Family relationships have really taken a downturn in the last 30 years. Seems
parents are too busy to spend much time with their children and children are too
busy to spend time with their parents.

Sometimes it’s the fault of the system. In many areas it takes at least two
incomes to pay the bills. But it has been that way for years. Why is it different
now? Why is it that family relationships are falling apart even though throughout
the last hundred years both parents often had to work?

I think it is because more than ever before both parents are working away from
home. My parents both worked, but my mom worked at home. She set up a day care
at our house. My grandmother worked very hard. She and my grandfather had a
farm. They were available at all hours for their kids (who spent many hours
working in the fields with their parents).

My husband’s grandmothers worked. During the depression one grandmother took
in laundry and boarders. She worked very hard washing extra clothes (without
an automatic washer and dryer) and did the cooking for a bunch of men who rented
rooms in her home. She was available all the time for her sons because she worked
at home. They had meals together and talked about what was happening. They were
a close-knit family.

My mother-in-law worked, too. She sold Avon. She worked out of her house and
was available to her children whenever they needed her. It seems that in the
past more women worked out of their house than do today. That’s a much better
way to build strong family relationships than when both parents work away from
home from nine to five.

What do you think? If you grew up during the 50s or 60s, did both of your parents
work away from home? If they did, do you feel like your family was close? Did
you grow up during the 70s, 80s or 90s, when more moms went into the workforce
than before?

I personally think it takes a great deal of effort to keep a family together
when both parents are away from home all day. The problem is, most parents do
not have the energy to put out that effort after a full day at work.

Throughout the year, the dollar has dropped considerably compared to the other
major currencies. With many baby boomers set to retire in the coming years,
this puts a big strain on the value of what they have save up for in the past
few decades. They no longer seem to have a cash pot large enough to buy them
the dream retirement home or vacations they had hoped of getting upon their
deserved retirement.

While economists say that there are as many pluses as there are minuses for
the economy due to the dollars fall, to retirees it may be the case of more
minuses taking into consideration that they will still be consumers and will
continue to consume products and not earn probably as much as they would if
they were still employed.

The dollars’ decline drastically reduces the buying power of their hard earned
pension savings, the value of which is probably a lot less than they expected
it to be when they retire. While retirees are probably not too concerned about
helping out the economy at this point in their lives, the economy has a direct
correlation to their ability to live a sustainable life during retirement. The
cost of basic goods will continue to rise and they will not have the means by
which to augment their pension savings.

Does it mean that American retirees have to find additional forms of income
while they are retired? Perhaps…but what other means are there to people who
supposedly should be taking a break and enjoying the rest of their lives, and
is there still motivation to continue to find ways to make a buck. It may be
unlikely for many retirees to find reasonable means to live out their retirement
in the comfort they had planned.

Only a drastic increase in the power of the dollar will perhaps improve the
predicament facing the soon to be retired, but this has to be addressed soon
otherwise it may be a little to late for them. How much of an impact will these
trends in the currency be to you?

Whatever happened to bell bottoms and Nehru jackets? I thought they would never
go out of style, but then again I thought that Eve of Destruction was a song
with a timeless message. Now when I think of my life I feel that, like
Fonzie, I have finally jumped the shark and am ready for retirement. Of course,
does retirement mean cuddling up besides Social Security as you travel along
that final ride?

I hope not, because as many people are painfully aware of, there is nothing
secure about a future that depends on Social Security. With so many people drawing
compared to the number contributing, Social Security checks will soon become
the equivalent of discount coupons from the Sunday paper.

However, no one wants to work forever, and with retirement just around the
corner, even with proper planning there isn’t enough time to prepare. This means
one of two things if I want to maintain my quality of life well into my eighties:
I have to either hit the lotto or quickly build a nest-egg.

As with anything, this is easier said than done, however that doesn’t mean
it’s impossible, but more than likely it does mean tightening my belt for a
couple of years. Focusing on my “golden years” means investing, saving,
and working hard now so I can actually retire at age 67, when I’ll be either
too old or too lazy to work. Since there are no “safe investments”,
that also means diversifying my revenue streams so that I can enjoy the good
life.

If you had parents that lived through the depression, you know what I mean
by “the good life”.

The good life is the life I’m living now, with a Lay-Z-Boy, kids that eat too
much, a wife that shops too much, and a TV that is on way too much. The “good
life” in general is too much, which leaves you with too little when it
becomes time for “senior savings”. If you started late in the game,
then the only way to glide your way to becoming a geriatric is to bite the bullet,
and sacrifice now so you can live well later.

I’m sick and tired of these couples who go crazy after retirement. The day
after they leave work for the last time they purchase a $120,000 motor home,
leave their kids and grandkids behind, and take to the road. Others move far
away, buying a home hundreds or thousands of miles from their children and grandchildren.
They don’t know their grandkids and don’t seem to care.

First on their mind is having fun and being free. I think that is tragic. Those
are the years they could be helping with their grandchildren, developing relationships
and demonstrating the importance of family to their own children and grandchildren.
It just seems very self-centered to me.

I hope as baby boomers retire they don’t move thousands of miles from their
families, travel half the year, or spend all their time volunteering so that
they are just as busy or busier than when they worked. Don’t get me wrong. I
know not all retirees leave their families behind.

There are some who are exceptional and put family first. For their retirement
they stayed in the same area as their children. They spent a lot of time getting
to know their grandchildren. One of my favorite memories is my grandmother walking
with me to a local restaurant and buying me an ice cream. It was just the two
of us.

That was over 35 years ago, but I remember it as if it was yesterday. How much
better would the country be if family stayed close to each other? Imagine if
children could ride their bikes a few blocks and visit their grandparents, where
they could sit down to some milk and cookies and listen to stories of when their
grandfather was growing up during the depression, or how their grandmother helped
on the farm as a girl.

That is what retirement is all about: Having the time to spend with family.
If you have any special memories to tell about your grandparents, please leave
a comment about it.

The latest news is that the United States government wants to give illegal
aliens the right to become citizens and allow them to collect social security
after working eighteen months (compared to the rest of us who have to work ten
years before collecting).

I don’t know about you, but that makes me mad. Why do I have to put in for
a minimum of ten years and these people who can here illegally might be able
to collect after working only eighteen months?Social security is already very
unstable. Adding all these other millions of people who did not pay into the
system all of their working years will only make social security topple over
faster, if our government gets their way.

I hope people fight this. It just does not make sense, unless the government’s
goal is to destroy social security and bring this country down. Imagine if you
worked hard all your life, paid into a system that was supposed to provide for
you after you retired, and suddenly that money is gone. What would you do?

You would be in big financial trouble. You might even be willing to let the
government take over everything if they would take care of you. Perhaps that
is what big government plans on happening.

Let’s hope not, but would it really surprise you if that was their plan? What
do you think? Do you have an opinion on this? Please feel free to leave a comment
about why you think the government would give social security to illegal aliens
after they have paid into the system for as little as eighteen months.

Give me some reasons to hope that our government has not turned against us.

In the meantime, I am not counting on getting any social security benefits
when we hit retirement age in another 15 years. My husband and I are planning
ahead and expect to have enough money set aside to cover our retirement years.