@ircon96@tinamarie1974
I was partially facetious above.
[I’ve stated several times on the forum that I am serious at least 10% of the time. The challenge is to deduce when, since I usually don’t use emoticons and even more rarely emojis. I think some Mehsters have figured me out, but not all…]
I was actually 1/3 serious in my reply above.
I liked Gaga enough initially to buy her second album, Born This Way, but have tapered off considerably, as I have from almost all “pop” performers. Never did pay much attention to TB, but my parents liked him. For crooning, I myself always preferred Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, even Tennessee Ernie Ford.
For current pop, I’m more likely to listen to Pink or even Taylor Swift. Had a brief fascination with PJ Harvey. But even more likely to feed my crave for nostalgia with Queen, Linda Ronstadt, Pink Floyd, The Beatles.
I wish she’d been around (here) in my roller-blading days.
@chienfou I suspect the CIA. No, the NSA. No, the DIA. No, probably Ma Bell, actually.
Bill Gates probably had something to do with it, also.
The world needs more people like Mitnick (to be a thorn in the side of officialdom).
@brainmist@chienfou@phendrick I think brainmist is saying that we (Gen Xers) aren’t prepared for retirement and don’t mind because we don’t expect to live long enough for it to matter. I know that’s where I’m at.
@brainmist@chienfou@ExtraMedium
“we don’t expect to live long enough for it to matter. I know that’s where I’m at.”
EM: Trust me, retirement age will get you before you expect it. Don’t be entirely unprepared. Being young and poor is bad. Being old and poor is worse.
@chienfou@ExtraMedium@phendrick I think you’re missing the point. I’m prepping for a retirement I don’t think I’m going to see. I have savings and an IRA, but I don’t have a whole lot of investment in waking up tomorrow. I could plan for a future 30 years from now but I recognize our systems of planning pretend that we’re not going to face massive climatological disruption.
@Extramedium summed it up well: I’m prepping for a future that seems increasingly unlikely. Meanwhile, my present is feeling increasing cheated when I defer immediate gratification for the pretense of a secure future.
@brainmist@chienfou@ExtraMedium@phendrick True, age-wise, but maybe they identify more with a male corporate tech-geek who died of pancreatic cancer than with a female, Irish singer, mother & grandmother, who presumably didn’t need to worry about retirement & most likely went out on her own terms, if uno what i mean.
Meanwhile, my present is feeling increasing cheated when I defer immediate gratification for the pretense of a secure future.
That can happen to you regardless of your generation. Crap happens. On a personal level really expensive bad crap can wreck the best laid plans. Not to mention each generation has huge worries and problems, some of which are as bad as they fear and some of which not so much so. World wars, the great depression (which made it hard for some of those who suffered then spend anything even when they had it later - that kind of poverty and worry leaves a mark), worries about bombing the world into obviation, … and yes climate change is really bad stuff and the prudent would move out of the way of being underwater or living in a furnace now rather than later while housing prices are still manageable… meanwhile you have to live a balance of the present and the future, a future you can’t say, for sure, will be like you imagine (although it could be close if we don’t get a grip sooner rather than later on climate change) and the present you are living in so that you still have enjoyment in your life today while you are living it.
As a side note with climate change: geologic time is on a different scale than “our 365 day time”. There was the mini ice age from around the 1300-1850. The beginning of that created huge drought in some parts of the world. Life was pretty grim for many for several generations and the world changed. Cambodia was the largest most powerful country in SE Asia then and the drought destroyed that nation (and the Inca nation and some others). In other centuries Rome fell, etc… and power in the world shifted. Certainly if we don’t get a grip on global warming life is going to be rough. The trends that matter though are over centuries and not over several years (and yes we are on an upward trend for temperature that is longer than a couple of years). Hopefully the temperatures this summer so far will galvanize people into action.
Anyway back to one of my poinst…One’s frontal lobe (helps you anticipate long term future consequences of current actions) isn’t fully developed until you are 30 or so and so some people have less of a “head start” on that long term future stuff by the time their brain can really grasp it and that can create some additional stress one you reach frontal lobe adulthood so to speak.
On a personal level so skip if you don’t care…
Once I stopped fooling around having fun working in outdoor adventure and on tall ships in a number of countries and states, I went back to school and got an MBA and PhD and I got serious about saving for retirement - in a large part frontal lobe reasons (like I finally had a working one LOL). Also I realized that averaging low income for years for social security with fewer years with high income is like walking into the final exam worth 20% of your grade with a D, nothing you do will fix the problem completely. So I socked away a lot once I was out of school and my life style was far below my income - much further than I would have liked but multiple generations of family live into their 90’s and a few into their 100’s - including those born pre civil war)… gotta plan for that future. Right?
Took me longer than expected to get those degrees because, well, cancer in grad school. Then two cancers seven years later (one with no cure but a longer life span and I am in the longer life span group so far) before I was tenured and losing my job over that (legal in an “at will” state not to have your contract renewed over “too expensive for our insurance”). The gap in my vitae coupled with age discrimination (in higher ed you are “over the hill” job hunting over about 45 unless you are tenured and, preferably full professor; opps I met neither criteria) as made getting jobs harder. Crap jobs and I am over educated so they don’t want me. The gap in my resume (vitae) with no benign explanation as the big C word scares people off, “took time off to deal with family issues”, etc. raises red flags and adds to the problems and they don’t want me. So I do the nearly minimum wage crap jobs in higher ed - adjunct.
Meanwhile, with the adjunct jobs I have, what have I done? Put 10% of that into retirement even though I am living in poverty and some months below the poverty line. Why? Because, what if, despite everything, I live into my 90’s or late 80’s? Being poor then is worse being really poor then than now. At least now I can work and dumpster dive.
And life can suck. Not what I had planned. And part of me makes me wish I hadn’t been, and continue to be, so frugal for the future as my future now sucks too and likely to be way shorter. BUT, as we all know, we don’t know for sure our future and so we need to plan for a long life even if it is our kids who benefit from that planning and not us.
Heck I am waiting for 70 to take social security regardless of what I have to live through to get that age because, well, higher income even if there is the serious risk that will be 77% less a month in 10 or so years than what it would be if we actually fixed that mess (incomprehensible to me why we are not except that this will be inconsequential to the very wealthy high functioning sociopathic congress with their good pension and golden retirement health insurance). I figure it is easier to struggle more now than if I manage to follow the family life span and end up ancient and then struggle in my 90’s.
That being said the odds are against me reaching my 90’s worse than it was. As of this June I am being watched for 2 more cancers with tumors not quite big enough to biopsy. One is pretty curable, and one, where the lesion doubled in 6 months after being stable for 18 mo when it was first found by accident, is pretty deadly as in typically about 10 or so percent alive in 5 years. Of course I have a 30% chance I will get lucky and it isn’t that and some people are in the lucky group. I have a recheck in Dec.
Start back up if you skipped…
Of course somewhere in all of this there is a balance between living for today because there may be no tomorrow as we know it and living as if you will live forever so you’d better save for that. Not sure I have found that balance as I grew up poor and that leaves a mark. I’d suggest thinking about that balance before you hit a crisis or two or three or the world as we know it come close to ending. Life happens during the journey as your joy and happiness happens during the journey. As a result with your finances/choices find a balance between today and an unknown future that you need to save for, because, well, just in case… I sort of screwed that one up on the side of the unknown future and then lost it all due to what happened in the middle of that journey so never got, nor will get, the fruits of my labor. Learn vicariously from that. While we won’t know until after the fact what the “perfect” balance is, some balance is better than none.
Oh yeah - one last piece of advice for the best case future you might have - buy long term care insurance, and a buy enough of it for enough years, now while you still pass medical underwriting. Neither medicare nor medicaid cover assisted living and only medicaid covers nursing homes (and you have to have less than 2k to your name to get medicaid and I have read medicaid nursing homes have waits). I have failed medical underwriting for years. Hopefully all I’ll need is hospice. That is at least covered by pretty much all insurances.
@Kidsandliz @brainmist@chienfou@ExtraMedium
I cannot dispute any of that. But I’ll still throw my two cents in (again), to maybe lend some additional perspectives.
Overall, the sooner you can get vested into a retirement plan, health insurance, maybe even life insurance, even a long-care plan, the better.
My relatively low-paid instructorship (full-time but untenured at a community college) did come through in my post-retirement years. Between TRS pension and later Soc Sec, I am in pretty good shape now, including health care. The fact that I started with the TRS withholdings as a graduate student added to the amount of the monthly annuity (that’s not done now).
After several bouts in the hospital for weeks at a time with heart and lung infections (with no cause ever determined) including a PE and continuing AFib (well-controlled now with for-ever medication), I took early retirement from full-time teaching and soon afterward also from part-time.
I did lessen my monthly annuity amounts from TRS by both taking 3-years worth in a lump sum (to pay off mortgage to spare my wife and son from worrying about that) and by taking the option for it to continue as long as either of us were alive (that seems to be a negative now, since she has had Alzheimer’s for at least about 8 years, so not expected to outlive me, now, but Who knows?)
At this point, the long term care plans are just too expensive. Wish we had considered them early, but my family has generally lived into their late 80’s and my wife’s family even longer, so we were oblivious to those. When family went, they went fast.
I also lessened my Soc Sec monthlies by the early retirement. But the shape I was in made me think I wouldn’t live to 65 anyway (it all started in my mid-50’s). On the other hand I had received cash equivalent in payouts almost equal to what I had contributed to SS, by the time I would have reached 65 anyway, so have absolutely no regrets there. And turned out we needed that additional income. Incidentally, for most of my teaching career, my monthly withholding was around one third of my earnings, combining TRS, FICA, income tax. (I’ve had good return on the first two, at least.) I won’t hazard a guess what fraction I paid out in property tax and sales tax!
Moral of the story. Put time on your side. You want interest working for you, not against you. Carry as little debt as possible. Invest best as you can. Odds are, you WILL live longer than you expect. You will have better peace of mind and less stress today (even if the world does end tomorrow).
[I am not a licensed whatever. Take my advice on your own consideration.]
@brainmist@chienfou@Kidsandliz@phendrick It’s wild how this topic has become so drawn out and analyzed… yet I’m with @chienfou in feeling like this thread might not be the best location for the discussion. That said, don’t let me stop you from making your own adult choices. We’re all big kids here.
@brainmist@chienfou@ExtraMedium@phendrick Well it is in a thread about dead people. I am guessing what triggered the post is that two people posted in a row died “young”. And each of us eventually will be a dead person. So when thinking about our future… regardless of what the future holds we need to save for it (as you and others have prudently noted) because no one gave us ESP as to whether or not we, personally, will, in the end, need to actually do so.
Starting to save sooner rather than later, and saving enough, is prudent and beneficial in the long run. Budgeting for, along with your savings/retirement plan, a sensible (for your goals and income) amount of money help support activities that help you/your family together to enjoy life is also worthwhile.
It can get discouraging when looking at worst case futures. My personal guess is that there will be a lot of homeless seniors from the baby boom generation as that is the first generation where most don’t have pensions, too many of them for the number of people (age wise) under them to support SS (with how the government has screwed up with that and refusing to fix it), medicare has some big gaps in what is covered (not to mention for profit health care is taking as much as possible with the advantage plans and buying up physician practices. vertical integration with insurance companies owning clinics and doctor practices, etc., and there isn’t nearly enough senior hud for when folks run out of money (as for many SS alone means living at or near the poverty line), nor assisted living facilities or nursing homes now. What is going to happen in the future looks a bit grim for that generation (not to mention then those sectors, which are lagging the need now will eventually be over built and that sector will crash once most of the boomers move through that - it’s a growth sector right now though).
Not sure there is a solution to all of this. Life was simpler back when one of the biggest worries was: will I eat the lion or will the lion eat me? What I can suggest is continue as if there will be a future (as people who are saving are doing), focus on things you can do right now to make life right now meaningful… and limit your exposure to “doomsday” and depressing news. Research documents doing that - not stopping completely as you need to be informed, rather limit the time you read/listen to news about it - decreases pessimism, concern and angst about “what if” things you can’t change and can only partly plan for. Sorry. No magic wand.
I don’t disagree. But I for one do not have the requisite credentials (AKA “the Power”) to move it. Of course, an alternative would be to change the title to “RIP 2023 Q3 and Reflections on What Should Have Been” or some such.
Also, I am big (before “shrinkage” started setting in). Does that imply anything else (smart, mature, too much stuff, …)? The big part is in my medical chart. The rest? Couldn’t find it.
If there is a vote, I vote MOVE IT, but leave bread crumbs. This sub-thread actually could apply to ANY QUARTER.
Do Members get a vote on these things?
Do VMPs get two votes (at least)?
Do Poop-badgers get negative votes?
And I guess I just added more detritus to this thread.
(Did you realize that a lot of the detritus along the highway is just tire dust? Anagrammed!)
@ChadP@ExtraMedium
RIP to a formidable warrior… You always felt things deeply and had a rough go of it at times, but always fought courageously for what you believed in. Finally at peace.
@ChadP so sad. I am in Europe right now and there is great sadness over this news from several people i have encountered. Gone too soon, rest in peace.
Just a sad footnote to the earlier obit for Jane Birkin: In perhaps the latest sign of the looming Apocalypse, Kim Kardashian was spotted bringing a rare Birkin bag with a 6-figure price tag to a SOCCER game. Oy. On the plus side, for you feline fanatics, it’s designed & named for a cat breed, so there’s that.
@KK has tienes a dad involved in s famous trial, a Paris Hilton assistantship, and an “intended for private use” sex tape into something like a billion not only for herself, but close to a billion for everyone else on the family.
Or something
I’ve not watched one second of the various L tv shows … but …
Gotta give a hard-working girl a little credit.
The bags were originally designed and are still marketed as high end and high fashion practical carryalls.
They are the rich and fashionable version of my slovenly tote from the dollar store
Besides, those rich upper east side wealthy women in Manhattan take Birkin bags to soccer games all the time
@f00l I bet the crocodile heartily disagrees with you! I just wish a minor skirmish would have broken out in her section of the stadium & the bag had gotten trampled in the melee.
William Friedkin, the Oscar winning director who became a top filmmaker in his 30s with “The French Connection” and “The Exorcist” has died. He was 87.
Landon Bourque, 15 years old. Not famous, and now never will be. Was killed by a car on 9 August 2023, while riding his bicycle on the first day of class.
@ircon96@yakkoTDI Anyone who was a fan of Robertson, The Band, or (especially) the song “Up on Cripple Creek” who has not seen this YT video should watch it to get insight into Robbie and his songwriting and the particular song.
Anna McIntyre, 91, considered the most influential woman in the history of international snowsport racing, snowboarding advocate, U.S. National Ski Hall of Famer
Gil Brandt (March 4, 1932 – August 31, 2023) well respected for his innovations in scouting talent for the NFL. He was the least nationally-recognized of the three men who built the initial Dallas Cowboys, including GM Tex Schramm and Hall-of-Fame player and coach Tom Landry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Brandt
“Brandt’s dismissal from the Cowboys on May 2, 1989, completed a purge that began with Jerry Jones’ purchase of the franchise just over nine weeks prior on February 25 and also resulted in Landry’s ouster and Schramm’s resignation.”
[And, in IMHO, the rest of the League has been thanking Jones ever since. The only thing Jones did to secure the later Super Bowl wins was to hire Jimmy Johnson. And then couldn’t stand everyone giving Johnson the credit, so they parted ways.]
@phendrick@SpecialK Gutted to wake up to this. Old Parrothead here…went to SO MANY concerts in the 80s and 90s. Living in Florida he was around a lot
Later today I will be pouring something nice and strong, raising a Tin Cup Chalice and chewing on a honeysuckle vine.
Then I might just go crazy on Caroline Street.
And listening for Songs from St. Elsewhere.
Thanks for the memories, Jimmy. But above all, thanks for the music. It reminds us to chill. And allows us to take life a little bit easier.
@llangley@phendrick@SpecialK I met him once when I was crew on a schooner years ago in Key West. He motored his sailboat up to our 120’ schooner, tied up, got on and entertained us and our passengers (about 32 of them) with a private concert. Then he spent a while at the wheel of our boat. That was pretty special.
@Cerridwyn@chienfou Confirmed, swap works in a browser but still no support for images in the mobile interface under Brave, but that support pops up when you get it to change to the desktop interface.
Michael Gambon, who was known to many for his portrayal of Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore in six of the eight “Harry Potter” films, has died, his publicist said Thursday. He was 82.
Dick Butkus, Fearsome Hall of Fame Linebacker, Is Dead at 80
(NYT)
Dick Butkus, the Chicago Bears’ famously hard-hitting Hall of Fame middle linebacker of the 1960s and ’70s and a selection for the N.F.L.’s 100th anniversary all-time team, died on Thursday at his home in Malibu, Calif. He was 80.
The Bears confirmed the death but did not give the cause.
At 6 feet 3 inches and 245 pounds, good size for his era, Butkus stuffed running plays up the middle. He was also speedy and mobile enough to drop back and foil opponents’ pass plays. He was cited as a first-team All-Pro five times and was chosen for the Pro Bowl game eight times. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1979, his first year of eligibility.
Sacks did not become an official statistic until 1982, so the number of times Butkus smothered opposing quarterbacks remains unrecorded. But he was considered to have intercepted 22 passes and recovered 27 fumbles while playing for the Bears from 1965 to 1973.
“When I went out on the field to warm up, I would manufacture things to make me mad,” Butkus was quoted as saying by the Hall of Fame. “If someone on the other team was laughing, I’d pretend he was laughing at me or the Bears. It always worked for me.”
Bob Riggle, the driver of the Hemi Under Glass wheelstander Barracuda, passed away near September 13th, 2023, at the age of 88.
The Hemi Under Glass, originally sponsored by Hurst, was a Plymouth Barracuda modified so a hemi race engine was mounted behind the driver and visible through the large rear windows that early Barracudas were known for; the weight shift allowed these cars to come up on two wheels easily given the hemi engine’s power. Wheelstanders like this were used for exhibition and between-race entertainment for decades at drag racing events.
Bob Riggle drove the Hemi Under Glass from its second year in 1965 until he retired.
I only ever saw videos of his performances but even that was exhilarating (and scary thinking about doing it myself).
Frank Field, former CBS New York meteorologist, doors at 100:
www.cbsnews.com/newyork/video/frank-field-former-cbs-new-york-meteorologist-dies-at-100/
Dr Susan Love, 75, surgeon, author, educator, pioneering breast cancer researcher, advocate for women’s medicine & LGBTQ+ rights
https://www.legacy.com/news/celebrity-deaths/dr-susan-love-1948-2023-influential-breast-cancer-researcher/
Milan Kundera, Czech-born author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jul/12/milan-kundera-the-unbearable-lightness-of-being-author-dies-aged-94
@Kyeh
Liked this guy.
Jane Birkin, 76, actress, singer & fashion icon; namesake of the Hermès Birkin bag
https://www.npr.org/2023/07/16/1188012333/jane-birkin-bag-actor-singer-dead
@ircon96 Gee, and she looked to be such a soooo young teeny-bopper when I saw her in Blowup.
And, I didn’t realize she was the “bag-actor”.
Tony Bennett, 96, legendary pop & jazz singer
https://variety.com/2023/music/news/tony-bennett-dead-dies-pop-vocalist-1235676390/![][2]
He was also a talented artist, in his second career as a painter.
https://www.theaquarian.com/2019/12/11/on-the-scene-tony-bennett-the-visual-artist/
@ircon96
@ircon96
@ircon96 @phendrick
Actually Gaga is extremely talented and has an amazing voice. She is wildly popular in the pop category, in addition to whatever category TB falls.
I think she will be ok
@ircon96 @tinamarie1974
I was partially facetious above.
[I’ve stated several times on the forum that I am serious at least 10% of the time. The challenge is to deduce when, since I usually don’t use emoticons and even more rarely emojis. I think some Mehsters have figured me out, but not all…]
I was actually 1/3 serious in my reply above.
I liked Gaga enough initially to buy her second album, Born This Way, but have tapered off considerably, as I have from almost all “pop” performers. Never did pay much attention to TB, but my parents liked him. For crooning, I myself always preferred Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, even Tennessee Ernie Ford.
For current pop, I’m more likely to listen to Pink or even Taylor Swift. Had a brief fascination with PJ Harvey. But even more likely to feed my crave for nostalgia with Queen, Linda Ronstadt, Pink Floyd, The Beatles.
I wish she’d been around (here) in my roller-blading days.
Regards to CD.
Kevin Mitnick famed hacker turned White Hat. dead at 59
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66263235
@chienfou I suspect the CIA. No, the NSA. No, the DIA. No, probably Ma Bell, actually.
Bill Gates probably had something to do with it, also.
The world needs more people like Mitnick (to be a thorn in the side of officialdom).
@chienfou @phendrick I kinda suspect Gen X has just decided our collective retirement plan will be dying before retirement.
@brainmist @phendrick
?
@brainmist @chienfou @phendrick I think brainmist is saying that we (Gen Xers) aren’t prepared for retirement and don’t mind because we don’t expect to live long enough for it to matter. I know that’s where I’m at.
@brainmist @ExtraMedium @phendrick
Yeah WtAF. Evidently 14 months of pancreatic cancer is a walk in the park for some folks…
@brainmist @chienfou @ExtraMedium
“we don’t expect to live long enough for it to matter. I know that’s where I’m at.”
EM: Trust me, retirement age will get you before you expect it. Don’t be entirely unprepared. Being young and poor is bad. Being old and poor is worse.
@phendrick Don’t get me wrong, I’m planning and paying toward retirement, I just feel less and less likely to actually happen.
@chienfou @ExtraMedium @phendrick I think you’re missing the point. I’m prepping for a retirement I don’t think I’m going to see. I have savings and an IRA, but I don’t have a whole lot of investment in waking up tomorrow. I could plan for a future 30 years from now but I recognize our systems of planning pretend that we’re not going to face massive climatological disruption.
@Extramedium summed it up well: I’m prepping for a future that seems increasingly unlikely. Meanwhile, my present is feeling increasing cheated when I defer immediate gratification for the pretense of a secure future.
@brainmist @ExtraMedium @phendrick
I’m still really confused how this ties to Kevin’s death…
@brainmist @ExtraMedium @phendrick
@chienfou I’m guessing because he died at 59 & is on the cusp of that generation…?
@brainmist @ExtraMedium @ircon96 @phendrick
Sinead is a better fit for the cohort…
@brainmist @chienfou @ExtraMedium @phendrick True, age-wise, but maybe they identify more with a male corporate tech-geek who died of pancreatic cancer than with a female, Irish singer, mother & grandmother, who presumably didn’t need to worry about retirement & most likely went out on her own terms, if uno what i mean.
@brainmist @ExtraMedium @ircon96 @phendrick
or maybe they should take it somewhere else…
@brainmist @chienfou @ExtraMedium @phendrick
That can happen to you regardless of your generation. Crap happens. On a personal level really expensive bad crap can wreck the best laid plans. Not to mention each generation has huge worries and problems, some of which are as bad as they fear and some of which not so much so. World wars, the great depression (which made it hard for some of those who suffered then spend anything even when they had it later - that kind of poverty and worry leaves a mark), worries about bombing the world into obviation, … and yes climate change is really bad stuff and the prudent would move out of the way of being underwater or living in a furnace now rather than later while housing prices are still manageable… meanwhile you have to live a balance of the present and the future, a future you can’t say, for sure, will be like you imagine (although it could be close if we don’t get a grip sooner rather than later on climate change) and the present you are living in so that you still have enjoyment in your life today while you are living it.
As a side note with climate change: geologic time is on a different scale than “our 365 day time”. There was the mini ice age from around the 1300-1850. The beginning of that created huge drought in some parts of the world. Life was pretty grim for many for several generations and the world changed. Cambodia was the largest most powerful country in SE Asia then and the drought destroyed that nation (and the Inca nation and some others). In other centuries Rome fell, etc… and power in the world shifted. Certainly if we don’t get a grip on global warming life is going to be rough. The trends that matter though are over centuries and not over several years (and yes we are on an upward trend for temperature that is longer than a couple of years). Hopefully the temperatures this summer so far will galvanize people into action.
Anyway back to one of my poinst…One’s frontal lobe (helps you anticipate long term future consequences of current actions) isn’t fully developed until you are 30 or so and so some people have less of a “head start” on that long term future stuff by the time their brain can really grasp it and that can create some additional stress one you reach frontal lobe adulthood so to speak.
On a personal level so skip if you don’t care…
Once I stopped fooling around having fun working in outdoor adventure and on tall ships in a number of countries and states, I went back to school and got an MBA and PhD and I got serious about saving for retirement - in a large part frontal lobe reasons (like I finally had a working one LOL). Also I realized that averaging low income for years for social security with fewer years with high income is like walking into the final exam worth 20% of your grade with a D, nothing you do will fix the problem completely. So I socked away a lot once I was out of school and my life style was far below my income - much further than I would have liked but multiple generations of family live into their 90’s and a few into their 100’s - including those born pre civil war)… gotta plan for that future. Right?
Took me longer than expected to get those degrees because, well, cancer in grad school. Then two cancers seven years later (one with no cure but a longer life span and I am in the longer life span group so far) before I was tenured and losing my job over that (legal in an “at will” state not to have your contract renewed over “too expensive for our insurance”). The gap in my vitae coupled with age discrimination (in higher ed you are “over the hill” job hunting over about 45 unless you are tenured and, preferably full professor; opps I met neither criteria) as made getting jobs harder. Crap jobs and I am over educated so they don’t want me. The gap in my resume (vitae) with no benign explanation as the big C word scares people off, “took time off to deal with family issues”, etc. raises red flags and adds to the problems and they don’t want me. So I do the nearly minimum wage crap jobs in higher ed - adjunct.
Meanwhile, with the adjunct jobs I have, what have I done? Put 10% of that into retirement even though I am living in poverty and some months below the poverty line. Why? Because, what if, despite everything, I live into my 90’s or late 80’s? Being poor then is worse being really poor then than now. At least now I can work and dumpster dive.
And life can suck. Not what I had planned. And part of me makes me wish I hadn’t been, and continue to be, so frugal for the future as my future now sucks too and likely to be way shorter. BUT, as we all know, we don’t know for sure our future and so we need to plan for a long life even if it is our kids who benefit from that planning and not us.
Heck I am waiting for 70 to take social security regardless of what I have to live through to get that age because, well, higher income even if there is the serious risk that will be 77% less a month in 10 or so years than what it would be if we actually fixed that mess (incomprehensible to me why we are not except that this will be inconsequential to the very wealthy high functioning sociopathic congress with their good pension and golden retirement health insurance). I figure it is easier to struggle more now than if I manage to follow the family life span and end up ancient and then struggle in my 90’s.
That being said the odds are against me reaching my 90’s worse than it was. As of this June I am being watched for 2 more cancers with tumors not quite big enough to biopsy. One is pretty curable, and one, where the lesion doubled in 6 months after being stable for 18 mo when it was first found by accident, is pretty deadly as in typically about 10 or so percent alive in 5 years. Of course I have a 30% chance I will get lucky and it isn’t that and some people are in the lucky group. I have a recheck in Dec.
Start back up if you skipped…
Of course somewhere in all of this there is a balance between living for today because there may be no tomorrow as we know it and living as if you will live forever so you’d better save for that. Not sure I have found that balance as I grew up poor and that leaves a mark. I’d suggest thinking about that balance before you hit a crisis or two or three or the world as we know it come close to ending. Life happens during the journey as your joy and happiness happens during the journey. As a result with your finances/choices find a balance between today and an unknown future that you need to save for, because, well, just in case… I sort of screwed that one up on the side of the unknown future and then lost it all due to what happened in the middle of that journey so never got, nor will get, the fruits of my labor. Learn vicariously from that. While we won’t know until after the fact what the “perfect” balance is, some balance is better than none.
Oh yeah - one last piece of advice for the best case future you might have - buy long term care insurance, and a buy enough of it for enough years, now while you still pass medical underwriting. Neither medicare nor medicaid cover assisted living and only medicaid covers nursing homes (and you have to have less than 2k to your name to get medicaid and I have read medicaid nursing homes have waits). I have failed medical underwriting for years. Hopefully all I’ll need is hospice. That is at least covered by pretty much all insurances.
@Kidsandliz
@brainmist @chienfou @ExtraMedium
I cannot dispute any of that. But I’ll still throw my two cents in (again), to maybe lend some additional perspectives.
Overall, the sooner you can get vested into a retirement plan, health insurance, maybe even life insurance, even a long-care plan, the better.
My relatively low-paid instructorship (full-time but untenured at a community college) did come through in my post-retirement years. Between TRS pension and later Soc Sec, I am in pretty good shape now, including health care. The fact that I started with the TRS withholdings as a graduate student added to the amount of the monthly annuity (that’s not done now).
After several bouts in the hospital for weeks at a time with heart and lung infections (with no cause ever determined) including a PE and continuing AFib (well-controlled now with for-ever medication), I took early retirement from full-time teaching and soon afterward also from part-time.
I did lessen my monthly annuity amounts from TRS by both taking 3-years worth in a lump sum (to pay off mortgage to spare my wife and son from worrying about that) and by taking the option for it to continue as long as either of us were alive (that seems to be a negative now, since she has had Alzheimer’s for at least about 8 years, so not expected to outlive me, now, but Who knows?)
At this point, the long term care plans are just too expensive. Wish we had considered them early, but my family has generally lived into their late 80’s and my wife’s family even longer, so we were oblivious to those. When family went, they went fast.
I also lessened my Soc Sec monthlies by the early retirement. But the shape I was in made me think I wouldn’t live to 65 anyway (it all started in my mid-50’s). On the other hand I had received cash equivalent in payouts almost equal to what I had contributed to SS, by the time I would have reached 65 anyway, so have absolutely no regrets there. And turned out we needed that additional income. Incidentally, for most of my teaching career, my monthly withholding was around one third of my earnings, combining TRS, FICA, income tax. (I’ve had good return on the first two, at least.) I won’t hazard a guess what fraction I paid out in property tax and sales tax!
Moral of the story. Put time on your side. You want interest working for you, not against you. Carry as little debt as possible. Invest best as you can. Odds are, you WILL live longer than you expect. You will have better peace of mind and less stress today (even if the world does end tomorrow).
[I am not a licensed whatever. Take my advice on your own consideration.]
@brainmist @chienfou @Kidsandliz @phendrick It’s wild how this topic has become so drawn out and analyzed… yet I’m with @chienfou in feeling like this thread might not be the best location for the discussion. That said, don’t let me stop you from making your own adult choices. We’re all big kids here.
@brainmist @chienfou @ExtraMedium @phendrick Well it is in a thread about dead people. I am guessing what triggered the post is that two people posted in a row died “young”. And each of us eventually will be a dead person. So when thinking about our future… regardless of what the future holds we need to save for it (as you and others have prudently noted) because no one gave us ESP as to whether or not we, personally, will, in the end, need to actually do so.
Starting to save sooner rather than later, and saving enough, is prudent and beneficial in the long run. Budgeting for, along with your savings/retirement plan, a sensible (for your goals and income) amount of money help support activities that help you/your family together to enjoy life is also worthwhile.
It can get discouraging when looking at worst case futures. My personal guess is that there will be a lot of homeless seniors from the baby boom generation as that is the first generation where most don’t have pensions, too many of them for the number of people (age wise) under them to support SS (with how the government has screwed up with that and refusing to fix it), medicare has some big gaps in what is covered (not to mention for profit health care is taking as much as possible with the advantage plans and buying up physician practices. vertical integration with insurance companies owning clinics and doctor practices, etc., and there isn’t nearly enough senior hud for when folks run out of money (as for many SS alone means living at or near the poverty line), nor assisted living facilities or nursing homes now. What is going to happen in the future looks a bit grim for that generation (not to mention then those sectors, which are lagging the need now will eventually be over built and that sector will crash once most of the boomers move through that - it’s a growth sector right now though).
Not sure there is a solution to all of this. Life was simpler back when one of the biggest worries was: will I eat the lion or will the lion eat me? What I can suggest is continue as if there will be a future (as people who are saving are doing), focus on things you can do right now to make life right now meaningful… and limit your exposure to “doomsday” and depressing news. Research documents doing that - not stopping completely as you need to be informed, rather limit the time you read/listen to news about it - decreases pessimism, concern and angst about “what if” things you can’t change and can only partly plan for. Sorry. No magic wand.
@ExtraMedium
@brainmist @chienfou @Kidsandliz
I don’t disagree. But I for one do not have the requisite credentials (AKA “the Power”) to move it. Of course, an alternative would be to change the title to “RIP 2023 Q3 and Reflections on What Should Have Been” or some such.
Also, I am big (before “shrinkage” started setting in). Does that imply anything else (smart, mature, too much stuff, …)? The big part is in my medical chart. The rest? Couldn’t find it.
If there is a vote, I vote MOVE IT, but leave bread crumbs. This sub-thread actually could apply to ANY QUARTER.
Do Members get a vote on these things?
Do VMPs get two votes (at least)?
Do Poop-badgers get negative votes?
And I guess I just added more detritus to this thread.
(Did you realize that a lot of the detritus along the highway is just tire dust? Anagrammed!)
Richard Barancik, 98, prominent Chicago architect and last surviving member of the Monuments Men
https://chicago.suntimes.com/obituaries/2023/7/24/23803412/richard-barancik-monuments-men-architect-changed-chicago-skyline
@ircon96
thanks!
@chienfou No, no, thank YOU.
Sinead O’Connor at 56.
https://uproxx.com/pop/sinead-oconnor-dead-56/
@ChadP Wow, 56 is so young. Not in musician years I guess, but still. Sad.
@ChadP @ExtraMedium
RIP to a formidable warrior… You always felt things deeply and had a rough go of it at times, but always fought courageously for what you believed in. Finally at peace.
@ChadP so sad. I am in Europe right now and there is great sadness over this news from several people i have encountered. Gone too soon, rest in peace.
@ChadP
@ChadP This one really hurts. She fought a lot of demons, inside and out.
Randy Meisner, one of the founders of the Eagles died 7/26 of complications from COPD.
https://deadline.com/2023/07/randy-meisner-dead-eagles-guitarist-1235449929/
@chienfou Did he both check out and leave?
They had many great ones, but IMO, that’s THE iconic Eagles’ song.
Just a sad footnote to the earlier obit for Jane Birkin: In perhaps the latest sign of the looming Apocalypse, Kim Kardashian was spotted bringing a rare Birkin bag with a 6-figure price tag to a SOCCER game. Oy. On the plus side, for you feline fanatics, it’s designed & named for a cat breed, so there’s that.
https://www.instyle.com/kim-kardashian-osaka-soccer-game-himalayan-birkin-7565794
@ircon96 If you’ve got it, flaunt it. Especially in front of the hoi polloi (who, otherwise, are apparently unworthy of acknowledgement).
@ircon96
@KK has tienes a dad involved in s famous trial, a Paris Hilton assistantship, and an “intended for private use” sex tape into something like a billion not only for herself, but close to a billion for everyone else on the family.
Or something
I’ve not watched one second of the various L tv shows … but …
Gotta give a hard-working girl a little credit.
The bags were originally designed and are still marketed as high end and high fashion practical carryalls.
They are the rich and fashionable version of my slovenly tote from the dollar store
Besides, those rich upper east side wealthy women in Manhattan take Birkin bags to soccer games all the time
So it’s cool if Kim does
/giphy kardashian
@f00l I bet the crocodile heartily disagrees with you!
I just wish a minor skirmish would have broken out in her section of the stadium & the bag had gotten trampled in the melee. 
Inga Swenson, 90 Actress that played the housekeeper on Benson and many other roles.
https://ew.com/tv/inga-swenson-benson-actress-dead-at-90/
@ironcheftoni
I loved that show!
Paul Reubens, Pee-wee Herman Actor, Dies at 70 After Private Bout of Cancer
https://variety.com/2023/film/news/paul-reubens-dead-pee-wee-herman-1235683504/
@ExtraMedium His role in The Blues Brother should have been bigger!!
@ExtraMedium
So shocking!
He was posting hilarious things on Instagram just recently!
Yesterday, in fact.
Carol Duvall passed July 31, 2023 at 97. Many fond memories of watching Carol or following her crafting patterns with my Mom.
https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/television/2023/08/03/carol-duvall-dies-hgtv-queen-of-crafts-home-show/70520670007/
/image Carol Duvall 70s
William Friedkin, the Oscar winning director who became a top filmmaker in his 30s with “The French Connection” and “The Exorcist” has died. He was 87.
Landon Bourque, 15 years old. Not famous, and now never will be. Was killed by a car on 9 August 2023, while riding his bicycle on the first day of class.
@phendrick More on this on the GOAT forum.
Robbie Robertson guitarist for The Band and Bob Dylan.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66457469
@yakkoTDI He was also a great songwriter-singer & did a lot of work with Martin Scorsese. A big loss.
@ircon96 @yakkoTDI Anyone who was a fan of Robertson, The Band, or (especially) the song “Up on Cripple Creek” who has not seen this YT video should watch it to get insight into Robbie and his songwriting and the particular song.
and a little history of The Band
‘King Of The Hill’ actor Johnny Hardwick, who voiced Dale Gribble, dies Aug.8th at 64
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2023/08/10/johnny-hardwick-dies-king-of-the-hill-actor-comedian-dale-gribble/70568143007/
/image Dale Gribble
Anna McIntyre, 91, considered the most influential woman in the history of international snowsport racing, snowboarding advocate, U.S. National Ski Hall of Famer
http://usskiandsnowboard.org/news/snowsports-pioneer-mcintyre-passes-away
John Fielder, Colorado nature photographer. If you have any posters or coffee table books about Colorado, there’s a good chance they were photographed by John Fielder.
John Fielder, https://www.cpr.org/2023/08/13/john-fielder-photographer-colorado-outdoors-died-at-73-years-old/
John Gosling , keyboards for The Kinks died at age 75 on 8/5 (but not widely covered until today…)
https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/news/legendarock-keyboardist-dead-at-75/ar-AA1fdS3x
Ron Cephas Jones, 66, Emmy-winning actor, best known for role on “This Is Us”
https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/ron-cephas-jones-dead-this-is-us-1235700539/
Bob Barker, longtime “The Price Is Right” host, dies at 99
https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/bob-barker-dies-age-99-the-price-is-right-host/
@heartny He is one of the best reasons to watch Happy Gilmore.
@heartny oh no. I grew up watching Bob and learning the importance of spay and neutering your pets!!
@heartny @tinamarie1974
yep, approx 100 days short of 100! Not a bad run…
@chienfou @heartny @tinamarie1974 @yakkoTDI
“Come on down!”
[Actually, I hope he goes the other direction.]
Gil Brandt (March 4, 1932 – August 31, 2023) well respected for his innovations in scouting talent for the NFL. He was the least nationally-recognized of the three men who built the initial Dallas Cowboys, including GM Tex Schramm and Hall-of-Fame player and coach Tom Landry.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Brandt
“Brandt’s dismissal from the Cowboys on May 2, 1989, completed a purge that began with Jerry Jones’ purchase of the franchise just over nine weeks prior on February 25 and also resulted in Landry’s ouster and Schramm’s resignation.”
[And, in IMHO, the rest of the League has been thanking Jones ever since. The only thing Jones did to secure the later Super Bowl wins was to hire Jimmy Johnson. And then couldn’t stand everyone giving Johnson the credit, so they parted ways.]
Jimmy Buffett, ‘Margaritaville’ musician and mogul, dies at 76
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2023/09/02/jimmy-buffett-dies-at-76/70373861007/
@SpecialK
Aww.
Talk about a change in attitudes & latitudes.
He was barely older than I, but certainly a lot hipper (and richer).
Possibly his body has already been embalmed, by margaritas?
Gonna miss his free spirit. Will think of him whenever I hear someone use the line “It’s five o’clock somewhere.”
@phendrick @SpecialK Gutted to wake up to this. Old Parrothead here…went to SO MANY concerts in the 80s and 90s. Living in Florida he was around a lot
Later today I will be pouring something nice and strong, raising a Tin Cup Chalice and chewing on a honeysuckle vine.
Then I might just go crazy on Caroline Street.
And listening for Songs from St. Elsewhere.
Thanks for the memories, Jimmy. But above all, thanks for the music. It reminds us to chill. And allows us to take life a little bit easier.
@llangley @phendrick @SpecialK I met him once when I was crew on a schooner years ago in Key West. He motored his sailboat up to our 120’ schooner, tied up, got on and entertained us and our passengers (about 32 of them) with a private concert. Then he spent a while at the wheel of our boat. That was pretty special.
@SpecialK the loss of an icon. He certainly lived life to the fullest up until the end. RIP.
@cbilyak @SpecialK
Afternoons around the pool with his music playing will be bittersweet now…
Clear skies and smooth sailing ‘old friend’…
Cheeseburger in paradise…
@chienfou
That pic was taken on a windjammer sail cruise eight years ago. Still one of the best vacations I’ve ever taken.
Here’s a look at Jimmy’s last concert and why is was a great reflection on his life.
@chienfou Here is a song someone recorded from his unexpected last concert
https://www.youtube.com/watchv=E4R8oO1WZmE
@chienfou Looks like it was taken down or is overloaded as I got a this page isn’t available.
Steve Harwell, former lead singer of Smash Mouth.
https://www.npr.org/2023/09/04/1197540017/smash-mouth-steve-harwell-dies
/youtube all-star
Gary Wright, ‘Dream Weaver’ Singer, Dies at 80
https://variety.com/2023/music/news/gary-wright-dead-dream-weaver-1235713097/
@heartny Ooh, got it in my head now. (Might as well play it.)
RIP David McCallum
I don’t know how to copy a link.on my phone
@Cerridwyn Sad. Loved watching him in “Man From Uncle”.
@Cerridwyn @heartny Aww. I loved it too and shared it with my daughter then pointed out Ducky on NCIS. She was shocked.
@Cerridwyn @heartny @sammydog01
https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/celebrity/david-mccallum-star-of-hit-tv-series-the-man-from-uncle-and-ncis-dies-at-90/ar-AA1hffTq
It was a good run, Ducky.
Enjoyed your presence since “UNCLE”.
@Cerridwyn
Phone has to be in landscape to post pics, links or emoji.
@Cerridwyn @chienfou Some phones won’t swap ro landscape in the app, but might swap in a browser.
@Cerridwyn @chienfou Confirmed, swap works in a browser but still no support for images in the mobile interface under Brave, but that support pops up when you get it to change to the desktop interface.
Michael Gambon, who was known to many for his portrayal of Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore in six of the eight “Harry Potter” films, has died, his publicist said Thursday. He was 82.
@macromeh
Harry Potter movies were important but Gambon’s real claim to fame was due to his exploits on Top Gear which ended up with Jeremy Clarkson naming one turn in their test track after Gambon after a most exciting run…
Brooks Robinson, the human vacuum cleaner, famous Oriole & Hall of Famer dies at 86.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/26/sports/baseball/brooks-robinson-dead.html
Diane Feinstein iconic 90 yr old senator from California
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/09/29/sen-dianne-feinstein-died-90/71001235007/
@chienfou Longest serving female senator in history with over 3 decades of service.
Dick Butkus, Fearsome Hall of Fame Linebacker, Is Dead at 80
(NYT)
Full obit at
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/05/sports/football/dick-butkus-dead.html
@f00l
Oops. Maybe this should have been in a 4th quarter 2023 topic?
@ExtraMedium Looks like we need a new RIP thread, for Q4
@ExtraMedium
Started one here:
https://meh.com/forum/topics/rip-2023-q4
@f00l
See above link…
Bob Riggle, the driver of the Hemi Under Glass wheelstander Barracuda, passed away near September 13th, 2023, at the age of 88.
The Hemi Under Glass, originally sponsored by Hurst, was a Plymouth Barracuda modified so a hemi race engine was mounted behind the driver and visible through the large rear windows that early Barracudas were known for; the weight shift allowed these cars to come up on two wheels easily given the hemi engine’s power. Wheelstanders like this were used for exhibition and between-race entertainment for decades at drag racing events.
Bob Riggle drove the Hemi Under Glass from its second year in 1965 until he retired.
I only ever saw videos of his performances but even that was exhilarating (and scary thinking about doing it myself).