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Why Are 20-Somethings Retiring?

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Re: Why Are 20-Somethings Retiring?

#71

Post by [deleted] »

nostrademons wrote: post #46
loki540 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, that's not it - of the people 20-24 who "don't have a job and aren't looking for them", the number of people who said it was because they were retired doubled. Other answers were "disabled" and "staying at home". That being said, I don't see how anyone can retire at 20-24 - if it was 30-34 it'd make a lot more sense. . .

There's no category for "I believe that the notion of 'lifetime employment until age 65, upon which you get to enjoy the life you've saved up for if you still have the health for it' is outdated, and choose to take my retirement in chunks of a year or two interspersed by periods of productive, lucrative work." One of the side effects of moving to a fluid labor market is that you can basically get a job whenever you w…

[deleted]

Re: Why Are 20-Somethings Retiring?

#72

Post by SonicSoul »

cobaltblue wrote: post #69
SonicSoul wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've worked at larger co's (1k+ employees) where BS work was actively eradicated in order to have breathing space to move forward and innovate. This is possible but requires vigilant management and hiring the kind of people that want to make a difference. There's more red tape at corps which may be part of the BS you're pointing out but even that was actively fought. I see it similar to technical debt. It's easy to a…

I would describe your experience as atypical, wouldn't you? Just like Valve's nearly-flat management is atypical and requires a certain mesh of personalities and pruning to work at all. Counterexamples exist, it's not a perfect correlation, but unless they're plentiful they don't really change the typical.

You do have a point. I suppose that is why you generally make more working at a corp, to either deal with the BS or ideally figure out a way to solve it which is never easy. All I was saying is that there are ways around it and long term solutions that work if you're willing to sink your teeth in and try to improve the status quo. The feeling of looking back and seeing that 80% of BS from last year was eliminated can be quite satisfying even if you're not at a game changing startup.

Re: Why Are 20-Somethings Retiring?

#73

Post by hwstar »

NoMoreNicksLeft wrote: post #30
hwstar wrote: post #2

It shouldn't be called retirement. It is probably more like a temporary hiatus. Also, it isn't just 20-somethings. US employment has been somewhat of a raw deal in the last 15 years for all age groups. Some people have realized that working to live just isn't worth it. There's a lot of bullshit work assigned in a typical corporate job, and this 'impedance mismatch' forces some people with financial strength to quit a…

What's the alternative, "mooching to live"?

Working long enough to save enough money to have good investments to live off of so that you can say "screw you" to employers which offer mediocre jobs and working environments.

Re: Why Are 20-Somethings Retiring?

#74

Post by Nadya »

NoMoreNicksLeft wrote: post #30
hwstar wrote: post #2

It shouldn't be called retirement. It is probably more like a temporary hiatus. Also, it isn't just 20-somethings. US employment has been somewhat of a raw deal in the last 15 years for all age groups. Some people have realized that working to live just isn't worth it. There's a lot of bullshit work assigned in a typical corporate job, and this 'impedance mismatch' forces some people with financial strength to quit a…

What's the alternative, "mooching to live"?

Financial Independence and accepting to live off $22-35k annually. Unless you have a larger investment pool or a well-above-average and stable ROI to increase that beyond 35k...

Re: Why Are 20-Somethings Retiring?

#75

Post by TeMPOraL »

steve-howard wrote: post #67
eanzenberg wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which are all choices you make.

Career is certainly not a choice I make. It's a necessity. Hell, I'd probably enjoy it more if I didn't need it.

Same here. For me personally, any task can be turned from fun to misery by setting the single bit labeled "work".

Re: Why Are 20-Somethings Retiring?

#76

Post by jrjarrett »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #55
fapjacks wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have nothing approaching basic income or housing that anybody could live off reasonably. Either these kids are living with parents, living off parent's money, or are living out of their cars. There is no in between here. I suspect that it's the former, which is really giving an awful impression about what is possible in the States. The vast majority of Americans need to work their asses off just to make rent. If y…

>We have nothing approaching basic income or housing that anybody could live off reasonably. State welfare programs, section 8, food stamps, "earned income credit", medicaid, SSI, TANF, SNAP, etc. There's lots of aid in the US. Over 100m people nationally are on some level of means tested welfare. That's pushing one third of this nation. National spending accounts for $1T in welfare spending. That's slightly less tha…

>>>We have nothing approaching basic income or housing that anybody could live off reasonably.

>State welfare programs, section 8, food stamps, "earned income credit", medicaid, SSI, TANF, SNAP, etc. There's lots of aid in the US.

I question this response with the qualifier of "living off reasonably."

I'm certainly lucky enough not to need any of that, but from what I understand, it's barely subsistence existence.

Re: Why Are 20-Somethings Retiring?

#77

Post by FiatLuxDave »

xwkd wrote: post #54
PaulHoule wrote: post #33

Nothing gets in the New York Times unless it interests people over 50. Back when the boomers were young there were huge numbers of article about hippies, drugs and all that stuff because old people like to read about what young people are doing and try it out for themselves. It makes them feel young. Old farts have been obsessed with iTunes, iPhones, iPads, and all that i-stuff for Apple as long as they've been makin…

Funny. Faith in institutions created a great society. People worked together for the common good. Then, the corruption and abuses of power in those institutions left that society disillusioned; uncommitted. Everyone became disengaged and individualistic. What happens after that? It really seems like a pattern in large social structures. Maybe it isn't, though. It's hard to say without generational bias. Any sociologi…

I think you are looking for: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strauss%E2%80%93Howe_generatio...

Re: Why Are 20-Somethings Retiring?

#78

Post by CountSessine »

sp332 wrote: post #16
tastynacho wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's a lot of bullshit work assigned in a typical corporate job yeah its called being young and being inexperienced. Gotta put the time in before you're qualified to enjoy the meat..

And with no guarantee of upward mobility, why would someone put up with it?

Switching companies every 3 or 4 years is the new normal - you can't expect to ever get promoted within the same company. There's still upward mobility - its just that it's within an industry, not an individual company.

Re: Why Are 20-Somethings Retiring?

#79

Post by snowwrestler »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #43
jazzyk wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"...you aren't necessarily done working for the rest of your life, just that working has become completely optional" Optional - as long as you live in your parents' basement and don't want to start a family. :-)

> Optional - as long as you live in your parents' basement and don't want to start a family. :-) I think this is where there's a fundamental disconnect in cultures. I'm 33, my wife 31. We're about to have kids, and we've strongly considered moving in with my parents, not only to spend more time with them, but also to provide care when necessary as well as have their help watching and raising our children. Just becaus…

No one needs to move to the suburbs and take on an expensive mortgage to raise a family. An apartment or small condo is a fine place to raise a family, and millions of Americans do just that.

It's just a cultural thing: many Americans prize their independence and privacy, so grown kids want to get away from their parents.

And vice versa, by the way! My parents definitely would not want me to move my family to their house--they love us and enjoy visits, but are enjoying their own independent lives too.

Re: Why Are 20-Somethings Retiring?

#80

Post by CountSessine »

creshal wrote: post #17
tastynacho wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's a lot of bullshit work assigned in a typical corporate job yeah its called being young and being inexperienced. Gotta put the time in before you're qualified to enjoy the meat..

Which was true for the last generation, when you were supposed – and did – put up with the bullshit, because the company would care for you and offer you employment until retirement, and afterwards offer an adequate pension. Nowadays, in far too many companies all you get for hard work is getting downsized. I can't blame people for not wanting to put up with that, and there's not nearly enough reasonable companies ar…

Which was true for the last generation, when you were supposed – and did – put up with the bullshit, because the company would care for you and offer you employment until retirement, and afterwards offer an adequate pension.

I'm 40 now and I certainly didn't get a company to "care for" me; that promise went away generations ago. The last time anyone was hiring on those terms was maybe the 70's. Three generations have gone by since anyone pretended that lifetime employment is actually still a thing.

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