because they have always thought that they had planned their lives, and it would all go according to plan.
But things are changing, the loss of safe jobs for people who want them is a bad thing, but there are definitely new opportunities for people who are willing to look beyond safe jobs, and the internet opens door to that.
@blackrusty (3519)
• Mexico
12 Mar 13
I was a nurse and i have a person fall an me that ruined my back for life crushing a part of my spine
@blackrusty (3519)
• Mexico
12 Mar 13
life hits us all in one form or the other this goes for any place in the world we need to protect our selfs
@Hopefull90 (921)
• United States
12 Mar 13
We only have a retirement because we were able to sell off houses we left behind when we moved and sold some of them for more than we paid. I think our daughter is trying to spend our retirement for us.
@scorpiobabes (7225)
• United States
12 Mar 13
I wish!
I'm 41 now, and I think I've got a mere $2200 to my name. Unfortunately, I've never made a lot of money, and never really worked anywhere that had a 401k. Right now, I've found it quite difficult to find a job where we live, so I'm interested in moving somewhere else.
What scares me is that I have multiple sclerosis, and that makes it difficult for me to do physical work, which is all I seem to be getting hired for. Funny thing is-I have my associate's degree!
@rekhum (2420)
• India
12 Mar 13
Sorry to hear your marriage did not work and whatsoever happened after that! No they don't pay SSI in the country I live. So people who are on retirement live with whatever they have saved. In most cases, children look after them (as in joint families). I plan to retire with some decent savings or i might ended up rearing farms or cattles..lol.
@blackrusty (3519)
• Mexico
12 Mar 13
well that is a good plan but you realy need to think about it when your young
@elsino91 (440)
• Poland
11 Mar 13
Where I live it has become a well known fact that the present generation cannot rely on the government to provide us with a pension that would satisfy the average living needs once it reaches the retirement age. Our population is aging, right now the number of people turning 65 is the most its been in a long time, when our turn comes there will be even less people to provide us with our pension. That's why everyone here knows that he or she must save to provide their own pension themselves and not leave it in the hands of the state.
@blackrusty (3519)
• Mexico
11 Mar 13
well it is still sad that I was forced to move to a foreign country just to live
@BettyandAnthony (47)
• United States
12 Mar 13
Yeah parents always tell the sons or daughters to save up when they are young, but they never listen and they go out and spend there money every where that makes them happy.
@blackrusty (3519)
• Mexico
12 Mar 13
thank you for the reply and that is so true they dont know what it was like or what is coming
