Retirement Without Money....No Problem

I remember when I worked, before my forced retirement in 2005, all the stories about how much money one needed to have stashed away for retirement!

Yes, you need millions if you want that $750,000 home in a gated golf course community with a $5000 mortgage payment, a new BMW and a Lexus for that trophy wife. But you don't need that to "live" or survive.

As I blog this, it has been almost two years since I have had any money, income or assets. I'm not old enough for SS and my SSDI was denied twice. I had a "survival job for one year, working for $7.49/hr, but with %525 rent, utilities, food, and bills was worse off than with nothing!

As previous blogs mention, I was living on the street in two different states for six months, than five months in homeless shelters. It's not great eating in soup kitchens or living in a dorm with 95 other guys. I thought of it as "Camp".

But it is better than being a wage slave, not knowing if your soon to be laid off, to lose you home and car, and be responsible for feeding two kids and a wife who blames you for all that is wrong! Suicide is better than that, which is why more folks take that route!

Am I happy? My counselor probably will say no. But I am surviving, until that first SS check arrives in October 2010. Life has given me lemons and I made Margaritas!