10 Ways to Lower Retirement Costs

widow

My husband died at the age of 52. I collected widow's benefits ASAP. His income was high and he paid the max in SS. At age 78 I am working (7 years) and collecting his SS. I am on disability from my job with the government and have a very good health policy, as well as paying for medicare. I have just signed up for the drug program with AARP and will pay about $34. a month. I have been paying the medicare costs for the past 7 years along with the health insurance from work. I will hope to return to work in a few weeks to complete the months to leave with the health policy. Is it financially better to cancel the medicare when I return to work in order to have more cash to live on?

patricia cala of CA @ Oct 31, 2009 20:13:05 PM

adult child in parent's home

children can stay at home and contribute to household expenses

carol of WI @ Sep 23, 2009 18:54:51 PM

What about time together?

My husband has worked hard all this life. He has two small pensions coming in while working full-time at a third career. He is planning on scaling back work to 24 hours per week. We are tired of not having time to spend together while we still have our health at ages 60, and 61. He is considering getting early social security at 62. It will cut our income by at least half if he does this. But so what? What value time spent together enjoying life? If we have to cut everything out or down, so be it!! You won't regret not working til you drop on your last day of life; but you WILL regret not spending time with those you love. We have a mortgage, a second mortgage, and some credit card debt. We won't have extra money if he follows through on his plan, but we will manage. Also, we are raising a granddaughter who is 17 now. Have had her for 9 years!! Just a different perspective, I guess!

Barbara T. of WA @ Aug 02, 2009 14:36:27 PM

Retired Airline Employee

Being retiree's from an airline has been pretty good for my wife & I for approximately 27 years.With my pension and the

added social security money, we were able to pay our house off

in 1996-then the balance was only about 24 thousand dollars--

this saved more in interest. But of course,the property taxes

have increased annually,and with our modest income-we do not

qualify for the additional 25k homestead exemption.And,we still

live in poverty,due to the low modest annual income.

Our worry to day is that If the Obama administration decides

to cut the medicare services, social security funds,and if the

PBGC runs out of money--there goes our pension too. As my wife

will tell the world--we are very thankful for what we have,and

if more people felt that way--we'd all be able to enjoy our

lives as we have to look forward today.Thank You.

James B.Porter of FL @ Apr 16, 2009 00:07:44 AM

reverse mortgage

we just closed on a reverse mortgage and besides not having any house payments for the rest of our lives, we added 87K to the nest egg. If anyone is considering a reverse mortgage...this is a win win situation.

william clark of AZ @ Apr 14, 2009 16:08:04 PM

Ten Ways to Wreck Your Retirement

The list Ms. Brandon gives about keeping retirement costs low is very sound advice. However, there are also mistakes people can make with their savings which even her advice can't solve. To see what these mistakes are and advice on how to avoid them, read the National Center for Policy Analysis' policy report: Ten Ways to Wreck Your Retirement at http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/st320.pdf.

For more advice on retirement issues, go to http://retirementreform.org/

Allison H. of TX @ Apr 14, 2009 15:34:03 PM

lower retirement costs

I had already started many of the items mentioned in the article. Moved into small apartment, share with my daughter.

I have always used coupons and taken advantage of senior deals.

Keep the ideas coming.

Carole Peltz of OH @ Apr 14, 2009 13:18:29 PM