How can people afford expensive cruises?

[sail7seas]

I think you are out of touch of what these professions pay across the nation. NYC or SF you may be right. Flyover country no so much.

 

 

I agree the salaries for most of the named professions are much higher in Boston and NYC, however, so is the cost of living.

 

We may earn more but it costs us more to live to the same standard than it does in 'fly over' states.

 

[Kamloops50]

I don't know what world you live in but there is no way any of those I put in bold are making $125k or less unless they are terrible at their jobs. I still don't believe they are living as described on $125 - $48 on $77k a year. 4br room house in nice neighborhood the taxes are at least $200 a month and then utilities, cable, gasoline, groceries, etc. this assumes no mortgage. if they are good for them then they could certainly afford to vacation in the style they would like. I said ONLY because she said a professional? which to me means a Doc, Lawyer, Vet, CPA, etc.. when someone says my husband is a professional I don't think clergy or window washer. Now, I understand why when the wife was a head nurse in neurosurgery she would hire Canadians nurses in country on green cards if pay is that bad up there. Hell I'll bet some of the better room stewards on cruise ship pull down close to that a year.

 

The reason Canadian RN Grads go to the US is because working conditions are better. In the US they get fixed shifts , most weekends off and better benefits.

In Canada they get part time work ,no fixed shifts etc. This has been going on since my wife was in nursing some 35 years ago. Just getting worse thru time.

 

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[LindaM]

Obviously you don't read the median salary reports that are posted on the internet often.....Architecture is one of the college majors frequently mentioned not to go into...median salary...$60K! http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Architect_(but_not_Landscape_or_Naval)/Salary

 

As for CPA's - Median salary is $60K also. The upside on this one is probably better than Architects however.

 

Taxes on house....LOL! We're in a high property tax state, we pay much more than $200/m

 

We live in the same area, so our frame of reference is similar. I really don't think the Vets on Harper are making $125,000---but I could be wrong. I also was of the understanding that the Pharmacists in our area made around 90,000. But...what do I know???

[OpalGem]

It is a matter of priorities...same as people who seem to have fancy cars, or trucks to pull their boats, or any other "toy" that some people have. That is their priority, and they choose to spend (or borrow) their money that way.

 

In our case, I would tend to agree with your philosophy. We don't have children, we worked a heck of a lot during our working years (I averaged over 700 overtime hours a year), and we saved like crazy. We didn't have the "toys" mentioned above, nor did we take many expensive vacations then. We did make more money than you are currently. Now we are enjoying the benefits of our hard work and savings.

 

We don't have children at home and I am still working. DH retired last year! However, I don't have alot of new clothes, carry my lunch and save to the 401K. But I decided that 'cruising is my enjoyment.' So two to three times a year, I look for bargains and catch the great deals as they come. We look for adventure travelling togather with friends & family by taking the train; renting our van(s) or using other newer methods of travel besides airfare to get where we need to be to catch a ship. Life is short....have FUN!!!

[kimanjo]

I don't know what world you live in but there is no way any of those I put in bold are making $125k or less unless they are terrible at their jobs. I still don't believe they are living as described on $125 - $48 on $77k a year. 4br room house in nice neighborhood the taxes are at least $200 a month and then utilities, cable, gasoline, groceries, etc. this assumes no mortgage. if they are good for them then they could certainly afford to vacation in the style they would like. I said ONLY because she said a professional? which to me means a Doc, Lawyer, Vet, CPA, etc.. when someone says my husband is a professional I don't think clergy or window washer. Now, I understand why when the wife was a head nurse in neurosurgery she would hire Canadians nurses in country on green cards if pay is that bad up there. Hell I'll bet some of the better room stewards on cruise ship pull down close to that a year.

 

I can assure you, it can be done, WE do it. we are 50 & 51

 

DH is an IT professional, (I dont work, I manage our 3 income properties, and take care of the household) and we save 80K a year, and live on the other 80K.

 

When I say, we live frugally, I mean it. ON purpose...Our house was built in 1974 (we downsized once the kids moved out). For example, our bedroom furniture is our original from marriage in 1986. The sofa I am sitting on is 15 years old. No fancy clothes, cars. Our one BIG indulgence is our golf membership. We could spend that money on a cruise, but that would only last 10-12 days, we golf 12 months a year. It keeps us in shape, together, and active.

 

We take one cruise a year.

 

Our financial planner reminds of the statistics listed in a previous poster post all the time. We will not enter retirement with less than 2 million in retirement savings.

 

Do we miss out on some "luxuries". Of course we do, but as many people say its priorities. Saving is our number one priority. But even if we wanted to spend $$ on a second cruise, DH couldn't take the time off, so it's not even possible.

 

Very few people can have it both ways, save a huge chunk AND live luxuriously. I don't think what works for us works for most people.

[kitty9]

Really good points but worth mentioning that just by our traveling/cruising to every corner of the world we are contributing to those less fortunate. The tourism industry provides the majority of revenue for many location. It is the largest segment for providing work and revenue for village, town and city services.

 

A great many families depend upon tourism dollars/pesos/yen etc to put food on their table.

 

 

YES, YES and YES. And cruise lines like Crystal have a cruise volunteer program where instead of taking a regular tour, passengers volunteer their port time by going to schools, orphanages and other places to do good works in the poorest communities.

[Sherlock43031]

I can assure you, it can be done, WE do it. we are 50 & 51

 

DH is an IT professional, (I dont work, I manage our 3 income properties, and take care of the household) and we save 80K a year, and live on the other 80K.

 

When I say, we live frugally, I mean it. ON purpose...Our house was built in 1974 (we downsized once the kids moved out). For example, our bedroom furniture is our original from marriage in 1986. The sofa I am sitting on is 15 years old. No fancy clothes, cars. Our one BIG indulgence is our golf membership. We could spend that money on a cruise, but that would only last 10-12 days, we golf 12 months a year. It keeps us in shape, together, and active.

 

We take one cruise a year.

 

Our financial planner reminds of the statistics listed in a previous poster post all the time. We will not enter retirement with less than 2 million in retirement savings.

 

Do we miss out on some "luxuries". Of course we do, but as many people say its priorities. Saving is our number one priority. But even if we wanted to spend $$ on a second cruise, DH couldn't take the time off, so it's not even possible.

 

Very few people can have it both ways, save a huge chunk AND live luxuriously. I don't think what works for us works for most people.

 

wonderful.. doesn't sound much like living to me with only enough time off once a year for a cruise I hope you live long enough to enjoy it. btw, we still use our original bedroom furniture my wife bought in 1970 while I was in Vietnam.

[calliopecruiser]

I don't know what world you live in but there is no way any of those I put in bold are making $125k or less unless they are terrible at their jobs.

 

Actually, those were taken primarily from US statistics of average salaries for those professions - that includes new grads and those who've been doing it for 30 years, those who work in NY and those who work in small town Wyoming. For a couple of them, they're taken from people I know in those professions, but backed up by the US statistical data. Many people like to think those in professional jobs are making a lot, but the truth is they usually aren't.....Even many doctors and lawyers aren't making a lot, but they're averaged with some that are making huge amounts, so the average is higher.

[Kamloops50]

I get paid 26 times per year. Automatically every I have $300 deposited in government bond account. I save $7800 a year to cover Xmas and car insurance. I'm left with about $5000 for travel . We save for 2 years then go for a cruise. I start looking for cruises that don't seem to sell well or book two years out. We had a Hawaii cruise on a balcony for under $2500 with air and balcony. Then a 14 day Alaska cruise came on sale for $800 for two on a 14 day roundtrip.

 

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Edited October 26, 2013 by Kamloops50

[kimanjo]

wonderful.. doesn't sound much like living to me with only enough time off once a year for a cruise I hope you live long enough to enjoy it. btw, we still use our original bedroom furniture my wife bought in 1970 while I was in Vietnam.

 

 

If one is not retired, What you get off from work, is what you get. We can't manufacture more.

 

If "living" means buying "stuff", well then, guess we're not...

 

We cruise once a year, with vacation time from work. Save our money. Works for us.

Edited October 26, 2013 by kimanjo

[wassup4565]

We scrimped and saved through all our working years, and those habits are still well-ingrained. Now, suddenly, we are well set up for the few years left in our lives, as well as providing a legacy for our only child. Nevertheless, in general, we still look for value (both dollar and intrinsic) in everything we do.

 

This was instructive for me. A valued friend of long-standing asked me to go on a cruise with her on her cruise line of choice. She told me she "loved the luxury." I agreed to go and pay the extra - wanted to try it out and also like this person a lot and wanted to spend time with her.

 

I found the "luxury" experience that I paid extra for was hardly different from cruises I had previously taken on RCI. Well, yes, there were terry robes and slippers in the room. We got four "specialty dining" reservations included in the fare. But otherwise? Yeah, service and food was pretty much the same. I won't be doing this again, and certainly not for about $2000 more than another similar cruise would have cost. Four specialty meals and a cheap robe and slippers don't add up to $2000 for me.

[Lerin]

My sister and I are both in our 50s, married to professionals, have incomes of about $125K per year and own 4BR/2BA suburban homes in affordable areas, drive "average" cars like a 2010 Toyota Camry, and don't have small children in our households. We put moderate amounts--between $2000 to $4000 a month--away towards retirement. We consider ourselves middle-class.

 

When you say you have incomes of about $125K are you talking abut family income or your own? If you are talking about you and your husband together then that could be the reason you are not taking grand voyages.

$250K income year can buy some nice cruises. ;)

[ducklite]

I can assure you, it can be done, WE do it. we are 50 & 51

 

DH is an IT professional, (I dont work, I manage our 3 income properties, and take care of the household) and we save 80K a year, and live on the other 80K.

 

When I say, we live frugally, I mean it. ON purpose...Our house was built in 1974 (we downsized once the kids moved out). For example, our bedroom furniture is our original from marriage in 1986. The sofa I am sitting on is 15 years old. No fancy clothes, cars. Our one BIG indulgence is our golf membership. We could spend that money on a cruise, but that would only last 10-12 days, we golf 12 months a year. It keeps us in shape, together, and active.

 

We take one cruise a year.

 

Our financial planner reminds of the statistics listed in a previous poster post all the time. We will not enter retirement with less than 2 million in retirement savings.

 

Do we miss out on some "luxuries". Of course we do, but as many people say its priorities. Saving is our number one priority. But even if we wanted to spend $$ on a second cruise, DH couldn't take the time off, so it's not even possible.

 

Very few people can have it both ways, save a huge chunk AND live luxuriously. I don't think what works for us works for most people.

 

We are in almost the same situation as you, except that I work full time and we no longer own investment properties--we cashed out at the peak of the market and am still glad that I had the foresight to understand the real estate cycles and get out when we did.

 

Like you, there is no way we'll retire without at least $2M, we're now hoping to be closer to $3M, not including equity in the house which by the time we sell should be another million or so. We want to be able to enjoy retirement without worry that my husbands pension will go broke or we won't get SS.

 

We vacation yearly, but generally do something relatively inexpensive one year and more expensive the next. Last year was three weeks in Europe, this year was a cross country road trip where every hotel and all but one breakfast were free with accrued hotel points. Total cost was under $3000, and we had primo seats to a Cirque show in Vegas, went to Disneyland and California Adventure, and ate at a couple of Michelin starred restaurants. It was a great adventure that allowed us to see a lot of friends along the way on a modest budget. Next year is Tahiti, the following year is London, but we'll rent a flat and eat most meals there. Airfare will be covered with miles, so total cost for a couple of weeks will be around $4000.

 

We live fairly modestly, although we do allow ourselves splurges now and then. We bought new furniture when we bought our current home in 2004 and expect it all to outlive us--the exception being the mattress and springs and the kitchen barstools which were cheap to begin with and have already lasted longer than expected. We also have a long paid for roadster which we like to go for rides through the countryside in.

 

We rarely eat out, usually it's because we are attending a charity event or have won a gift certificate in a charity auction. I love Chipotle, but have it for lunch when I can expense it to my company. ;).

 

I'd rather live frugally and be able to travel to great destinations on small ships every other year than take five cruises to the same Caribbean and Bahamas ports on a lower end mass market cruise every year. Life is just too short for that.

 

 

Autocorrect responsible for most typos...

[Bookish Angel]

We save a substantial amount mostly because we are servicing no debt and realize we have to retire without any guarantee of Social Security or other supplemental income. Some of the savings goes to the life priority of travel, but it is a small portion.

 

We can and do very easily do without new cars, a bigger house, the latest phones or other gadgets, etc., but we will not do without travel, a lot of which is land-based in off seasons but still good higher-end travel. We don't care for luxury travel, preferring expedition-type trips to remote places. Still pricey but not as much as some luxury trips.

 

We want a comfortable retirement similar to our present lives and so far, it looks as if that will be the case but anything can happen so we keep squirrreling money away and keep reducing our expenses except for travel.

[Waterloomarc]

I didn't notice where OP lives (and it took too long for me to read this whole thread that I'm not going to check!) but in some areas $125k is still pretty darn good money.

 

I grew up outside of Toronto and even when I was in college over a decade ago now (yikes that happens fast!) $125k wasn't much and I'm sure it's much less now. I live in the suburbs of Birmingham and make about that now and relatively speaking live pretty well. Could I afford a Luxury cruise? Yes but probably only 1 every other year. Wife and I would rather cruise more often less lavishly. Of course I have fantasies of just going whole hog and doing it anyway but the realities of getting burnt out at work and needing a vacation outweigh that. We had to go this last year without a vacation because of my wife's pregnancy. Okay we chose to, her company doesn't offer maternity leave so we opted to skip vacations and save the money so she could stay home as long as she wanted. But it was rough! I wouldn't want to do that again just to pay for a luxury cruise. It really made me realize how important vacations were to our mental health!

 

Anyway I had 2 points that I wanted to make and I've started rambling...back on task. First is I suspect there are more than we would think on these lavish cruises up to their eyeballs in debt and behind on many things. I always say it would be amazing how much stuff I could afford if I only paid each of my bills every 3 months.

 

Secondly, the property tax estimate listed earlier isn't accurate for what I think would be a large area of the country. While I'm sure that's accurate or even low for an urban area in a "have" state there's a lot of fly-over states. For instance tax on my 4 bed/3 bath house is only $711 a year. That's alone puts me $2100 closer to cruising than the assumption of $200/mo ;)

 

Edited to add we still work so for us a luxury cruise would be limited to 2 weeks at the max so that's why I say I could possibly afford it. No way I could ever swing or justify a $50k 2 month cruise. Maybe in another 30 years!

 

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Edited October 26, 2013 by Waterloomarc

[Sherlock43031]

I didn't notice where OP lives (and it took too long for me to read this whole thread that I'm not going to check!) but in some areas $125k is still pretty darn good money.

 

I grew up outside of Toronto and even when I was in college over a decade ago now (yikes that happens fast!) $125k wasn't much and I'm sure it's much less now. I live in the suburbs of Birmingham and make about that now and relatively speaking live pretty well. Could I afford a Luxury cruise? Yes but probably only 1 every other year. Wife and I would rather cruise more often less lavishly. Of course I have fantasies of just going whole hog and doing it anyway but the realities of getting burnt out at work and needing a vacation outweigh that. We had to go this last year without a vacation because of my wife's pregnancy. Okay we chose to, her company doesn't offer maternity leave so we opted to skip vacations and save the money so she could stay home as long as she wanted. But it was rough! I wouldn't want to do that again just to pay for a luxury cruise. It really made me realize how important vacations were to our mental health!

 

Anyway I had 2 points that I wanted to make and I've started rambling...back on task. First is I suspect there are more than we would think on these lavish cruises up to their eyeballs in debt and behind on many things. I always say it would be amazing how much stuff I could afford if I only paid each of my bills every 3 months.

 

Secondly, the property tax estimate listed earlier isn't accurate for what I think would be a large area of the country. While I'm sure that's accurate or even low for an urban area in a "have" state there's a lot of fly-over states. For instance tax on my 4 bed/3 bath house is only $711 a year. That's alone puts me $2100 closer to cruising than the assumption of $200/mo ;)

 

Edited to add we still work so for us a luxury cruise would be limited to 2 weeks at the max so that's why I say I could possibly afford it. No way I could ever swing or justify a $50k 2 month cruise. Maybe in another 30 years!

 

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is that even legal these days?

 

wow must be nice.. I live outside of a small hick town in Ohio.. 2400 sq ft ranch, 3 br, 2 ba, 25yo house. last year the taxes were $4400 plus a 1% income tax for the schools on top of that.

Edited October 26, 2013 by Sherlock43031

[sail7seas]

 

<snip>

 

 

Secondly, the property tax estimate listed earlier isn't accurate for what I think would be a large area of the country. While I'm sure that's accurate or even low for an urban area in a "have" state there's a lot of fly-over states. For instance tax on my 4 bed/3 bath house is only $711 a year. That's alone puts me $2100 closer to cruising than the assumption of $200/mo

 

<snip>

 

 

 

In our area, an average working person's three bedroom 2 bath house on 10,000 sq ft lot pays real estate taxes at least $3,400 yearly. MANY are far higher.

 

Edited October 26, 2013 by sail7seas

[greatam]

I don't know what world you live in but there is no way any of those I put in bold are making $125k or less unless they are terrible at their jobs. I still don't believe they are living as described on $125 - $48 on $77k a year. 4br room house in nice neighborhood the taxes are at least $200 a month and then utilities, cable, gasoline, groceries, etc. this assumes no mortgage. if they are good for them then they could certainly afford to vacation in the style they would like. I said ONLY because she said a professional? which to me means a Doc, Lawyer, Vet, CPA, etc.. when someone says my husband is a professional I don't think clergy or window washer. Now, I understand why when the wife was a head nurse in neurosurgery she would hire Canadians nurses in country on green cards if pay is that bad up there. Hell I'll bet some of the better room stewards on cruise ship pull down close to that a year.

 

 

I didn't notice where OP lives (and it took too long for me to read this whole thread that I'm not going to check!) but in some areas $125k is still pretty darn good money.

 

Anyway I had 2 points that I wanted to make and I've started rambling...back on task. First is I suspect there are more than we would think on these lavish cruises up to their eyeballs in debt and behind on many things. I always say it would be amazing how much stuff I could afford if I only paid each of my bills every 3 months.

 

Secondly, the property tax estimate listed earlier isn't accurate for what I think would be a large area of the country. While I'm sure that's accurate or even low for an urban area in a "have" state there's a lot of fly-over states. For instance tax on my 4 bed/3 bath house is only $711 a year. That's alone puts me $2100 closer to cruising than the assumption of $200/mo ;)

 

 

 

 

The figures for income, property taxes and house values in the second post is probably closer to reality for a much larger portion of the USA than other figures.

 

In Arizona (Phoenix area-6th largest city in the nation) average salary for police/fire is about $63,000, engineers-about $80,000, attorneys-about $95,000, teachers-$45,000, management-$100,000. My vet, who is a close friend and owns the practice, nets less than $100,000, although she is building a lot of equity in her new building.

 

A 4 bedroom, two bath house with pool in a new residential tract type community-$205,000. Property taxes-about $1800 per year.

 

Move just slightly out of Phoenix metro area (30 miles from city center-Buckeye going West or Apache Junction going East) and you can get the same 4 bedroom, 2 bath house built by the same builder for $145,000 with taxes less than $1200 per year.

 

Move out where I am-almost 100 miles from city center-I have the same size house on 3.5 acres with a HUGE, COVERED year round pool, large 3 car garage with shop that I paid $42,500 for in 1998, spent $35,000 renovating (not counting building the garage) and pay property taxes less than $900 per year. Some of the best jobs for engineers, skilled trades and IT in the Phoenix area are within 30 miles of my house (Palo Verde Nuclear Generating plant-USA's largest nuclear plant).

 

Move to Northern Missouri where my farm and another office is. The most expensive house in the area is probably $130,000 if you could find someone to buy it. In fact, someone with big time money moved into the area in 1990 to build the USA's second largest hog confinement company (Premium Standard Farms), spent $800,000 in materials alone building a house with imported Italian marble and stuff you would only see in $5-8 million dollar houses in California and then moved back to NYC. The house sold for $230,000 on 40 acres and it took 3 years to find a buyer (retired couple from Kansas City). I'm not sure what the property taxes are for that property but I do know for my own farm (160 acres with an old farm house that has been extensively renovated) plus a 50,000 square foot warehouse/office facility and a 1800 square foot truck repair facility plus parking for 16 semi trucks and trailers, I pay slightly more than $2000 per year total.

 

And then I have a little crapped out house I purchased in 1970 while I was still in college in the neighborhood by Cal State LA. Built in 1929, just slightly over 1000 square feet, 2 small bedrooms, 1 bath, small kitchen, the dining room is twice the size of the kitchen. I bought it in 1970 for $12,000 minus windows and a LOT of leaks in the roof. It sits on a 1/2 acre hillside lot with great views of downtown LA. I put about $30,000 into the house before I moved out in 1976. That little piece of crap is worth $280,000 in today's market and was appraised in 2004 for $386,000. The taxes for that piece of property cost me more than the taxes in Missouri and Arizona combined, including another 40,000 square foot warehouse/office facility in Arizona on 20 acres. The rent I charge barely covers the upkeep and property tax payments but I have had the same tenants for 14 years, so consider myself fortunate.

 

So not only is it a matter of priorities, it is where you live. As my example shows, moving 30 miles often saves a LOT of money. And there are many, many people in the USA who consider a 30 mile commute very normal. In the LA area, I have a lot of friends and acquaintances who think nothing of driving from the Riverside/Fontana area to Orange County or downtown LA for work. About 60 miles each way. Some may want to rethink where they live if they want to save more money for luxury cruises. JMHO

[Gloria Mundi]

I'd rather live frugally and be able to travel to great destinations on small ships every other year than take five cruises to the same Caribbean and Bahamas ports on a lower end mass market cruise every year. Life is just too short for that.

 

We're in a position similar to yours. We live frugally for the most part, own one car (DH is 75 and does a little freelance work from home, I'm 60 and work FT). Last year's cruise cost $6K for the cruise alone, next year's will be similar, so not quite in the stratosphere the OP cited. This year we went to Paris but used airline and hotel points so not a lot out of pocket. Our kids are out of college and on their own, we're reaping the rewards of a lifetime of saving, and we live in a flyover state with low fixed costs. People who knew our net worth would consider us rich but we don't look or live like it other than our travel.

[blackpool belle]

Personally I would not scrimp and save for 30 odd years just to have a cruise once a year once retired. Life isn't a dress rehearsal it's for living ... NOW! I am a great believer in the saying Carpe Diem.

[Lionesss]

Traveling one big vacation for us is a must from the time we both said "I Do!"

We both have post graduate degrees, and are currently supporting our DH as she starts college life.

We live modestly

Paid off our 30 year morgage in 18 years.

Still eat out once a week (not extravagant).

Use credit card for all purchases but, pay in full every month....(last cruise cashed out $2600 as bonus)

Addicted to GS or above on RCI.

For upcoming cruise in July 2014, money already in bank.

 

Wish we could travel more, but, in time, maybe.

Sea Ya

[Gloria Mundi]

Really good points but worth mentioning that just by our traveling/cruising to every corner of the world we are contributing to those less fortunate. The tourism industry provides the majority of revenue for many location. It is the largest segment for providing work and revenue for village, town and city services.

 

A great many families depend upon tourism dollars/pesos/yen etc to put food on their table.

 

 

That's not a terribly efficient way to help people in developing economies. Most of the jobs generated are of the "do you want fries with that" variety- probably better than subsistence farming but not much upward mobility. How much of the revenue from Diamonds International is channeled into providing better schools for the local kids? If you want to help people in developing economies, give directly to charities you trust- don't count on money to trickle down from what you and the cruise line spend in port.

 

Personally I would not scrimp and save for 30 odd years just to have a cruise once a year once retired. Life isn't a dress rehearsal it's for living ... NOW! I am a great believer in the saying Carpe Diem.

 

There's a happy medium. I'm 15 years younger than DH and I hope he's up for travel when I retire but I can't count on it. It's one of the reasons we take a major trip every year. OTOH, those stats about what the average person has saved (or doesn't have saved) for retirement are downright scary. One way or another the taxpayers are going to end up supporting them in the forms of Medicaid nursing homes, subsidized housing, food stamps.. and I fully expect my SS to be taxed away completely to be given to those who could have saved, but didn't. I shudder for my son's generation which will have to foot the bill.

Edited October 26, 2013 by Gloria Mundi

[Sherlock43031]

That's not a terribly efficient way to help people in developing economies. Most of the jobs generated are of the "do you want fries with that" variety- probably better than subsistence farming but not much upward mobility. How much of the revenue from Diamonds International is channeled into providing better schools for the local kids? If you want to help people in developing economies, give directly to charities you trust- don't count on money to trickle down from what you and the cruise line spend in port.

 

 

 

There's a happy medium. I'm 15 years younger than DH and I hope he's up for travel when I retire but I can't count on it. It's one of the reasons we take a major trip every year. OTOH, those stats about what the average person has saved (or doesn't have saved) for retirement are downright scary. One way or another the taxpayers are going to end up supporting them in the forms of Medicaid nursing homes, subsidized housing, food stamps.. and I fully expect my SS to be taxed away completely to be given to those who could have saved, but didn't. I shudder for my son's generation which will have to foot the bill.

 

the problem with those numbers about saving for retirement includes everyone. there is a huge population of folks that aren't saving (or saved) for retirement because they can barely put food on the table. then you have another huge group of folks who have lived most their life's on welfare, food stamps, etc. who assume they will continue to be supported.

 

the old man was a steel worker with a nice pension and money in the bank who could have retired at 55 and lived nicely but he kept working and saving every dime. Retired at 62, spent the winter in FL came back and Mom died of cancer 6 months later. Oh well, every dime he saved was another 3 cents for me.

 

both kids got grad level college educations and started out with zero student loans.. I told them they may have to put money in the bank to cover the last check we write.

 

what I got after HS was drafted, got married before leaving for RVN, came back to a wife and baby, busted my butt and started out as a computer operator and worked second trick so the wife an RN could work days, first job was $2.95 an hour to start. worked there 5 years, next job I worked 10 years for a small retail company that became huge and left there with a ton of free stock, third job and last I worked for 23 years retired as Sr Wireless Network Engineer and made north of $125k (everyone in our group did). I put the max amount into their 401k and got 6% matched dollar for dollar. so I figure it's ours to piss away as we see fit.

Edited October 26, 2013 by Sherlock43031

[calliopecruiser]

the problem with those numbers about saving for retirement includes everyone. there is a huge population of folks that aren't saving (or saved) for retirement because they can barely put food on the table. then you have another huge group of folks who have lived most their life's on welfare, food stamps, etc. who assume they will continue to be supported.

 

Or both! There's a article in the paper this morning about how McDonald's employee help line is advising McDonald's employees to apply to food stamps to augment their below-poverty-level income from working full time at their restaurants.

[ellasabe]

Personally I would not scrimp and save for 30 odd years just to have a cruise once a year once retired. Life isn't a dress rehearsal it's for living ... NOW! I am a great believer in the saying Carpe Diem.

 

I see you are residing in the UK, which has quite a different retirement program than what we have in the US. Also, correct me if I am wrong, but don't real property owners (i.e. homeowners) hold only 99- or 100- year "leases" on their property? If so, then if I, too, were a UK resident I would have little incentive to invest money into my home property, because it's really not mine at all. Here in the US, as you know, our home is ours and can be disposed with however we wish, meaning, it can be passed down from generation to generation. Likewise, I would have very little motivation to save for old age, as things in the UK vary a great deal compared to the US.

 

I have more than a few Brit friends (and my mum is British) and they talk about the UK "never-never" lifestyle, where a person one can never get ahead financially, by investing now and coming out affluent in the future. With that kind of economic and social framework, I can understand why the Carpe Diem mentality in the UK is prevalent. As you are aware, here in the States we don't have the social welfare safety net (yet) as in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. That is both good and bad: good, because if we choose to live frugally now we can reap the rewards later; bad, because if we spend it all now won't have anything later.

 

Also, most of us here in the US have only 1 or 2 vacation weeks a year. If we are higher up in the career ladder, we are either afraid to take more time off, are owners of our own business and therefore unable to take much-needed time off, or so overwhelmed with chores that need be done around the house/children/elderly parent caretaking that we have limited free time. Thus, the only opportunity we have to take extended and/or costly cruises is in our retirement years.

 

They don't call it "Yankee work ethic" and "Yankee thrift" for nothing!

Edited October 26, 2013 by ellasabe