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2010-02-09

2010-01-19

Agriculture

Lifestyles

Saturday, November 14, 2009 11:00 AM

Photo by Sara Humm/Special to The Herald

Debbie Aubert thinks retirement might be a thing of the past. She and her husband, Johnny, pictured with their dog, Buffy, had a plan and a vision for what retirement would be. But when her husband lost his job, that plan changed, Debbie Aubert said.

Retirement short-lived after spouse loses job

By COURTNEY SERVAES, Herald Staff Writer

Debbie Aubert had a vision for retirement.

Less work. More time with family and friends.

But Aubert, who taught middle school in the West Franklin School District for 29 years, said retirement didn’t work out the way she had planned.

The economy tanked. Her husband lost his job at American Eagle Distribution Center, 1529 N. Davis Ave.

“It definitely didn’t pan out as I had thought it would go because of financial reasons,” Aubert said.

Aubert and her husband aren’t alone.

Other area families are showing concerns about their retirement plans, Bill Henningsen, with Edward Jones, 502 S. Cedar St., Ottawa, said.

“They are naturally concerned about whether or not they can retire when they planned on it,” Henningsen said.

Thing of the past

Aubert said it was getting to be too much.

She couldn’t work two jobs. She couldn’t substitute teach and work 34 hours at Ferrellgas, 103 S. Main St., Ottawa.

Not at her age.

“I work evenings and weekends at Ferrellgas now,” she said. “And I was subbing at West Franklin during the week days.”

Aubert said she took on the two jobs to help compensate for her husband’s salary.

“My husband is currently unemployed and hasn’t had much luck finding work,” she said. “Being a 59-year-old male in this economy hasn’t been easy for him.”

For the Auberts — and other families — retirement might be a thing of the past, Aubert says.

After her husband lost his job, she’s starting to wonder whether it’s possible to save enough money to retire.

“Various other jobs that my husband has had, had mismanaged [employee stock ownership plans] where he lost a great deal of money, so that drastically changed our retirement plans,” Aubert said.

When to retire

Henningsen says the market has gone through a serious downturn — the worst in 50 years.

But it’s also gone through a serious recovery, he says.

“The issue for them is, if you are going to continue to invest in markets, you have to become aware and comfortable with fluctuation,” he said. “You can’t say, I want high returns and no risks. That formula just doesn’t work.”

Henningsen said typically he works with families to help them plan for the future, not just make expectations about what retirement will look like.

“I think prior to this period, people based retirement decisions on, ‘Hey, I’m this old, I should be able to retire,” he said. “I want to retire, therefore I will retire.”

Those people — usually aged 55 and older — are the ones most impacted by the recent economy, Henningsen said.

“They’ve already begun to envision retirement,” Henningsen said. “That’s the normal place where people start to visualize retirement.”

Taking Mystery out of it

It’s tough living month to month.

But Aubert said they have no choice.

“I, like other state employees, have my KPERS,” Aubert said about the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System. “But as I’m below the age of 55, I will not be able to access it without penalty until I’m 59 1/2.”

For families like the Auberts, Henningsen said sitting down and crunching numbers really can help.

“In some cases, people are right on track. They are frightened and a little bit nervous about it, but when we run the numbers, they are right on track,” Henningsen said. “Running the numbers and running the figures takes the mystery out of it.”

Aubert said it helps that she receives a small monthly check from KPERS from a portion of its fund.

That check, coupled with her job, hopefully will be enough to help Aubert survive until her husband finds a job, she said.

“Faith in God helps,” she said. “And knowing that you can only do what you can do, but it’s tough worrying about how you’re going to have the money to make it from month to month.”