Financial Problems and
Retirement Planning
Male, 64, married, two children Education: high school graduate Job Status: appliance salesman, 31 years with an international department store chain Retirement Income: $14,000 Health: reported good Retirement Category: early-voluntary, retired for 3 years
My work wasn't exciting. It was a means to an end, but considering the work I was doing, I felt satisfied. My company had a good reputation, and I always did my share of the business.
I started with the company as a sign writer and display man, but there wasn't enough money in it when I came back from the service. I had to make more money, and I told them so. They didn't want me to leave, so they gave me a job selling appliances. I had never sold before, but it turned out that it was much more lucrative.
We had a profit-sharing plan, and I was looking forward to it when I retired. I think I wanted to get out as soon as I could so that I wouldn't have to spend so much time on the hard floors. It was getting harder to get up at 7:30 in the morning, which seemed to me like the middle of the night the last year or so. Actually, it would have been better for me to work until I was 65; the longer you work, the more you gain in the profit-sharing program.
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