With the declining of oil in Alaska and the lower 48 still recovering from the recession, which thank goodness hasn’t impacted Alaska as much as it has in the lower 48, my economic quandary is should I let my husband retire or not.
This might seem an easy question, but with the future of Alaska’s economy unknown and health care still on the rise, it is very difficult. The question should be, when will we be able to retire and where should we retire. Once retirement was easy to figure out, you bought a house, worked X number of years, got your gold watch, and then walked into the sun set. But today it is much different. One needs to look at everything before deciding to retire. For example, with Anchorage’s economy based largely on property taxes, will we be able to afford to retire here in Anchorage or will we have to find a “cheaper” place to retire? With a reduced income everything needs to be looked out. With the current increase of fuel, utilities, and food, this is defiantly impacting our retirement date.
Quality of life plays an import part of the retirement question. Quality of life is dependent on Alaska’s economic stability. Are oil companies going to keep investing in Alaska to help stimulate the economy or will they go elsewhere? Is Alaska going to diversify or are we able to diversify? As we learned throughout this class, we have many resources that haven’t been tapped into yet. All of these questions affect the quality of life in Alaska and in Anchorage.
My bottom line is that if you are not planning your “exit” strategy from you current job, you better start. This includes planning all known expenses, kids in college, home paid off, unexpected medical costs. If you follow your retirement plan, hopefully whatever the local economy is doing won’t affect your retirement date but it could ultimately impact your quality of life in your golden years.
So to answer my question, should I let my husband retire, I don’t think so. Not right now, maybe in a few years. I want to wait and see where Alaska / Anchorage goes with the current decline in oil revenue and will the natural gas line every happen. And he doesn’t know this, but he will have to at least work until the kids are out of college not his current plan of retiring while the kids are still in high school.
Laurie Keene
Retirement is all about opportunity costs. By not retiring your outstanding husband is forgoing the opportunity of something else. This “something” may have monetary value, and it may not. He may be passing up another job (with less hours) he is qualified for that could be gravy on top of his retirement pay. Or, he may be passing up quality time with his daughters in their critical high school years when he could be dropping them off every day and blowing them kisses in front of their friends. If he does retire, the main opportunity cost is the reduction of income. I think your on the right track Laurie by listing out the pros and cons. Ultimately, however, the decision should be left up to the one that wears the pants in the family.
ReplyDeleteI am four years away from retirement. At that time I’ll ask my wife if she’ll let me retire or not. :-)
Kenneth Hays
Wait-what is retirement? I've heard people use that word, but for me it's in the same category as Atlantis or Shagri La. My real fear as that by the time I get around to thinking about retiring there will not be any retirement left! I am paying into the system with the expectation that I will someday get something back for it, but as someone who is more than 30 years away from retirement age I think that it is a valid concern that when it is my turn there might not be anything left for me. Add to that the fact that people in my generation are waiting later to have kids, so my children will probably still be in college when my husband and I are contemplating retirement. But at this point in our nation college tuition is growing disproportionately to the amount that our incomes are growing. So will we even be able to afford college for our kids in 25 years??? My sister is going to a state school and a 4 year undergraduate degree is currently the price of a new home. There is truly a painful irony in the fact that a teacher's income may not be enough to afford to pay for their child's college education!
ReplyDeleteNow back to your question...should you let your husband retire? Ultimately you have to weigh the costs and benefits...not only economically, but considering health, happiness, and many other things. Can you and your husband 'afford' for him to retire?...and if he doesn't retire yet, but knows that he is ready every way except financially, then how long is he willing to stay working just for the money? People do things all the time that they can't 'afford' and they make them work...so if he wants is bad enough (and you are ready/willing to let him) then you will both be able to make it work. Good luck!
Fauna Reynvaan