Why work has failed us: Because no one can afford to retire anymore
1–10 of 147 posts
Re: Why work has failed us: Because no one can afford to retire anymore
#2In Australia the official retirement age when you can start to receive a pension (or access your own retirement money without penalties) was recently moved up to 67.
The new Prime Minister just announced he won't raise it to 70, which was on the table. I think it's clear that's just a sign of things to come.
Re: Why work has failed us: Because no one can afford to retire anymore
#3It seems to me work gave us exactly what we wanted. My parents both swear to work until they die. They seem to have conflated work with a sense of personal value. In doing so, they agreed to give up the kinds of niceties that would allow them to retire early, including pensions, 401k's and livable wages. All to earn just enough to pay the monthly financing bills.
Now it's up to subsequent generations to get the calculus back on track.
Re: Why work has failed us: Because no one can afford to retire anymore
#4It seems to me work gave us exactly what we wanted. My parents both swear to work until they die. They seem to have conflated work with a sense of personal value. In doing so, they agreed to give up the kinds of niceties that would allow them to retire early, including pensions, 401k's and livable wages. All to earn just enough to pay the monthly financing bills. Now it's up to subsequent generations to get the calcu…
People used to retire by having a few kids who would take care of them.
I prefer shrinking our population, especially as developing countries are rapidly growing.
Re: Why work has failed us: Because no one can afford to retire anymore
#5no millennials expect to see a dime of social security income (whether or not this is justified is another question), nor do they have any plans to retire because the prospect of having enough money to do so is simply unrealistic for them.
i am not the only one that has put their income, expenses, and savings rate into one of those "financial independence" calculators (http://mustachecalc.com/#/calcs/time-to-fi). i found that my predicted retirement age was in my 130s if i was willing to settle for a very modest retirement with a lower standard of living than i currently have.
that's right: i'm roughly 100 years from having enough money to retire, even if i save perfectly diligently every single month from now until then, which is extremely unlikely. it doesn't even make sense to plan for because i won't live that long; the calculation doesn't include anything along the lines of medical debt which is sure to accrue in old age if not sooner. the calculator may or may not be accurate to the decade, but it's accurate to the half-century in any event. if it's inaccurate by a half century in my favor, that still puts me as retiring in my late 80s -- hardly much more to look forward to.
i am always harping on the same thing: 6.5% interest rate student loans, rising rent, rising living costs, lower income, rising healthcare costs, shrinking benefits, and no social safety net to speak of have totally devastated the economic prospects of a generation.
the first plans to be thrown out the window during economic insecurity are the ones which are farthest away timewise. most people haven't had a chance to even plan that far in the first place. by the time they have accumulated enough resources to start saving some each month, they may be forced to take care of their then-elderly parents, or, alternatively, their children -- which most people can't afford anyway. so much for building up savings.
to be clear, it isn't "work" that has failed us. it's capitalism.
Re: Why work has failed us: Because no one can afford to retire anymore
#6I’ve been so poor my calculated net per month was minus $1000 for about 16 years while supporting a family. I worked and saved my way out of it and know that the inability to save for the vast majority of people is just bullshit. Its an inability to sacrifice and “suffer” in a consumerist society. They won’t make their own coffee or cook their own food or give up cable or Netflix or their cell phone or fix their own plumbing or grow their own food, spend their free time learning and studying, etc ad naseum. I’ll be the first to argue the root of the problem is the rampant abuse of workers rights and wages by our capitalist overlords but the reality is that, baring some medical catostrophy in the USA, it can be done with hard work and sacrifice. Most aren’t willing to do it and though I agree they shouldn’t have to, reality states otherwise.
Re: Why work has failed us: Because no one can afford to retire anymore
#7no millennials expect to see a dime of social security income (whether or not this is justified is another question), nor do they have any plans to retire because the prospect of having enough money to do so is simply unrealistic for them. i am not the only one that has put their income, expenses, and savings rate into one of those "financial independence" calculators ( http://mustachecalc.com/#/calcs/time-to-fi ). i…
It's kind of awesome that the calculator doesn't cut off at e.g. 110.
Re: Why work has failed us: Because no one can afford to retire anymore
#8In Australia the official retirement age when you can start to receive a pension (or access your own retirement money without penalties) was recently moved up to 67. The new Prime Minister just announced he won't raise it to 70, which was on the table. I think it's clear that's just a sign of things to come.
I’m fully expecting that to rise to 75 before I am able to retire. Feels like everything I get old enough to enjoy gets pushed out every time I get there.
What annoys me is that those making the decisions claim it’s for the betterment of the country which is fine but are totally unaffected by it.
Re: Why work has failed us: Because no one can afford to retire anymore
#9It seems to me work gave us exactly what we wanted. My parents both swear to work until they die. They seem to have conflated work with a sense of personal value. In doing so, they agreed to give up the kinds of niceties that would allow them to retire early, including pensions, 401k's and livable wages. All to earn just enough to pay the monthly financing bills. Now it's up to subsequent generations to get the calcu…
People used to retire by having a few kids who would take care of them. I prefer shrinking our population, especially as developing countries are rapidly growing.
That won't really help the pension issue–pensions are held up by the expectation of a large working-age population to support current retirees.
FWIW, I think people tend to overstate the risks of overpopulation; the Earth could support 10x the current population with a comfortable standard of living, if space and energy usage per person was reduced (which could be helped along by increased urbanization, among other things).
Re: Why work has failed us: Because no one can afford to retire anymore
#10It's interesting that while people claim they can't afford to retire, more than half of the population begins collecting Social Security in the US at age 62 (https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-people-who-claim-socia...) when those on disability are included.