Saving for Retirement

As I sat and sewed this morning, I was listening to our local AM radio station. There was a representative from ING being interviewed, and she was discussing the options when we reach the age of retirement. One of those options is to not start taking Social Security at 62, but to put off receipt of those payments until one reaches 67. Another option, she stated, was to take a part-time job during retirement.

And it scared me because, to be blatantly honest, I have not thought one bit about what my husband and I will do when we reach that "golden age". We live paycheck to paycheck, hand-to-mouth, right now ... we have NO savings account, I am afraid to even admit. What our kids are going to do when they want to go to college is beyond me because we have dealt with a number of blows to our finances, including lost jobs and a terrible economy.

What has happened? Where has the time gone? I keep thinking "shoot you are just 41. There's no need to get all bunged up about it now." We have always said "live for the moment" because we never know when those moments will be taken away from us. However, those "live for the moment" moments ... they are getting closer and closer to 50. And then 60.

My parents ... they live on a fixed income ... my Dad's Social Security. And it pales in comparison to what he was receiving when he was a broker for a real estate agency. I have witnessed things that my Mom has had to do in order to make payments. I have watched her scrimp a few dollars here to add it to the measly amount of money they receive each month.

So that prolonging until I am 67 ... really? Is it going to be there, and is it going to be enough? I hate to watch my parents struggle as they do. Medications, doctor's visits, mortgages... all to be paid with a small amount of money each month.

Word has been going around between my sister and I of who will "take" my parents when they can't make the mortgage anymore, or Dad can't keep up the property the way he needs to. My sister has offered because she does have a 2000 square foot home and it is just she and my brother-in-law. Of course, that will enter them into another realm, and she will truly be the epitome of the sandwich generation. But I know my parents: they won't do it.

So while I am worried about our lives, I witness the lives of my Mom and Dad as they struggle along. I witness what is to come, what could possibly be us in 29 years. If I thought these 41 years went by in the blink of an eye, 29 seems like a heartbeat.