For those of us that grew up in the 50’s and 60’s, we lived in an era where you finished high school or not, but could still get a well paying job with a local company, and like your parents this was to be a job for life. You worked hard, had an enjoyable life, bought and paid for a house and even put a few dollars away for retirement. These funds along with the pension you worked so hard to secure, through strikes and contract negotiations, would see you through retirement.
With the arrival of the 90’s this had all changed or was in the process of changing. I grew up in the Niagara Peninsula; long term employers like Horton Steel, Fleet Aircraft, Atlas Steel and John Deer to name a few, had all pulled up stakes or gone out of business. The companies still in business where quickly changing from a defined benefit pension to contributory individually managed pension plan.
The recession of 2008 /09; has seen a large loss in the stock market that has made significant impact on those close to retirement. The big question is what should each of us do to rebuild our pension nest egg? What can we do?
For those who still have a job, you could just wait it out and hope. For those close to retirement it is not so simple. Your choices seem to be either delay retirement for both you and your spouse or find other streams of income. This is not where you expected to be at this point in your life. Stay tuned for some thoughts on the alternatives.
Interesting points, look forward to your thoughts on alternatives!