sassyangel
Drama Llama
Posts: 7,456
Jun 26, 2014 23:58:32 GMT
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Post by sassyangel on Mar 20, 2019 20:14:21 GMT
I will retire at 57, DH will be 60. It is sad that some Americans do not want better benefits like earlier retirement, healthcare, maternity leave, paternity leave and better vacation leave. I really do not believe I pay that much more in taxes for all of the benefits. Everyone wants those things. Of course they do. Who in their right mind wouldn't? The actual disagreement is in how to achieve that. Disagreeing with how that's acheived doesn't mean they don't want it. Well some countries have managed to achieve that. Maybe instead of disagreeing point blank, you look at how it’s achieved and adapt?
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M in Carolina
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,128
Jun 29, 2014 12:11:41 GMT
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Post by M in Carolina on Mar 21, 2019 1:52:21 GMT
I had an interesting conversation with a local in Prague and asked where he'd learned his excellent English. His dream growing up was to move to America where his uncle lived and he did in his early 20s. He had his own business, home and cars and felt he's hit the American dream jackpot until on a visit home saw that the only thing he had that they didn't was he had a bigger truck. They worked far fewer days/week and traveled more. He moved back to Czechia and started his own business. Microsoft is another company that has brought dentists and doctors onto their campuses. It isn't primarily to add value/convenience for their employees' lives. People were going for those services off campus, taking an afternoon or morning off, and putting them on campus means you are only out of your office for an hour. We are watching all of our Canadian friends retire between 55 and 60. None of our American friends are considering this because of healthcare. I think of all the jobs that could be freed up. Cisco also has onsite doctors, lab, physiotherapy, vision, and specialists via video conferencing. The doctors are much better than the other ones in the area because they have fewer patients and have time to spend with you. There’s also an on-site gym. It’s really helpful to be able to walk to another nearby building for a doctor’s appointment instead of having to take off the afternoon because traveling to and from the doctor’s office takes at least an hour or more depending on traffic. Rob also likes being able to get a really good, healthy but inexpensive breakfast.
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pyccku
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,817
Jun 27, 2014 23:12:07 GMT
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Post by pyccku on Mar 21, 2019 3:02:23 GMT
I will retire at 57, DH will be 60. It is sad that some Americans do not want better benefits like earlier retirement, healthcare, maternity leave, paternity leave and better vacation leave. I really do not believe I pay that much more in taxes for all of the benefits. Everyone wants those things. Of course they do. Who in their right mind wouldn't? The actual disagreement is in how to achieve that. Disagreeing with how that's acheived doesn't mean they don't want it. DH and I plan to retire in 2025. I’ll be 53, he will be 55. We will both have comfortable pensions but...The health insurance is expensive enough here in the US that we are planning to move to Europe for 10 years until Medicare kicks in. This isn’t an option for everyone obviously.
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Post by tara on Mar 21, 2019 5:51:43 GMT
Am I the only one who thinks retirement is not all that it’s cracked up to be? Everyone I know who is retired is miserable. I don’t ever see my husband retiring even though we could afford it in a few years. I guess the difference is he doesn’t have a physical demanding job, he likes it and he’s good at it. The only thing I would like to do is travel more but we are older with younger children so that would make it tough anyway. And to tell you the truth, we have been married for 30 years and have a great marriage, but if I had to spend that much time with my husband, I think I would throat punch him.
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pyccku
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,817
Jun 27, 2014 23:12:07 GMT
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Post by pyccku on Mar 21, 2019 12:19:29 GMT
Am I the only one who thinks retirement is not all that it’s cracked up to be? Everyone I know who is retired is miserable. I don’t ever see my husband retiring even though we could afford it in a few years. I guess the difference is he doesn’t have a physical demanding job, he likes it and he’s good at it. I think as long as you have a plan to occupy your time and stay active, it can be enjoyable. If we were going to retire and sit around the house all day? No, might as well just keep going to work. I have an online business that brings in a lot of passive income. I can add to my product line whenever I like - or take a break. The plan after I retire from teaching is to keep busy doing that. And we also want to travel. So we're looking at doing the digital nomad thing - pick a home base for 3-6 months and move around. The list of countries we'd like to live in for a while is pretty long, so we shouldn't have any trouble filling up the 10 years! DH and I are both language people, so we'll enjoy the challenge of learning the basics of several languages as well.
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Post by threegirls on Mar 21, 2019 12:49:43 GMT
Despite our work customs we have people from around the world who come here every day who want to work in the USA.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 8, 2024 1:20:59 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2019 12:56:07 GMT
Despite our work customs we have people from around the world who come here every day who want to work in the USA. So has other countries to be fair, they are equally as diverse in their population.
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Post by jeremysgirl on Mar 21, 2019 13:00:12 GMT
Am I the only one who thinks retirement is not all that it’s cracked up to be? Everyone I know who is retired is miserable. I don’t ever see my husband retiring even though we could afford it in a few years. I guess the difference is he doesn’t have a physical demanding job, he likes it and he’s good at it. The only thing I would like to do is travel more but we are older with younger children so that would make it tough anyway. And to tell you the truth, we have been married for 30 years and have a great marriage, but if I had to spend that much time with my husband, I think I would throat punch him. I can definitely see your point, here. Retirement is far away from me and I don't know what I'll do. I like my job quite well. I know management will be a possibility within 8-10 years and while right now is a bad time, 8-10 years from now might be perfect for me. Who knows how that will play out for me? I'm trying to keep my mind open. Right now, though, I'm really wishing I had the empty nest thing going on. I feel like I'm at the crescendo of parenting right now. I just keep saying, keep going, keep going, almost through it. So yeah, empty nest/retirement looks darn good right now....lol....
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Post by wordfish on Mar 21, 2019 13:18:44 GMT
Everyone wants those things. Of course they do. Who in their right mind wouldn't? The actual disagreement is in how to achieve that. Disagreeing with how that's acheived doesn't mean they don't want it. DH and I plan to retire in 2025. I’ll be 53, he will be 55. We will both have comfortable pensions but...The health insurance is expensive enough here in the US that we are planning to move to Europe for 10 years until Medicare kicks in. This isn’t an option for everyone obviously. I considered this myself. I should have EU as well as UK citizenships in the next year or two, so we could go and hang out indefinitely. What stops me is proximity to the children as well as being not 100% there financially. My husband will have two pensions but I just have what we’ve put in retirement accounts. I am sort of thinking it’s doable by the time I am 60, though.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 8, 2024 1:20:59 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2019 16:04:06 GMT
DH and I plan to retire in 2025. I’ll be 53, he will be 55. We will both have comfortable pensions but...The health insurance is expensive enough here in the US that we are planning to move to Europe for 10 years until Medicare kicks in. This isn’t an option for everyone obviously. I considered this myself. I should have EU as well as UK citizenships in the next year or two, so we could go and hang out indefinitely. If you don't mind me asking how are you getting both. I thought you were American?
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Post by tara on Mar 21, 2019 16:18:57 GMT
Am I the only one who thinks retirement is not all that it’s cracked up to be? Everyone I know who is retired is miserable. I don’t ever see my husband retiring even though we could afford it in a few years. I guess the difference is he doesn’t have a physical demanding job, he likes it and he’s good at it. The only thing I would like to do is travel more but we are older with younger children so that would make it tough anyway. And to tell you the truth, we have been married for 30 years and have a great marriage, but if I had to spend that much time with my husband, I think I would throat punch him. I can definitely see your point, here. Retirement is far away from me and I don't know what I'll do. I like my job quite well. I know management will be a possibility within 8-10 years and while right now is a bad time, 8-10 years from now might be perfect for me. Who knows how that will play out for me? I'm trying to keep my mind open. Right now, though, I'm really wishing I had the empty nest thing going on. I feel like I'm at the crescendo of parenting right now. I just keep saying, keep going, keep going, almost through it. So yeah, empty nest/retirement looks darn good right now....lol.... Some days empty nest sounds good. What I wouldn’t give for some quietness at times.
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Post by librarylady on Mar 21, 2019 16:26:17 GMT
You need to widen your circle of friends and your current friends need to widen their horizons.
DH has been retired 15 years now. I have been retired 8. We are both happy and content. I will say the key to enjoying retirement is not to have money worries. We are lucky enough to have savings to allow us to travel and not worry about money.
We paid our house off about 8 years before he retired. If we still had a house payment, I'd sell this and downsize so that I had no house payment.
The other key to enjoying retirement is to get involved in activities outside your home. DH read ? before he retired and that article said to do something productive (your definition of what is productive) every day. He follows that advice. We both garden and do volunteer work. I am part of a couple of social groups.
I am very happy to be retired.
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Post by carly1030 on Mar 21, 2019 17:09:02 GMT
Learning more about other countries is ruining America for me. Start a caravan, bust up there and demand they take you.
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Post by mrst on Mar 21, 2019 17:16:00 GMT
I retired ,from ill health, at 52 on a full pension. My dh retired soon after and we went to live in our Spanish apartment. We do what we want, when we want. We spend most of our time together and really enjoy each other's company. I craft a lot, drink a lot of coffee and wine with friends. We are lucky enough to be able to take 2 or 3 long cruises or holidays every year. I really don't t know how I found time to work! I did have a job I'd worked hard for and really enjoyed, although at the end the whole thing was just too much. I hadn't really planned to retire so early and if I'd stayed with my ex I don't know if it would have worked as well. You have to see retirement as the start of something not the end.
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Post by rockymtnpea on Mar 21, 2019 17:22:06 GMT
Mrst...I love how you said that...retirement is the start of something not the end. I am going to use that.
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Post by gar on Mar 21, 2019 17:38:40 GMT
Despite our work customs we have people from around the world who come here every day who want to work in the USA. Of course...America is preferable to some other countries depending on what you want and what you’re leaving behind. Doesn’t mean it’s perfect or that some aspects couldn’t be improved.
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carhoch
Pearl Clutcher
Be yourself everybody else is already taken
Posts: 2,991
Location: We’re RV’s so It change all the time .
Jun 28, 2014 21:46:39 GMT
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Post by carhoch on Mar 21, 2019 19:02:17 GMT
I have live 30 years in Switzerland and 25 in the USA and I believe that if you mixed the two you get a near perfect country
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Gennifer
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,996
Jun 26, 2014 8:22:26 GMT
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Post by Gennifer on Mar 21, 2019 19:52:08 GMT
Learning more about other countries is ruining America for me. Start a caravan, bust up there and demand they take you. Fuck off.
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Post by carly1030 on Mar 21, 2019 20:07:09 GMT
Start a caravan, bust up there and demand they take you. Fuck off. Triggered!
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Post by threegirls on Mar 21, 2019 20:07:59 GMT
Despite our work customs we have people from around the world who come here every day who want to work in the USA. Of course...America is preferable to some other countries depending on what you want and what you’re leaving behind. Doesn’t mean it’s perfect or that some aspects couldn’t be improved. I never said America was perfect.
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Gennifer
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,996
Jun 26, 2014 8:22:26 GMT
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Post by Gennifer on Mar 21, 2019 20:50:11 GMT
Nope. Just not dealing with you and your fake persona bullshit.
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Post by AussieMeg on Mar 21, 2019 22:17:05 GMT
Am I the only one who thinks retirement is not all that it’s cracked up to be? Everyone I know who is retired is miserable. This stuns me, and is the complete opposite to my experience. Everyone I know who is retired is incredibly happy with retirement. My dad retired at 55 just in time for his first grandchild to be born, and has had the most amazing time travelling and gardening and catching up with friends, minding the grandkids etc etc for the last 22 years. All of my other retired friends and family are also having the time of their lives travelling etc. I can't wait!
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Post by tara on Mar 22, 2019 2:25:43 GMT
I retired ,from ill health, at 52 on a full pension. My dh retired soon after and we went to live in our Spanish apartment. We do what we want, when we want. We spend most of our time together and really enjoy each other's company. I craft a lot, drink a lot of coffee and wine with friends. We are lucky enough to be able to take 2 or 3 long cruises or holidays every year. I really don't t know how I found time to work! I did have a job I'd worked hard for and really enjoyed, although at the end the whole thing was just too much. I hadn't really planned to retire so early and if I'd stayed with my ex I don't know if it would have worked as well. You have to see retirement as the start of something not the end. My husband and I have a great marriage. We are best friends but he’s a people person. I’m not. I need a lot of alone time. I like to have routine and he interrupted it. There was only one time in our 30 year marriage he was in between jobs and that was for a month. We had three stories. We would be on the bottom floor and I would start to need space. I would go to the next floor. He would follow me. I would go to the next floor after awhile. He would follow me. He was used to being around people. His friends were still working, it was winter so he couldn’t get out that much. I understood so I didn’t tell him I was moving rooms because of him. I love him more than life itself but I can only take anyone so much. One of his hobbies is cooking but that even caused problems. I gained so much weight that month!
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Post by carly1030 on Mar 22, 2019 2:51:00 GMT
Nope. Just not dealing with you and your fake persona bullshit. Put your pussy hat on and it will be ok. They are a bunch of good looking women
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Post by wordfish on Mar 23, 2019 0:07:23 GMT
I considered this myself. I should have EU as well as UK citizenships in the next year or two, so we could go and hang out indefinitely. If you don't mind me asking how are you getting both. I thought you were American? I am an American for sure. But my father was born in London at the end of World War I. His mother was Irish. I technically already am a British citizen through my father, but I have to submit the paperwork (it costs something like 750 pounds, if I recall correctly). For the EU (Irish) citizenship, I qualify under my grandmother, who died in 1925 in Boston. I spent a good bit of time tracking down her death certificate, birth certificate in Southern Ireland, marriage certificate (London), and then I already have my dad's birth certificate. I also needed my parents' marriage certificate and my dad's death certificate, I believe. I can't remember. I have it all collected and it's ready for me to start filling out the paperwork and submitting. It was really kind of thrilling waiting for the documentation to come in and we learned a lot about my father's family that we did not know, because his mother died when he was a young boy and his father abandoned them. Anyway, the Irish citizenship, because it goes back one generation further, required much more documentation but is cheaper. As soon as I finish school, I am going to pick one and get it submitted and then I will work on the second one.
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wellway
Prolific Pea
Posts: 8,762
Jun 25, 2014 20:50:09 GMT
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Post by wellway on Mar 23, 2019 10:27:36 GMT
If you don't mind me asking how are you getting both. I thought you were American? I am an American for sure. But my father was born in London at the end of World War I. His mother was Irish. I technically already am a British citizen through my father, but I have to submit the paperwork (it costs something like 750 pounds, if I recall correctly). For the EU (Irish) citizenship, I qualify under my grandmother, who died in 1925 in Boston. I spent a good bit of time tracking down her death certificate, birth certificate in Southern Ireland, marriage certificate (London), and then I already have my dad's birth certificate. I also needed my parents' marriage certificate and my dad's death certificate, I believe. I can't remember. I have it all collected and it's ready for me to start filling out the paperwork and submitting. It was really kind of thrilling waiting for the documentation to come in and we learned a lot about my father's family that we did not know, because his mother died when he was a young boy and his father abandoned them. Anyway, the Irish citizenship, because it goes back one generation further, required much more documentation but is cheaper. As soon as I finish school, I am going to pick one and get it submitted and then I will work on the second one. The Irish passport office is inundated with applications, 230,000 since January. Hopefully, when you apply the demand will have eased. www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2019/0316/1036773-passports-numbers-record/
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Post by disneypal on Mar 23, 2019 12:28:23 GMT
I understand a bit what the author of the article is saying but when I google - I see the population of Switzerland is about the same as New York City so it seems a bit unfair to compare the 2 countries in some of the aspects.
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Post by wordfish on Mar 23, 2019 12:35:37 GMT
I am an American for sure. But my father was born in London at the end of World War I. His mother was Irish. I technically already am a British citizen through my father, but I have to submit the paperwork (it costs something like 750 pounds, if I recall correctly). For the EU (Irish) citizenship, I qualify under my grandmother, who died in 1925 in Boston. I spent a good bit of time tracking down her death certificate, birth certificate in Southern Ireland, marriage certificate (London), and then I already have my dad's birth certificate. I also needed my parents' marriage certificate and my dad's death certificate, I believe. I can't remember. I have it all collected and it's ready for me to start filling out the paperwork and submitting. It was really kind of thrilling waiting for the documentation to come in and we learned a lot about my father's family that we did not know, because his mother died when he was a young boy and his father abandoned them. Anyway, the Irish citizenship, because it goes back one generation further, required much more documentation but is cheaper. As soon as I finish school, I am going to pick one and get it submitted and then I will work on the second one. The Irish passport office is inundated with applications, 230,000 since January. Hopefully, when you apply the demand will have eased. www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2019/0316/1036773-passports-numbers-record/I had sort of figured that might be the case with Brexit looming, and all the Brits who qualify for Irish citizenship probably taking that route if they wanted to retain their EU citizenship. I was also thinking that UK citizenship might not be as hot a ticket at the moment due to the same. I likely would have just stuck with one or the other but then the Brexit thing happened. There is also a Portuguese diaspora citizenship by descent for which I likely qualify but I believe one of the requirements is learning Portuguese, plus it would be through my father's father, whom we suspect was born in Portugal but have not tracked down. I figure I will just stick with the first two and stop acting like I think I am Jason Bourne with a passport collection.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 8, 2024 1:21:00 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2019 14:06:07 GMT
Learning more about other countries is ruining America for me. I learned this stuff about 15 years ago and it made me laugh and laugh about the "children are our most valuable asset" bs that so many American politicians and businessmen espouse and then promptly forget when it comes to policies, regulations and laws that back that sentiment up.
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