| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] > | Poll: Have you made, or are you making, plans for your retirement? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
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| Zugzwang: if you fail to plan, □□□ □□□□ □□ □□□□. | Aug 17, 2019 |
If you must work for living 24/7/365+ a year,
when exactly you're going to live a little and what for?!
As for me, I was quite lucky to realize the situation, so I got "a real job", using translation for communication only. Now my emergency reserve makes over $150k and very soon I'm planning to move abroad and run my own (non-translation) biz.
Once I heard that any government seem to make its citizens "keep working till dead". While it sounds funny, I must admit most employees and freelancers hardly have many options... Hardly a lifetime workaholic passion, for sure)
| | | | Kay Denney 
France
Local time: 20:30
French to English
I'm OK. I've paid into pension funds all my life as an employee, and continue to do so as a freelancer.
My partner has made many wise investments in property so we will also benefit from the rent once the mortgages have been paid.
I fully intend to keep working for as long as I enjoy it, and given how much it stretches my brain and provides all sorts of learning opportunities, I'm pretty sure I shall continue to enjoy it for a good while.
| | | | Mario Freitas
Brazil
Local time: 15:30
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
| Yes and "other" | Aug 18, 2019 |
I worked in-house for 20 years, so I paid the social security charges every month for 20 years, at the highest rate. There is no way I'm gonna loose that. So, when I started freelancing, I continued paying SS, however at the lowest rate.
Other than the government's retirement plan, I also have a private plan since I was 24 y.o., which I also continue paying on a monthly basis.
However, the potential income from these two plans put together, to which I will only be entiled at the age ... See more I worked in-house for 20 years, so I paid the social security charges every month for 20 years, at the highest rate. There is no way I'm gonna loose that. So, when I started freelancing, I continued paying SS, however at the lowest rate.
Other than the government's retirement plan, I also have a private plan since I was 24 y.o., which I also continue paying on a monthly basis.
However, the potential income from these two plans put together, to which I will only be entiled at the age of 65, will be equivalent to 1/3 of my income today.
Therefore, I do not plan on retiring per se. I'll likely work a little less, but I intend to keep working for as long as my health conditions allow it. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 20:30
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
ProZ.com Staff wrote:
"Have you made, or are you making, plans for your retirement?"
I assume the question means "do you have enough money to survive when you are forced to stop working due to age". No, I don't. I don't make as much money as I would like, and I have special-needs children, so at this time there isn't really any money left at the end of the year for saving. In this, I'm very different from both my parents and my parents-in-law, who have saved up for their retirement from a young age (but: they were always employees). All I can do is hope that I'll retain my faculties until shortly before I'm dead.
I've read that you must have saved up 10 times your annual income by the time you retire. If I had wanted to achieve that at this stage in my life, I would have to increase my current income by 30%.
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Too young to think about it.
| | | | Chris Spurgin
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:30
Member (2016)
Russian to English
+ ...
| Too many variables to consider | Aug 19, 2019 |
We are due to see a massive shift in pension provisions across the West - pension age increases are completely unavoidable. I don't think I would ever want to retire, but I might think differently in the future. I am putting aside what I can but it is not always easy.
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Cristina Heraud-van Tol wrote:
Too young to think about it.
I started thinking about it when my grandparents got too old to work. My grandfathers had pensions with provision for their wives, but my parents talked a lot about how lucky they were - they were the first generation to benefit from the Welfare State after World War II in England. My father actually paid pension contributions voluntarily for all his children when we were students, and I continued as an employee.
In these days of low interest rates and no immediate prospects of them increasing, it takes a long time to save up, so you need to start early.
Another thing to bear in mind is that not everyone is lucky enough to be able to keep on working until they drop. Or as others have mentioned, there may be periods in their working lives when it is not possible to save up.
Although I do not plan to stop translating, I am so grateful for my pension. I now work about half-time. (I could work more, but it is partly for tax reasons - 85 % of my earnings are deducted if I earn more than a certain amount while drawing my pension!!) It is also partly because I no longer sit up all night on rushed jobs - I get worse headaches and have to sleep them off more than I used to.
I find learning new things harder than it used to be … I am learning a new language, but it is much harder work than learning my other languages, 40-50 years ago!
Another factor is how long I can keep up with the technology. I work quite happily with my CAT, but refuse to use others, and I do not do PEMT or subtitling.
Others have back problems or trouble with their eyes from sitting long hours at the computer.
If people do not have health problems themselves, they may have relatives who need care, and are very time-consuming. (I have been through that phase myself, and it is tough, even for a freelancer.)
Don't assume that you can go on at full speed indefinitely.
And if you are lucky like me, then as DZiW points out, what is the point of earning a living, if you don´t also have time to live?
There are always clubs, museums and charities who need volunteers, and it is good to be able to offer your time to a cause you believe in, even if there is no financial pay.
My advice is to start a pension scheme, seriously, as soon as you can!
[Edited at 2019-08-19 09:07 GMT]
| | | | | Yes, kind of! | Aug 19, 2019 |
I have been investing a percentage of my savings in ETFs, stocks and mutual funds for the last 3 years, and intend to hold on to them for at least 3 decades before I cash out. Hopefully, that and whatever the Spanish social security gives me (it's hard to predict what the state of our economies will be by then) will do!
I just turned 31.
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| Yes, my plan is not to retire | Aug 19, 2019 |
Why would I?
I love what I do.
| | | | LIZ LI
China
Local time: 02:30
French to Chinese
+ ...
Financially YES.
It's kind of traditions for most families in my country to make a saving since early age. You will be treated differently if you don't.
Professionally NO.
Translator is a lifetime career in my understanding. The more experienced you are, the higher rates you can get. And of course, the true freedom to choose the jobs at your own will.
| | | | Rita Utt
France
Local time: 20:30
English to German
+ ...
| I partly agree | Aug 20, 2019 |
As most of you, I think to stop working completely at a usual retirement age is not healthy,
but I think I will work less with more free time and I'll refuse translations which are less fun.
I also sometimes wonder, if my brain will be fit enough once I'll be over 70 ...
so maybe I'll stop then.
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Another 15 years hopefully and ciao!
Time flies and there are still many things I haven't done and would like to do.
And translation is not among them, I think I'd have done enough of it by then.
But then, there are also plans that don't work out as planned.
Philippe
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Cristina Heraud-van Tol wrote:
Too young to think about it.
I started a private pension plan before I was 30. I had young children and couldn't afford to pay very much every month but once my children had left home and I had paid off my mortgage, I decided it was time to invest in my future. I didn't know whether to increase my Spanish Social Security contributions or increase the payments into my private pension scheme.
In the end I decided to pay more into my private scheme, so if anything happens at least the money will go to my children and grandchildren.
I don't want to retire but it would be nice to get a pension every month. However, I've asked my tax advisor about working when I've retired and he told me that I would only be able to receive a pension if I employed someone. Obviously I'm not going to pay €1000 a month (or more) only to receive €750!
No one has a crystal ball, so I plan to carry on working until I get tired, which I hope won't be for a long time.
[Edited at 2019-08-21 16:55 GMT]
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I know a pharmacist who would be glad to provide me with a lethal dose of [something] free of charge. She is lovely and very understanding. I am not planning on becoming really poor and/or having an office position at some point of time just to be only relatively poor when I am old.
Unless, of course, the global warming, and the associated disasters, would make the profession of interpreter/translator more meaningful (and well-paid, but that is of lesser importance), so I can actual... See more I know a pharmacist who would be glad to provide me with a lethal dose of [something] free of charge. She is lovely and very understanding. I am not planning on becoming really poor and/or having an office position at some point of time just to be only relatively poor when I am old.
Unless, of course, the global warming, and the associated disasters, would make the profession of interpreter/translator more meaningful (and well-paid, but that is of lesser importance), so I can actually afford thinking about the future, and investing into the future.
[Edited at 2019-08-21 17:24 GMT] ▲ Collapse
| | | | Kevin Fulton
United States
Local time: 14:30
German to English
| Buying lottery tickets | Aug 22, 2019 |
After several decades of contributions to the US Social Security system, I receive a monthly sum of about $1400.00, which covers many of my fixed expenses such as property tax on my condominium, utilities, automobile insurance, not to mention income tax on my translation earnings.
Whenever the various local lottery schemes offer a payout in excess of $200 million, I spend $2.00 and buy a ticket in the hope of retiring, leaving some money to my daughter while having enough money to b... See more After several decades of contributions to the US Social Security system, I receive a monthly sum of about $1400.00, which covers many of my fixed expenses such as property tax on my condominium, utilities, automobile insurance, not to mention income tax on my translation earnings.
Whenever the various local lottery schemes offer a payout in excess of $200 million, I spend $2.00 and buy a ticket in the hope of retiring, leaving some money to my daughter while having enough money to buy a couple of politicians in order to make a real difference. ▲ Collapse
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