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The Future of Aging Just Might Be in Margaritaville

nytimes.com

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Re: The Future of Aging Just Might Be in Margaritaville

#11

Post by claydavisss »

TylerE wrote: post #8
claydavisss wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I'm waiting for the day I can avoid the world of work, which has become progressively shittier since I graduated college in the early 90s. When I started as a developer, it was NORMAL for an employer to: - 1:1 match 401k fully, some even offered pensions - offer PAID vacation time, not this bullshit scam "unlimited PTO" which is really just unpaid vacation. - offer full zero-deductible/zero-contribution health in…

Uh, doesn't the "P" in PTO stand for paid?

No, "Personal"

Responder "flerchin" below, please tell me what employer offers "unlimited PAID vacation"....do you even know what "paid" vacation is?

Here is what it is. If you accrue four weeks of vacation and leave the company, they give you a check for four weeks of pay.

When I left a job in 2009, I had six weeks accrued. I walked out with a check big enough to buy a car. They HAVE to give you the money when they are accounting for PAID time off. This is also why employers that offer PAID vacation will cap it or require that you use a certain number of days per year...they need to actually account for these as days they are obliged to pay you for - its TAX LAW. In the public sector, there have been a lucky few that have negotiated away this cap. When my father retired from the fire dept he had THREE YEARS of sick time accrued...they had to pay him for it! It wasn't 100% pay, but it was still a huge check.

"unlimited PTO" is NOT PAID vacation. It just isn't. Unlimited PTO is the company telling you it will look the other way if you decide not to come into work on a certain day if you have followed company guidelines for scheduling the day off. By accounting rules, they are actually giving you ZERO actual paid vacation days. Yes, zero. Ask your accountant. Amazingly they convinced a generation of workers that the new model was a perk.

If you do not see vacation day accrual on your paystub, you are not getting paid vacation. So says the IRS, so I don't really care if you downvote me.

Re: The Future of Aging Just Might Be in Margaritaville

#12

Post by swsieber »

syedkarim wrote: post #10
nubbins wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would think most peoples ideal is to live in healthy natural commmunities with a diverse age range to get wisdom and tradition from the old and energy and new ideas from the young.

What's so special about tradition? Just because something has been done many times in the past doesn't mean that it's useful, worthwhile, or right.

You are correct.

Though things that are harmful without benefit tend to die out over time.

So while tradition doesn't make something magically useful, many traditional things are useful, often in unobvious ways. Of course, many do not...

Re: The Future of Aging Just Might Be in Margaritaville

#13

Post by dawhizkid »

I wonder how many people think about longevity...for me that is less so about living to 100+ but more about doing as much as I can now to make sure old age is not filled with chronic illness. I’m a “millennial” and already very mindful of lifestyle choices that I hope help maximize my longevity i.e. fasting, low carb, exercise, no drugs, no smoking, less alcohol.

Re: The Future of Aging Just Might Be in Margaritaville

#14

Post by claydavisss »

woodruffw wrote: post #9
claydavisss wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I'm waiting for the day I can avoid the world of work, which has become progressively shittier since I graduated college in the early 90s. When I started as a developer, it was NORMAL for an employer to: - 1:1 match 401k fully, some even offered pensions - offer PAID vacation time, not this bullshit scam "unlimited PTO" which is really just unpaid vacation. - offer full zero-deductible/zero-contribution health in…

I just entered the industry, and the benefits you listed were included in every offer I considered. My current job includes all of them except equity and, based on conversations with my peers, that's the exception rather than the rule.

I'm happy for you but increasingly your experience is the exception.

Even tier-one companies offering me positions with "top of market" pay have offered me health insurance that requires a monthly contribution...with a family these contributions are often meaningful. These are a stealth pay cut. If you are being paid $200k but have to contribute $1k a month for your health insurance contribution...

Paid vacation is becoming as rare as a white rhino. Even big companies are moving to the "unlimited PTO" model because they know full well no one actually exploits the "unlimited" time off; if they do, they put their jobs at risk. Companies are increasingly out of the business of accounting for your vacation time. Amazingly, there are some rubes out there that think "unlimited PTO" is a perk. if you don't see vacation days accrued on your paystub, the IRS says you are getting none.

Once again, when I entered the industry, you didn't even have to ask about these benefits, they were assumed. Indeed, lots of companies did 2:1 matching of 401k. Try finding that now.

Re: The Future of Aging Just Might Be in Margaritaville

#15

Post by flerchin »

claydavisss wrote: post #11
TylerE wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh, doesn't the "P" in PTO stand for paid?

No, "Personal" Responder "flerchin" below, please tell me what employer offers "unlimited PAID vacation"....do you even know what "paid" vacation is? Here is what it is. If you accrue four weeks of vacation and leave the company, they give you a check for four weeks of pay. When I left a job in 2009, I had six weeks accrued. I walked out with a check big enough to buy a car. They HAVE to give you the money when they…

In most, if not all, places with unlimited PTO, the P stands for paid. The rub is that it's not unlimited, by convention. What you have described is a sabbatical policy.

Re: The Future of Aging Just Might Be in Margaritaville

#16

Post by loeber »

nubbins wrote: post #4
coldcode wrote: post #2

I may be in that demographic, but I prefer to be around young people (I volunteer a lot with youth). Being around nothing but old people all day would make me old and depressed. I prefer to be around the future not the past.

I would think most peoples ideal is to live in healthy natural commmunities with a diverse age range to get wisdom and tradition from the old and energy and new ideas from the young.

Re: the relationship between age and wisdom, you may find this paper interesting: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1080/016502599383739...

Re: The Future of Aging Just Might Be in Margaritaville

#17

Post by BurningFrog »

syedkarim wrote: post #10
nubbins wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would think most peoples ideal is to live in healthy natural commmunities with a diverse age range to get wisdom and tradition from the old and energy and new ideas from the young.

What's so special about tradition? Just because something has been done many times in the past doesn't mean that it's useful, worthwhile, or right.

Well, tradition is typically things that have been successful many times in the past!

The hard part is to recognize if the reasons for the previous success still apply in the modern world. See "Chesterton's Fence".

Re: The Future of Aging Just Might Be in Margaritaville

#18

Post by Kalium »

BurningFrog wrote: post #17
syedkarim wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's so special about tradition? Just because something has been done many times in the past doesn't mean that it's useful, worthwhile, or right.

Well, tradition is typically things that have been successful many times in the past! The hard part is to recognize if the reasons for the previous success still apply in the modern world. See "Chesterton's Fence".

The tricky part is distinguishing between things that are successful and things that just haven't obviously failed. Tradition might not always be the best of all possible guides here, as it tends to be a collection of things whose primary commendation is that they didn't immediately cause a society to fail.

Re: The Future of Aging Just Might Be in Margaritaville

#19

Post by mtreis86 »

dawhizkid wrote: post #13

I wonder how many people think about longevity...for me that is less so about living to 100+ but more about doing as much as I can now to make sure old age is not filled with chronic illness. I’m a “millennial” and already very mindful of lifestyle choices that I hope help maximize my longevity i.e. fasting, low carb, exercise, no drugs, no smoking, less alcohol.

I suspect a lot of people feel like they have already outlived their own expectations

Re: The Future of Aging Just Might Be in Margaritaville

#20

Post by Swizec »

dawhizkid wrote: post #13

I wonder how many people think about longevity...for me that is less so about living to 100+ but more about doing as much as I can now to make sure old age is not filled with chronic illness. I’m a “millennial” and already very mindful of lifestyle choices that I hope help maximize my longevity i.e. fasting, low carb, exercise, no drugs, no smoking, less alcohol.

Careful. Don’t optimize for longevity at the expense of not living your life. There’s a balance of course, but we often forget that it’s not about the years in your life but the life in your years.

> Early to rise early to bed makes a man healthy wealthy and dead. > James Thurber

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