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Retirement Nomads: Too poor to retire and too young to die

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Re: Retirement Nomads: Too poor to retire and too young to die

#31

Post by 6stringmerc »

kafkaesq wrote: post #6

Westfall — 5 feet 1 tall, with a graceful dancer’s body she honed as a tap-dancing teenager — is as stubborn as she is high-spirited. But she finds herself these days in a precarious place: Her savings long gone, and having never done much long-term financial planning, Westfall left her home in California to live in an aging RV she calls Big Foot, driving from one temporary job to the next. This is just shameful. You…

You do know you're talking about a generation that essentially had every opportunity to provide for themsleves, but squandered decades of prosperity out of their own selfishness, most easily seen in the recent $4 TRILLION spent on war as the domestic infrastructure crumbles, medical care costs skyrocketing, and the largest ideological gap in politics according to some scholars?

Re: Retirement Nomads: Too poor to retire and too young to die

#32

Post by caskance »

exhilaration wrote: post #20
dreamdu5t wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree with your sentiment, I do not agree that it is my responsibility to take care of your parents. I want to take care of mine, and socializing these costs just means I'm forced to pay for your parents at the expense of mine. There is no replacement for the family unit. Obviously I feel differently about people who have no family, but that is the exception not the norm.

You're pretty confident that you and/or your savings will live to take care of your parents. What if you get hit by a bus? Or lose your ability to work? Isn't that what a social safety net is for?

For most of us with dependents, that's what private life insurance is for. The social safety net is for people too poor or irresponsible to have life insurance.

Re: Retirement Nomads: Too poor to retire and too young to die

#33

Post by MrZongle2 »

rdlecler1 wrote: post #9
maerF0x0 wrote: post #3

Its tricky to feel sympathy w/ the lady in this article. She's part of the most benefitted generation, the "hardships" shown are induced by her own choices (expensive dinner, speeding ticket) and by world standards she's won the lottery to even be alive and living comfortably at her age. Alas, thats the trick with other people's stories-- difficult to project how it would feel if I were in their shoes.

It sounds like you have never been poor. Poverty and misfortune wears you down. A moment of weakness is inevitable. Moreover financial stress has shown to significantly reduce effective IQ.

Exceeding the speed limit isn't exclusive to the poor and downtrodden. Should fines for breaking the law be different for different incomes?

Edit: for those of you saying 'yes': who decides what is "fair"?

Re: Retirement Nomads: Too poor to retire and too young to die

#34

Post by kasey_junk »

s_q_b wrote: post #25
kasey_junk wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are being down-voted because the US has near universal basic income for older folks & the subject of the story collects it. It's one of the real questions I have about basic income schemes generally. The examples we have are not powerful arguments in favor of them.

Social Security worked well, before cost of living overtook the benefits provided.

Yet most of the "viable" basic income schemes I've seen provide benefits at the social security level or less.

Re: Retirement Nomads: Too poor to retire and too young to die

#35

Post by toomuchtodo »

hitekker wrote: post #22
s_q_b wrote: post #8

Before Social Security, over 70% of seniors died in poverty. Today, that number is less than 10%. The amount of transfer payments to the elderly is so much larger than to any other age group, but unless you're willing to let those below the median income die in abject poverty, it's necessary.

I agree with you, but do you have more sources that convey the full impact of Social Security?

http://www.epi.org/blog/social-security-effective-anti-pover...

http://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/policy-basics-t...

Re: Retirement Nomads: Too poor to retire and too young to die

#36

Post by gist »

maerF0x0 wrote: post #3

Its tricky to feel sympathy w/ the lady in this article. She's part of the most benefitted generation, the "hardships" shown are induced by her own choices (expensive dinner, speeding ticket) and by world standards she's won the lottery to even be alive and living comfortably at her age. Alas, thats the trick with other people's stories-- difficult to project how it would feel if I were in their shoes.

> Its tricky to feel sympathy w/ the lady in this article. ... > and by world standards she's won the lottery to even be alive and living comfortably at her age"

Why does that need to be trotted out whenever a story about someone's misfortune or bad circumstances is written about? It would be nice if people could just be happy with what they have because they aren't living somewhere else, under worse conditions, but unfortunately that is not the way the majority of people think and in fact it wouldn't necessarily be healthy if they did. [1]

I don't wake up in the morning (and don't know anyone who does) and think "wow I am so lucky to have a job and to earn a decent income that slow driver in front of me shouldn't annoy me so much!". If I get a meal that was expensive but was "bad" in a restaurant I don't think "thats fine at least I am alive and can afford to eat here how lucky am I".

You compare yourself to your peers and what your expectations are growing up and what you experience.

Of course life for anyone alive today is better than almost anytime in human history but people's baseline is today and where they are not another time period or where someone is living in a third world country.

[1] Because for only one reason it would also prevent people from striving and trying to make their life better in some way.

Re: Retirement Nomads: Too poor to retire and too young to die

#38

Post by toomuchtodo »

s_q_b wrote: post #25
kasey_junk wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are being down-voted because the US has near universal basic income for older folks & the subject of the story collects it. It's one of the real questions I have about basic income schemes generally. The examples we have are not powerful arguments in favor of them.

Social Security worked well, before cost of living overtook the benefits provided.

Cost of living is not the problem (except for healthcare cost inflation, which Medicare could mitigate if someone could gut Congress of representatives preventing Medicare from negotiating with pharmaceutical companies). The problem is that everyone who collects Social Security is living longer.

The question is: How can you continue to provide a high quality of life to seniors without bankrupting the country.

It can be done, its simply a policy decision.

Re: Retirement Nomads: Too poor to retire and too young to die

#39

Post by refurb »

s_q_b wrote: post #25
kasey_junk wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are being down-voted because the US has near universal basic income for older folks & the subject of the story collects it. It's one of the real questions I have about basic income schemes generally. The examples we have are not powerful arguments in favor of them.

Social Security worked well, before cost of living overtook the benefits provided.

There is an annual COL adjustment to social security.

Re: Retirement Nomads: Too poor to retire and too young to die

#40

Post by sliverstorm »

maerF0x0 wrote: post #3

Its tricky to feel sympathy w/ the lady in this article. She's part of the most benefitted generation, the "hardships" shown are induced by her own choices (expensive dinner, speeding ticket) and by world standards she's won the lottery to even be alive and living comfortably at her age. Alas, thats the trick with other people's stories-- difficult to project how it would feel if I were in their shoes.

There's also a theme:

Should she go to the dentist, or take a guided tour of buildings designed by her favorite architect, Frank Lloyd Wright? Each cost $100. She picked Frank Lloyd Wright. Her teeth could wait... The biggest blow came in 2013 when she faced $8,000 in charges for emergency dental work and rig repairs.

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