It is my dear hope to someday grow old and wrinkly with Wes. The first time we discussed the prospect of growing old together was during a phone conversation deep in the bowels of the night. Back during the nadir of our relationship, every conversation took place between the hours of 1Am and 4AM (Wes was very into the bar scene at the time and had no time to talk to his cute-yet-underage-girlfriend outside the earliest hours of the dawn.)
I asked Wes what he envisioned for himself in the rosy years of old age and he replied that he imagined living with me in a large farm house in Ireland, the walls of which were decorated with pictures of our kids and grand kids. There may have also been a dog involved, he wasn't sure.
As of now, we have no immediate plans to move to Ireland but would probably jump if the chance presented itself. We both fancy beer and rain more than is good for us, I wot.
Anyway, our plans for old age have never progressed further than that initial discussion. As a young person, I find it very difficult to imagine being old. As of now, I have so much to look forward to that it's difficult to imagine a life where all those future things are deep in the past.
I was thinking about retirement today, though, and think that we'd probably better start planning for that now while we can still afford to. After all, I reckon that by the time we're old enough to be thinking about retirement it'll be too late to start planning for it.
It's just so hard to put away money that we could be using now and setting it aside for use in 40+ years. Even if we only put aside $30 each every month from now until retirement, that's still $60 a month that could be spent on pretty shoes, or a date, or a roll of cheese.
I've heard from many sources (none of which I can currently remember) that it's prudent to start saving for retirement right around now. I can't think of anyone my age who's saving for retirement already, though. The vast majority of the people I know are too busy just trying to pay for groceries.
As for you and your house, are you storing away enough money to guarantee you a lake view in the old folks' home or are you pretty sure you're going to wind up living in your kids' garage?
