This is a printer friendly version of an article from www.news-sentinel.com
To print this article open the file menu and choose Print.
Back
Article published Mar 30, 2009 Little debt eases retiree's mind
Rita Moses is a rarity these days: almost 40 years working for the same employer. Moses, who will be 58 in September, is retiring in December after working in several capacities for the federal government. She has a government pension and a 401(k). Retirement benefits also include health insurance coverage for which she can pay the same amount she is paying now.
While an outsider might think Moses has financial security locked in, she knows what it is like to assume such and then have a detour in life.
“I always thought I would have my husband's Social Security widow's benefit to add to my retirement some day. Then he died young,” and the amount he had paid at that point was small.
So Moses kept working, and says, “There are days I've wanted to quit.” But in her current job she has seen the struggles that people have in retirement if they have only their Social Security check to live on.
“I had originally planned to retire in December 2007, but then I decided to buy a new car.” Financial prudence led her to work two more years to have her car almost paid off and some other bills paid.
“My advice is don't go into retirement with a lot of debt. You shouldn't be worrying about losing your home or paying your electric bill. I'm trying to be debt-free. I've made all my plans on living on my pension. I'm not planning on using my 401(k).”
Being almost debt-free is going to enable her to do some traveling, hopefully to Italy and southern France, she said.