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Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

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Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#401

Post by hx87 »

coredog64 wrote: post #239
tingletech wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why we need immigration policies that let us keep enough working age people in the country

Devil's advocate: High trust, homogeneous societies are more likely to have more comprehensive safety nets. As trust diminishes (i.e. partisan Red vs. Blue bickering) and the population fragments into large heterogeneous groups, what is there to keep the safety net in place? Why would a bunch of immigrants from Central America, doing the jobs that Americans don't want to do (and at very low wages) want to see a signi…

Metadevil's advocate: Immigration to the United States (and to other ex-settler colonies) is fantastically effective at improving the portion of humanity that lives in high-trust societies. Why would a bunch of Central American immigrants contribute to the retirement of old non-Latino white people? The same reason a bunch of Italian immigrants contributed to the retirement of old Germans 80 years ago--the former view the latter as "us".

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#402

Post by anigbrowl »

jessaustin wrote: post #392
TheCoelacanth wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of developer job doesn't have a 401k? Even the minimum wage job I had my first summer out of high school had one.

You had a minimum wage job with a 401k? That was a firm with a bigger HR department than it needed.

Large firms can have low-paying entry-level jobs.

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#403

Post by DashRattlesnake »

jessaustin wrote: post #392
TheCoelacanth wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of developer job doesn't have a 401k? Even the minimum wage job I had my first summer out of high school had one.

You had a minimum wage job with a 401k? That was a firm with a bigger HR department than it needed.

> You had a minimum wage job with a 401k? That was a firm with a bigger HR department than it needed.

Aren't there giant companies that employ low wage workers (e.g. McDonalds and Starbucks) that might reasonably offer 401ks to all employees, even the minimum wage ones?

Ignoring the question if a minimum wage person can realistically afford to save, or course.

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#404

Post by dmux »

TheCoelacanth wrote: post #387
fooey wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm 36 and in ~17 years of being a developer professionally, I've yet to find employment at a single company that offers any kind of retirement plan at all. I max out my IRA each year, but my retirement plan is to basically work until I can't, then hop on an iceberg. IMHO, between Americans being drastically underprepared for retirement and mass job automation, the country is on the cusp of a devastatingly colossal s…

What kind of developer job doesn't have a 401k? Even the minimum wage job I had my first summer out of high school had one.

Plenty of high paying Boston companies.

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#405

Post by hx87 »

RestlessMind wrote: post #223
monocasa wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The most docile 60 year olds I know become positively vitriolic at the idea of even the age of benefit payout being changed by 5 years. I guess I'm afraid of a slow rollout. ie. everyone who's 40 and older gets normal social security, if you're ~35 now, you'll have to wait a few years more. It's exactly the kind of "we got ours" BS that the boomers are so known for.

Honestly, I don't think its such a bad idea. Life expectancy in 1935 was 62. Today its 79. So if we want the program to be solvent, we have to adopt one or more of the following solutions: keep increasing the SS-eligibility age in tandem with life expectancy, increase the FICA tax, cut benefits

Grandfathering would be unjust though.

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#406

Post by hx87 »

brandonmenc wrote: post #400
logfromblammo wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right. The average Boomer had nothing to do with it. To be fair, the Boomer politicians and business managers didn't screw the Millennials, either. Not directly. They pulled the rug out from the Gen-Xers, and let the domino effect take out the Millennials, too. Yeah, as a generation, we still exist, even though nobody talks about us. The Boomers were the beneficiaries of post-war prosperity, but they also decided to…

> The Boomers were the beneficiaries of post-war prosperity, but they also decided to steal money from the future to finance their generational party/gravy train. I hear this a lot, but what exactly do you mean? The real reason we don't have the same great lifestyles our (let's be honest - mostly white, male) parents and grandparents did is because no one can get a good paying factory job right out of high school any…

It's also because they consistently cut taxes and public investment in infrastructure while passing legislation to inflate the costs of basic life necessities such as housing.

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#407

Post by anigbrowl »

smokeyj wrote: post #367
hsitz wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haven't you ever heard that "the squeaky wheel gets the grease"? There's a reason the Christian right has a political voice far out of proportion to their actual numbers: they're active and loud. No, of course the answer isn't to "vote really hard", but that phrasing is simply rhetoric built to disparage the poster you're responding to. Everyone has only one vote. But the people who make noise, the people who are pol…

> they're active and loud. So now our livelihood has resorted to a shouting match? Thanks but no thanks. Voting is like praying, where if you pray with all your passion then god might listen. But there's also the saying pray for what you want, work for what you need.

Yes, but this is what's actually happened. The active and loud people kept pushing to the point that they now enjoy huge political power and get to do what they want for the next while, regardless of how it impacts you.

Your not wanting to participate in this understandable but if you don't then you have no guarantee of retaining what you have worked for anyway.

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#408

Post by DesiLurker »

cjkalsdf wrote: post #18
callinyouin wrote: post #4

I'm not planning on Social Security being around by the time I'm old enough to tap into it, and I'm also not planning on having any kids to bail me out when I go senile, so yeah I'm putting a lot into my 401k. I think a lot of people my age (turning 30 next week) are feeling the same way, so I wonder if it's younger workers driving this trend.

You think the stock market will be around when you are old enough to need your 401k? I max my contributions but I have no faith they won't be wiped out in some future crash.

then how about you invest in gold, its traditionally been a good fear hedge. or more appropriately adjust the weighting between gold & market based on your perception of risk.

Note that I am not actually recommending investing in gold just making your abstract fearful thesis into something real. IMO unless you are talking about some civilization hurting disaster (like yellowstone .. not even then perhaps) markets recover from crashes. in a way they are a measure of optimism for future. so I'd factor than into my plans.

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#409

Post by mindcrime »

tn13 wrote: post #375
jandrewrogers wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not your money, it is a tax on income like any other. The Supreme Court established in 1960 (Flemming v Nestor) that contributions to Social Security are not your property and the government has no obligation to ever pay you benefits regardless of contribution. People have had this entitlement revoked in practice, though the targeting tends to be selective for out-groups and not a substantial fraction of the po…

ALL tax money is your money. We cant avoid taxes but that does not change the fact government's right to take our money away from us to do something as personal as retirement planning does not make sense and is morally extremely wrong. If I wanted government to plan my life I would have lived in Cuba not in USA.

Taxation is theft.

Re: Americans Are Putting Billions More Than Usual in Their 401(k)s

#410

Post by jessaustin »

mywittyname wrote: post #331
chrisabrams wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the older generation should give way to the younger generation. After all, it is the younger generation that is required to run the world while the older retires. However, as it is currently, the older generation is robbing the younger generation. The younger generation is paying for entitlements that it knows it will never receive. That is not sustainable, fair, or in my opinion: necessary. It should not be…

It's not a retirement fund and was never intended to be. Social Security was always envisioned as a social safety net to provide enough support to elderly people to keep them off the streets and fed, nothing more.

In that case it really ought to be means-tested, much more than it is now.
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