"This isn't going to work out exactly the way I'd planned."

[TJ_98370]

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Baby boomers who'd expected to quit work by now discover they can't afford it. Blame the meltdown.......
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......The triple whammy of the housing bust, the weakening economy and the turbulent stock market affects most Americans, but few are as shaken as leading-edge baby boomers on the brink of retirement. "There's a lot of sheer panic out there," says financial planner Bert Whitehead of Cambridge Advisors. For many boomers who'd planned the stereotypical retirement play of selling their house and downsizing to a sun-belt condo, falling home values and a lack of offers have put those plans on hold......
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....... Washington State real-estate agent Pili Meyer, 62, says many of her 55-and-older clients are held in suspended animation by homes that just won't sell. Their most common sentiment: "This isn't going to work out exactly the way I'd planned." Typical are Jim and Jane Shefler of Port Angeles, Wash., who put their house on the market last April for $445,000. Since then they've cut the price to $399,000 and offered to provide seller financing to a qualified buyer. With no takers, they've moved into a rental near Seattle, and Jane, who turns 58 this week, has gone back to work part time. "It's probably caused more emotional disruption than financial disruption," says Jim, 59. But their retirement will remain slightly crimped until they convert their home equity into investments that provide a monthly income.....
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[redmondjp]

Ummmm, now where again does it say that one's house is the financial means by which one survives on after retirement?

The way I remember it, the common wisdom was to have the existing house completely paid off well before one retires, such that one could continue to live there for the long term on a lower, fixed income.

[rose-colored-coolaid]

I've seen this first hand. Just the other day, a coworker mentioned they would be retiring soon...just as soon as they could sell off their house. They were hoping it would only take a couple months, and I didn't have the heart (or know them well enough) to suggest that 9 months is probably more likely. Their problem is they bought their retirement home already and can't afford payment on both houses once they retire (or maybe even today...)

Either way, this falls into 'cry me a river territory'. I save a significant amount of my paycheck today (in my 20s) so I will be able to retire. If you didn't start saving until age 53, then don't blame a downturn in the housing market for why you can't retire at age 62.

[redmondjp]

I'm with you on this one, RCC--anybody who buys a second home before selling their first home (and can't afford to hold both for some time, along with being unwilling to discount the first home in order to sell quickly) is an idiot.

Whatever happened to contingencies? Have they gone the way of common sense?

Your house is like any other item than can be bought/sold/traded--in the final analysis, it is only worth what a buyer will give you for it, at that exact point in time at which you are trying to sell it.

[ira s]

You're a rare bird, RCC, most Americans are terrible savers.
I had a client who did that exact thing: buy first and then sell. She had two mortgages to pay for a few months as a result, but did she listen to me, her practicality minded real estate agent? No. I told her to sell first,and to take her time looking to buy because prices were falling, but she had visions of homelessness. she couldn't quite grasp that reality had changed. She thought that all these other buyers would be beating her out with higher than asking price offers, waiving the inspection, etc.

[rose-colored-coolaid]

[Alan]

RCG sounds like me. I've been contributing to my IRA since I was 17.

And now it looks like Bernake wants to inflate our way out of this mess.

[TJ_98370]

What's equally disturbing for soon-to-retire folks is a lack of safe places for their funds that provide a decent return. Is there anything better than CD's with a 3.5% interest rate? With the stock market being so volatile and bonds losing value, there are not alot of choices right now if you're looking for short-term returns.

[rose-colored-coolaid]

[Markor]

[Markor]

[Markor]

[rose-colored-coolaid]

[Markor]

[rose-colored-coolaid]