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The sad thing is that by the time many retire at 65 or so, they only have around a decade of good health, if that. Others have chronic conditions long before then and by retirement, quality of life has already declined. My mother started going downhill around 50 (granted, she's obese, diabetic, and doesn't take very good care of herself) and can't do things she used to do. Likewise, my mother and father have withdrawn from their retirement partly to pay medical debt.
This scenario is common not because it's inevitable, but because our lifestyle in America, consisting of no exercise (drive everywhere in the car) and a diet chock full of red meat and processed foods, sucks. We eat totally unhealthy foods and get no exercise, then wonder why our medical bills are so high. By the way, even diseases like dementia and alzheimer's are at least partially preventable through healthy lifestyle habits (eating, exercise, etc.).
But as many cases as there are of overspending, I'm sure there are quite a bit of people who aren't overspending. Housing, children, medical bills, etc, just come first unfortunately.
But housing, kids, & medical bills are also at least partly under our control.
No one forces anyone to have kids. Yet 41% of kids are now born out of wedlock . No wonder the middle class is shrinking.
Same deal for housing. What middle class Americans expect as "necessities" in terms of square footage, etc. are not the same expectations of middle class folks in other countries, even in other First World countries.
Even health care costs are partly under our control. We don't need to have 66% of people overweight and 1/3 obese. Those things (and the resultant high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, & cancer) are driving up medical costs and are heavily under our control. 70% of the health care costs in America are lifestyle related.
Last edited by mysticaltyger; 02-15-2014 at 02:44 AM..
People don't save enough for retirement either because they can't afford it or think "what's the point" when everybody they've ever been related to died too young for retirement.
People don't save enough for retirement either because they can't afford it or think "what's the point" when everybody they've ever been related to died too young for retirement.
To your first point, I don't buy the "can't afford it" argument. People can afford tattoos, recreational drugs, cigarettes, alcohol, etc. Heck, even homeless people find ways to afford the things they want. You don't hear of too many people who say "I'm homeless right now, but I'm saving for retirement". But you do see a lot of homeless people who find ways to smoke, drink, buy drugs, & booze.
The 2nd part is sort of a self fulfilling prophecy. Most people WILL live well past the age of 65. Yet people will cherry pick their examples so they can make excuses. The other factor is WHY so many people don't live to retirement age. Unhealthy lifestyles play a big role.
The other issue not addressed in your post is the reality that many people can retire long before traditional retirement age if they make saving a priority. Maybe not the majority....but a large minority can. There are blogs that prove it....but the naysayers will keep saying it's impossible because it challenges their "work and buy until you die" view of the world that has been programmed into them from birth and they don't like that.
To your first point, I don't buy the "can't afford it" argument. People can afford tattoos, recreational drugs, cigarettes, alcohol, etc. Heck, even homeless people find ways to afford the things they want. You don't hear of too many people who say "I'm homeless right now, but I'm saving for retirement". But you do see a lot of homeless people who find ways to smoke, drink, buy drugs, & booze.
You're shooting your own argument there. You just validated Maslow. Of course you'll never hear that. Nobody would be stupid enough to starve or die from exposure because they're trying to save for retirement. Your argument that everybody has the means to save up for an annuity of 30 years of 50% of a median wage is NOT a given. As such, people do exercise either/or choices. Paying for housing and the upkeep of children in lieu of retirement savings is the human rational thing to do. If you want to profer the idea that people shouldn't be having any kids below the median wage, you just imploded the Country's labor/tax/population replacement. Don't be facetious.
Truth.
My wife and I meet the employer match on 401k and max our IRAs each year. We do not know anyone else that does this.
Since my employer match is zero, I meet it every year.
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. No wonder the middle class is shrinking. 
