The unemployment rate is hitting record highs, perhaps even heading higher than during the Great Depression. About 30 million Americans have lost their jobs in the last two months alone and, sadly, more will follow. For some, that’s devastating. For others, whose income comes from pensions, Social Security, investments or other sources, having a job is not necessary to make ends meet.
What about you? Do you need to work full-time to pay your bills? Or does part-time work keep you in the black?
Or do you take a job seasonally, for example working at an Amazon warehouse during the holiday season, or part-time for a few months in the summer as a work camper at an RV park?
If you are self-employed, that counts, too. Maybe you sew doll clothes and sell them at flea markets. . .
Please answer the poll. But, remember, it can take a few moments to load, so stand by.
Wow.
Upon seeing the survey results…….
I’m pissed.
Now I know how all those Prevost owners vote………
A little jealous, rollin? A lot of our readers (majority, I think) are retired seniors who worked hard and saved all of their lives to get to where they are today. I’m 73 and started working summers, evenings and weekends at age 12 while I was still in school, and have worked (more than) full-time for the past 56 years. I’m helping my sons make their huge mortgage payments so they don’t lose their homes. I feel extremely fortunate that I have this so-called “job” (I have too much fun to think of it as work) and can assist them so that they don’t lose their homes and have to move back here. (Ah ha! She has an ulterior motive! 😉 ) But I’m certainly not “pissed” at anyone who has worked hard to get to where they are today. Good for them! 😀 —Diane
I’m not a financial advisor, but I would say to people who are worried about their investments that the WORST thing to do is to get out of the stock market during a downturn. If you have a well diversified stock portfolio or mutual fund, it will come back. You will want to reduce what you take out of it as much as possible, or even buy more if you can.
I never did believe in the stock market. It just never made sense. It seems it is for people looking to get rich quick. Most of my money are in annuities, with a guarantied interest rate of 4%. So, with all this panic, I have not lost a cent, but actually making 4% on my savings.
I can get by with my pension plus Social Security, so no, I do not “need” to work to make ends meet. I work part-time for the satisfaction. The money earned allows me to keep the truck and RV I would have had to sell otherwise, and to travel and camp with them. It is very nice to be able to live above a purely “need” level.
Another reason for me too keep working is this. I have two grandsons who are 2 years and younger. Try to help out with when we can. Whether it’s food or clothing.
Not going to buy a 100k new pick up, but we are doing fine with retirement and investments. Might do park work or summer work some day for fun but all in all things are great being retired!
I should add that my husband was a pastor and missionary so it’s not like we ever made much money to begin with. We live frugally too. But some jobs just don’t set you up for retirement as well as others.
Boy, I can tell most of the people answering are retired folks who had good retirement plans. Not too many of those left and I suspect those who have to work are either younger people, or those who retired without those cushy plans. i know I won’t even be able to afford to retire, let alone survive on retirement alone.
We didn’t have a cushy retirement plan from an anyone other than ourselves; husband was self-employed. We knew social security wouldn’t be enough to live on after retirement, therefore during our 20s thru 60s when we were working we scrimped, saved, did without, and lived within our means so that when we did retire we wouldn’t have to drastically change our lifestyle. We planned ahead and are now living a comfortable life that WE made possible for ourselves.
Need to work? No, retirement income is fine. Want to work? After 10 weeks in the Q we found ourselves really bored. We landed summer work in the Yellowstone area. We’ll get to see one of our favorite NP’s, meet lots of folks (socially distanced and masked for a while) and see a great part of the country. Oh and make a little spending money to boot!
Another category (for us) is to work seasonal for extra money for other purchases such as new tires or refrigerator for our class A.
We don’t work for wages however we depend on volunteer camp hosting in exchange for a free full hook-up campsite. We volunteer about 8 months each year and it really helps to not have to pay park fees since we are full-timers.
Should have had one more category, “don’t have to work to make ends meet, but does.” I could easily get by on what I have, but I enjoy the people I work with, the extra spending money and the sense of accomplishment.
Neither of us have to work yet to make ends meet. We just live very frugally. If the stock market does not come back, well…
I need to work seasonally to make ends meet but I am a 58 year old full timer with no retirement income yet.
The survey results show just how heavily readership bends towards retirees… The concept of work being optional blows my mind at first reading. That said, as for retirees, my Dad finally retired at 80 this winter, and C19 crashing the market just erased much of his retirement funding without time to recover…
Planning helps, but nothing can prevent catastrophic plan interruption. I started working at 12. Started planning retirement at 18. A combat injury required reassessment but moved on. Fortunately we never had any deep financial problems. Now at 72 and married 50 years my income is greater now than ever, more than we spend and can enjoy helping others. Perhaps over planned but never did without. Have been selling investments for years and still need to divest more.
Planning early and being fortunate. My friends that are ok say the biggest dent in their plans came not from health problems but from divorce at some point.
That last line: Preach, brother. My divorce cost me EVERYTHING that my best 30 years of working had put away towards stability. It SUCKS to restart back to highschool financials at 50 just because I was too trusting…
My wife of 50 years and I have lived below our means, saved our money, invested, and now we don’t have to worry about money in retirement.
Here’s my situation. I work full time but if I did not have a job we could make it on my wife’s income. In 2008 when I lost my full time job and worked just part time jobs we made it just fine. Although I did worry.
At this moment our finances are fine but we are very concerned about the future. Will our investments take a sharpe decline? Will we stay healthy?
Now we really prioritize our major expenses to absolutly need vs want. RV trips will be shorter in time and distance. We have found our RV travels very theraputic. It would be very hard to stop RVing completely.