11–20 of 147 posts
It'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.
It'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.
I’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…
In 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.
My own?! Holy crap, and I'm bitchin' here in the U. S. because I can't touch the 401K until 59.5.
no 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…
You weren't born entitled to anything. I'm in better circumstances than you for my generation but it's unlikely I'll live to retirement age (disease). Grousing about 'capitalism' or the 'corporation' (or The Man, man) isn't going to change a single thing.
I envy your clear vision of who to blame and where the problem lies but unless you get into a career in politics you're not changing anything. Easier to become an astronaut.
It 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.
> The IRA won’t make anyone rich. A calculator on the site estimates that if you’re 22 years old and making $14 an hour–saving around $120 a month–you could end up with around $230,000 by the time you’re 65
1. $14 / hour? The median household (yes, I know, household, but wait) income is the highest it's been since at least 1985 [1] at $59k/year. So $14 is definitely a bit lower than "normal".
2. Saving $120/month on that salary is saving just 5%! Nobody is suggesting saving 5% is appropriate. 10% is the bare minimum anyone recommends. Doing that, an IRA at 65 would be worth > $763,000, enough to spend $30k each year for the rest of their lives.
Standard statement I feel like I always need to make: this is in no way a defense of our economic system. We absolutely need to raise taxes on the highest earners. We probably need a wealth tax as well. But we middle classers need to cool it with the defeatist attitudes. The poor have it hard. We, for the most part, do not. We spend too much and save too little. If you've got a car loan, eat anything but rice and beans, drink anything but water, have cable tv, a > $30/month cell phone bill, and complain about being broke, you've got some very obvious improvements you can make to get out of that dilemma.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United...
I’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…
Downvotes are cool but counter-arguments are more convincing.
I’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…
Downvotes are cool but counter-arguments are more convincing.
I grew up around the tone of superiority that you are, knowlingly or not, expressing. It really just sounds like you blame the poor for their own poverty.
That's kind of niave. For one, the economic conditions in our country have changed. So managing to save now is a little harder than it was in the past. Another thing is you blame the poor for being too lazy to do this long list of things but if your hatred were actually sincere you would have had enough introspection to realize that growing their own food is not something they are capable of doing. etc.
The class gap is widening and it's not pretty.