<p>"working as a fashion model or an actress. " - this are very hard jobs, I do not think that these people are happy. They have to sacrifice so much, practically their entire life. For most of them, their lives are ruined, they do not have any private life whatsoever. It is not very attractive, unless one is a very strong individual who can survive, but there are very few of those out there.<br>
'“a computer programmer, if you love what you do and are still competent, you can work as a contractor until the day you die.” - nope, nobody will keep you that long, contractors positions are way overglorified. Most contractors wnat to be employees as far as I know. Everybody knows how old we are and many other info about us. Some stranger came to my door couple days ago. She knew the languages that I speak. Very scary, there is nothing that is unknown about us. And I am not even on any social media, I thought that for the most world, I do not exist. Boy, I was sooo wrong!!!
“The only thing stopping you from working till you die is yourself.” this is very incorrect and untrue statement, not sure about basis for it. I have been out of work 9 times. And this statement is saying that it was my fault. Well, you can continue believing in what you want to believe, but I will stick to facts that are known to me from my life experience. This facts tell me that whenever I lose my current job, that will be it for me. This is truth, not your incorrect statement that has no basis.</p>
<p>miamidap, my kids know high schoolers and college students that contract out their services. If you can do the work, you can get the work. You do not have to work for a company to stay employed, though it may be more desirable. If you have not even looked into contracting, then how can you possibly know? There is a reason that kids are getting hired right out of college in this field, many starting at over 100K. It’s because their skills are in demand. Now you may not have updated your skills to be marketable, and that would be a problem.</p>
<p>But if you have already determined that as soon as you lose your job, this is it, you won’t be able to work again and you will be miserable, that will be your future. However, if you can get beyond the thought that your future is set, and that you can’t do anything to change it, perhaps you could stay in the field that you love. My point in bringing up fashion models or actresses is that it is very difficult for women to get work in those fields as they get older. Especially the fashion models.</p>
<p>I think there are some personality attributes that contribute to a long and happy life. The ability to evolve, to try new things, to never give up. The ability to not have the mantra that, “I’m old now, so I can’t do the things I want. I can’t, I can’t, I can’t. I don’t even want to try to figure out a way.” I hope I never feel like that.</p>
<p>In fact, here is one link to flexible and telecommuting programmer jobs. There are probably hundreds of these sites out there, seeking people to do contractor, part time and telecommuting jobs. There is huge demand. Many companies and individuals don’t want to hire a full time employee with benefits, but need a project completed. If I was afraid I was going to lose my job and be miserable, I would start looking around before it even happens. Not necessarily applying, but just looking. Purely because you have not tried this before, doesn’t mean that this avenue doesn’t exist.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.flexjobs.com/jobs/telecommuting-programmer-jobs”>http://www.flexjobs.com/jobs/telecommuting-programmer-jobs</a></p>
<p>I forgot to add, my next door neighbor, who is in his early seventies, is a programming contractor. And that guy is always busy. He works way too much. But he always has a smile on his face.</p>
<p>H is retired now after 45 years of employment. I am still working part-time at my non-profit, which I plan to continue as long as it is still as I still enjoy it and feel I am helping folks. It doesn’t pay much in financial terms but has allowed me to do things that no one else in our state was doing and influence some national conversations. It has been a great niche I created for myself. When H’s old colleagues call him, he goes out to lunch with them and gives them what information and knowledge and assistance he can. He’s happy to be able to putter around our home at his own pace and schedule. ;)</p>
<p>Yes, HImom, there are all sorts of ways for people to stay involved in the work that they love, after they stop working.</p>
<p>For example, in a field such a programming, even if one decided they didn’t want to contract in one of the highest demand, flexible fields out there, they could volunteer. Walk into any non-profit or volunteer organization, volunteer those sort of skills, and they’d probably cry out with joy to have such a person help them. Or even if one didn’t want to do that, there are so many workbooks out there with problems to solve, in many disciplines. My dad (mid eighties) just loves the Schaums math series. He will stay up until very late at night, just working those problems, for no other reason that he loves to do it. He doesn’t need to get paid, he’s just having fun.</p>
<p>Personally, I can’t imagine liking math that much, but whatever makes him happy! I used to keep thinking I was losing my college books, until I’d find them beside his bed. </p>
<p>Ok. The s&p 500 has declined 3.5 percent from its top and nobody has had to change retirement plans. That’s good. :)</p>
<p>Sorry to interupt the discussion between a gloomy poster who sees socialism everywhere and another gloomy poster who thinks the govt is going to take all our money while planting the ebola virus into thousands or millions of people.</p>
<p>Should be a very uplifting discussion!</p>
<p>I’ve been seeing a lot of mention recently of ETFs – specifically “dividend paying stock ETFs”. Would anyone be willing to take a stab at explaining the difference between an ETF and a regular mutual fund, and why an ETF might be better in some situations?</p>
<p>
???</p>
<p>Notrichenough, if you dont get it, you are better off. :)</p>
<p>I think dstark is having a cranky day. Making up things to start trouble.</p>
<p>Smiley face icon.</p>
<p>An ETF is an exchange traded fund. The three differences are</p>
<ol>
<li><p>An ETF trades like a stock during the day, rather than having to be redeemed from the mutual fund company at the end of day value.</p></li>
<li><p>ETFs often have lower commissions (but that depends on the broker and the specific ETF or mutual fund).</p></li>
<li><p>While an open-ended mutual fund can always be redeemed at the net value of the underlying stocks (plus whatever sales fee is applicable), the price of the ETF can diverge from the net asset value.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I think that’s everything.</p>
<p>Notrichenough, is there a ss site that tells you how much you have paid into the system?</p>
<p>Thanks notrichenough for the link. That was very helpful. It is correct that I will not get a pension for teaching only 3 courses. I only have a “savings” account with the state teacher retirement system, and it is minimal. But I didn’t have a choice at the time. It was required that part of my salary was redirected to the system. I asked what happens if I withdrew the money and rolled it over to my own retirement account, and was told it didn’t matter – I will still be penalized, since I was in the system for whatever amount of time. It appears I may be short of the 30 year requirement to avoid the penalty by only 3 years!!! (due to time off during young child-bearing years). It helps if the maximum penalty will only be 50% of my state retirement savings account, since it is so small. The state representative had told me it could be up to 2/3 of my SS benefit! Maybe I need to talk to a different state rep.</p>
<p>@kjofkw, the rep might well be right. It could be up to 2/3 of your SS benefit, in the same way that my net worth might be up to 2/3 of Warren Buffett’s; he was describing the legal limit which had nothing to do with its likelihood. I know that my WB example stinks, in that there’s no legal limit to my net worth relative to WB’s, but be charitable. </p>
<p>
If you log on to you “my Social Security” account, you can see your earnings record for every year.</p>
<p>Here’s the link to create an account or log in:</p>
<p><a href=“Social Security”>Social Security;
<p>It includes the total taxes you’ve paid:</p>
<p>
Estimated Total Taxes Paid
For Social Security For Medicare</p>
<p>Paid by you: $121,657 Paid by you: $36,174
Paid by your employers: $127,382 Paid by your employers: $36,174
So I’ve got almost $250K in. If I work until FRA at anything close to my current salary, I’ll have well over $400K in. I’ll be in my 80’s before I get my “investment” back, forget about any return on my investment.</p>
<p>^… and if SS were an investment, it might be a pretty bad one, but we all know that it’s not an investment so why are we confusing apples and trombones?</p>
<p>“So I’ve got almost $250K in. If I work until FRA at anything close to my current salary, I’ll have well over $400K in. I’ll be in my 80’s before I get my “investment” back, forget about any return on my investment”</p>
<p>In that case, you’d better live a really long time, to make it pay off!</p>
<p>busdriver - Interesting telecommuting link. </p>
<p>I’ve sometimes wondered if there coulfl be a “work for minimum wage and medical benefits” contracting company, to provide seasoned programmer and professional help for nonprofits. </p>
<p>
If SS was an investment, people would be in jail because a 0% cumulative return over 40+ years would be criminally fraudulent.</p>
<p>Lots of people consider it their god-given right to receive benefits since they’ve paid into it. Politicians do nothing to disabuse people of this notion.</p>
<p>
Your lips to god’s ears. :D</p>