93 years retired 20 years ago, still lives with a roommate

Leila Lieberman, 93, retired More than two decades ago on a tight budget after working for years as an advisor. Lieberman lives in Manhattan and said that following his passions allowed him to live a fulfilling life, even if it meant to retire without enough to live comfortably and have a roommate. Lieberman said Life in its 90s To his advantages and said that there was more retired than money. This interview has been modified for duration and clarity.

After I retiredI knew that I had not done enough to get money, because you have nothing to do all day, and go to places and do things requires money. I volunteered and went to work part -time. I continued to obtain part -time jobs Because I needed money. I have enough now, surprisingly, to make me able to do things.

I would say that in addition to obtaining a Will goYou have to do what you like to do. It’s so gratifying, and you do it for years and years while saving money. You cannot spend your whole professional life hate what you do.

Dream work pay less than Ideal

I lived in Chicago, where I was born, and I was an advisor for the state of Illinois. As an advisor, I would set up training and I worked for the Labor Department. At that time, I had a 16 year old son of a previous marriage and a 10 -year -old girl, and I felt that education in New York would be much better than in Chicago.

I then moved to New York. But my son refused to come with us. He went to live with his father and mother-in-law.

After moving, I worked in a methadone clinic as an advisor for patients who have entered. I was there for two and a half years. Later, I became a rehabilitation advisor and I worked for the state with disabled. It was many more people.

But it was a poorly paid work. I only won $ 30,000 a year in the 1970s, but I was going to get a big state pension and obtain Social Security. I thought it was good, and I could live on it.

I was wrong because the expenses did not stop climbing. It was totally wrong, thinking that I was going to be able to hear myself on this, although from another or another, I did it. My husband died, but he didn’t work at all. He played the stock market. Sometimes he won, and sometimes he lost.

I went back to work. After leaving the state, I went to work in a hospital and I became a director, but I still haven’t won much.

I worked one day in the hospital and I didn’t feel well. They escorted me to the emergency room and decided that it had to be my heart. I spent some tests, and they said I had to have Open heart surgery In 1995. My legs also started to hurt and I suffered a lot. I was diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy. I still have heart problems and I had a procedure last week where they remove all the cholesterol from your veins. I continue to live because my cardiologist insists on it.

A brutal retirement

I had money in my retirement account but not much. I have a investment portfolioAnd I have someone else takes care. I can’t do investment decisions. It’s totally foreign for me.

I didn’t know how much I was going to need. I retired in 1994. I got a state retirement advantage but not full pension If I had stayed at work for a long time, which would have represented 50% of my retirement salary. When my husband was alive, we obtained an inverted mortgage.

In retirement, you have all day, and if you don’t have too many doctors, you have to find something for yourself. This is the most crucial to retirement, because you have to fill your day with something unless you like to sit down and watch TV.

The first thing I did when I retired was to take advantage of the mattress lessons. All the money I earned entered shortpoint supplies.

I also volunteered to help people with problems with their benefits. I worked part -time for a real estate agency Two days a week, and I retired when I was about 71 years old. It was the last job I had. I really didn’t want to work anymore. When I fully retired, I had about $ 130,000.

Retirement improves, a little

I don’t have much money, but I don’t feel unhappy about it. I can’t do much now that I am in my 90s, but I went to a big party in Queens, and the day before, I do shopping. I am so tired afterwards, and when it happens, I do nothing and I only do I sit here.

I’m pretty happy to have things to do, but I can’t do even more. When your friends die all, you have to start Make new friendsAnd it’s difficult when you’re older. I have friends and I am very happy. We had a party, and it was so charming. We play cribbing, and they are mainly at the end of the 1960s or 70s. I do not have a big social life, and I often go to things alone because I do not want to ask a million people.

A man I know praises a room in my apartment. He made a lot of money, but he also thought of his pension and Social security would help more in old age. He was stage director on television, and he was 78 years old. We chat every day, but we don’t spend our lives together. As soon as my husband has died, our owner has maintenance of 15% higher, and I simply did not have the finances for this. When he died in 2010, I found myself doing everything by myself.