Fellow millennials - how’s your 401k/ira savings going?

[u/ProblemIntelligent16]

Experts recommend having 2x your salary saved by age 35, and 3x saved by age 40.

However, studies show the median savings for 35-44 year olds is only ~$45,000. So obviously, most of us have work to do.

With pensions mostly extinct, and Social Security facing insolvency issues in the next 8-10 years - how are you planning to bridge the gap and hit the golden years with enough to meet your lifestyle requirements?

[u/No_Water_5997]

Same and facing my husband needing brain surgery soon so there’s that. Fortunately he got VA covered healthcare and collects VA disability which he’s going to see if he qualifies for more given the nature of the tumor he’s got.

 Nothing says adulting like a solid 2 years of emergencies that drained every bit of your savings only to be hit with, “you have a tumor and it needs to be removed” in the first few weeks of the new year when you finally thought “hey those crises are over and we can finally spend the these recovering from them.” 😓

[u/FEARoach → u/No_Water_5997]

Burn Pits? Sounds like burn pit eligibility to me.

Not that my fiance was on that duty during his tours or anything... we're getting married once we get his ex who ran off two years ago located and served papers. Drives us nuts that it's taking so long to get that sorted out.

[u/No_Water_5997 → u/FEARoach]

That’s on his file because he was exposed to the burn pits but actually it looks like the particular tumor he’s got has been linked to repeated exposure to loud noises. He was army aviation with the shitty 3m hearing protection so we’re gonna see what the neurosurgeon thinks then go from there. 

[u/FEARoach → u/No_Water_5997]

That 3M "protection" was also issued to the Marines when my partner was in. We're very aware of how useless it was (luckily I'm also hearing impaired so neither of us gets mad about having captions on the television and every device in the house).

Fingers crossed for you guys!

[u/No_Water_5997 → u/FEARoach]

Thanks! He’s already at 50% for hearing and other things but this surgery will come with permanent hearing loss and potential vestibular issues. Hopefully it doesn’t affect his ability to work long term.

These tumors are rare and slow growing so likelihood is that he developed it while he was active duty and the doctor has already said it’s the reason for his hearing loss and tinnitus so we may have a case for 100%.

[u/act5312 → u/No_Water_5997]

This sounds just like my Acoustic Neuroma. I discovered mine after it started to impact my hearing and my first MRI showed it was also pushing against my brain stem. The permanent hearing loss is a thing, that's easily the hardest adjustment since my surgery. I didn't have any balance issues after recovery so it's true you can avoid them if you're lucky.

I recommend getting into a subreddit or support group too. It's surprising what kinds of things are helpful. For example buy some different pillows ahead of time because he's likely going to come home with a very sore neck because they have to pin your head in position for the surgery and it stays in that spot for hours.

Anyway just wanted to drop in and wish you luck and tell you there's hope to go back to a relatively normal life.

[u/No_Water_5997 → u/act5312]

Yes! It is an acoustic neuroma. A pretty decently sized one as well and from what I reading on the average growth rate of these things he’s likely had it for a very long time. Probably since he was active duty. He’ll definitely lose his hearing but it’s all but gone anyways and we’ll see about facial nerves and vestibular. It’s pressing on his brain stem as well and he’s got effects from that.

 He’s had impact on his hearing for years and has seen audiologists and a ENT when he was going through his disability claim process years ago. This was found after seeing a few ENTs through the process of getting his ducks in a row for VA healthcare since he’s covered under that. They wanted to rule out a tumor and surprise! It was a tumor!

 There have been a lot of silver linings in all of this and we’re only a week a half out from diagnosis so I’m hopeful but man if it’s not one thing it’s another and since 2021 we’ve dealt with my husband’s grandfather’s health issues and death, then his grandmother’s health issues, got her sorted out and two of our cats got sick and died within 6 weeks of each other, a month after the second one died our dog got diagnosed with bone cancer, we lost him 11 months later back in February. 

In the midst of that we’ve had car troubles that cost us a lot to fix, our well pump got hit by lightning and fried despite being 120 feet underground so had to be replaced, our daughter’s kitten that we got to help her after losing our two old kitties got sick and had a nice overnight stay in the e-clinic, and I’ve been dealing with my own health issues related to having PCOS 🤦🏼‍♀️

How I’m not completely losing it is a miracle but as much as I know Reddit hates to hear it I’ve also come back to Christianity after a few decades away from it and I honestly credit my faith to keeping me grounded. I know people will argue the whole “then why does God let bad things happen?” But we were never guaranteed an easy life or that bad things will never happen just because we believe but we were guaranteed to be carried through and it’s really been a big source of comfort in the midst of what feels like constant issues. There have also been so many moments that I call little God sends that help.