http://babyboomersus.net/ Baby Boomers U.S. Forum Topic: OLD AND BROKE, THIS AIN'T NO JOKE en Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:34:26 +0000 http://babyboomersus.net/topic/old-and-broke-this-aint-no-joke#post-215 Mon, 24 Oct 2011 15:43:47 +0000 DrChristine 215@http://babyboomersus.net/ <p>I thougth the Dumb Ass Club was started when someone heard my story. I made it througth Medical School, lived below my means and had a great savings. Left practice early because of health issus, still had alot socked away. Several BAD investments and now searching for another way to bring in cash. </p> http://babyboomersus.net/topic/old-and-broke-this-aint-no-joke#post-204 Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:36:01 +0000 debv54 204@http://babyboomersus.net/ <p>Hey Janey, can I join your club too ?????? </p> http://babyboomersus.net/topic/old-and-broke-this-aint-no-joke#post-86 Sat, 16 Oct 2010 14:20:56 +0000 bob3660 86@http://babyboomersus.net/ <p>I'll volunteer for the DA club as well. I made a better-than-average income as a psychotherapist, and I banked a fair amount of money over the years. As a sideline, my wife and I were avid real estate investors here in California and we walked away from it all with 7 figures. </p> <p>LIke dumbasses ourselves, we INVESTED our life's savings; not in retirement accounts, but through stocks and mutual funds through Merrill Lynch. Our broker there went out of his way to convince us to put the bulk of our money into high-tech stocks and other similar ventures. Rather than DOUBLING what we had invested, as anitcipated within a few short years, WE LOST EVERYTHING in 2003/2004 when the stock market took its first major dump in many, many years!</p> <p>So...we're back to square one now, almost. We still live in a nice home in Discovery Bay, and my wife and I still each make a decent living fortunately, but like MANY baby boomers out there, we'll be relying on our monthly social security checks for the bulk of our income a few years down the road! </p> http://babyboomersus.net/topic/old-and-broke-this-aint-no-joke#post-63 Mon, 05 Jul 2010 10:48:10 +0000 Joe Hauckes 63@http://babyboomersus.net/ <p>Hey JaneyB,<br /> Welcome. Mind if I join your Dumbass club? I am surely one of the non-planning-for-retirement type of dumbass. &lt;img src=&quot;http://babyboomersus.net/my-plugins/pb--bb-smilies/default/icon_redface.gif&quot; title=&quot;:oops:&quot; class=&quot;bb_smilies&quot; /&gt; </p> http://babyboomersus.net/topic/old-and-broke-this-aint-no-joke#post-57 Thu, 10 Jun 2010 07:29:38 +0000 JaneyB 57@http://babyboomersus.net/ <p>Quiz: What if you reach retirement age with only a paycheck or two in the bank?</p> <p>Answer 1: Dumbass. Why didn’t you invest?</p> <p>Answer 2: Dumbass. Why didn’t you plan for retirement?</p> <p>Answer 3: Dumbass. You expect the world to hand you life on platter?</p> <p>Okay, I’m a dumbass. But the cruel reality is, I don’t have extended family to move in with. My kids are near starving and they live 2500 miles away. My only other relative is a sister, and she’s broke too. She had the audacity to spend her life as a wife and mother and then a schoolteacher. What a dumbass.</p> <p>Me, I must take the Dumbass World Cup. I went to college and wanted to do pre-med, but I was discouraged from this because it was so hard for girls to get into medical school in those days. So I studied art (are you kidding?) because in those days everyone thought some guy would marry and provide for you. Alas, no such savior turned up. At twenty nine I went to graduate school in social work, did well and got a job in social work. (What a dumbass! Didn’t anyone tell you what salaries social workers earned?)</p> <p>Well I spent most of my life doing the work of the angels (or being a sucker, as some would have it) and I just got to a salary level where I could put money aside for retirement a few years ago. I plan to work ‘til I’m seventy so I should have about 100K to provide for my old age. Let’s hope my old age is brief; 100K isn’t much nowadays.</p> <p>Well, I’m polishing up my tin cup. When the 100K runs out, I plan to beg at rich peoples’ houses. Especially those radical Christians. They make such a big deal of their Christian values, of course they’ll help me out. Right? </p>