Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I know a dude who's been out of work since summer 2019 or so. Dude is in his mid 30s. He just lives in his parents' house and collects benefits. He might be on disability now, not sure, because he has a chronic illness (though I'm not sure it's the kind that qualifies you for disability benefits). I think the parents tolerate it because he's their only child and he has that illness.
Now just to be clear, I don't think that particular illness actually keeps him from working. He was canned at his last job for unrelated behavioral issues and that's really the reason he's out of work. He has in-demand qualifications, but his sporadic attempts to find work in his area end in failure (most likely due to his checkered work history).
His girlfriend is also unemployed and lives with him at his parents' house. They are most definitely *not* working. They're just getting by on the welfare state and their parents' care.
They need to have a baby...it's the ultimate insurance policy against the parents getting fed up and kicking them out. Then, they just have to wait for the parents to die and inherit the house. Dude got it made!
Almost one-third of all working-age men in America aren’t doing diddly-squat. They don’t have a job, and they aren’t looking for one either. One-third of all working-age men. That’s almost 30 million people!
How do they live? What are they doing for money?
-Unemployment insurance
-Early retirement, pensions, disability and lawsuits
-Savings, trading stocks, and bitcoin
-Working for cash, aka the under-the-table economy
-Living off family members
-Illegal work
-Living off the land
It seems like working legally to provide for yourself in America is really just one option these days.
I've worked since I was 14 and on the books since I was 16 and I don't really know any other way. That being said, my wife and I are both tired of the corporate grind and have long talked about "semi-retiring" in our 50's. We define that as part time jobs with some benefits (primarily medical). I want my parents to live to be 100, but statistically they're going in the next 10 to 15 years and if they leave anything behind (they are very frugal), combined with what we've saved and our own frugality, retiring early is very possible.
I started my own business, comletely legitimate, licensed and insured and after having seen me "sit around" for several months during the pandemic, I am sure my father still thinks I am somehow scamming the system because I can come over and help him fix his washing machine during "office hours" thanks to the flexibility of self-employment.
As for people taking advantage of Unemployment Insurance, that is a limited offer, at least in my state. I lost my previous job due to the pandemic as it was a basically tourism related job, and started collecting. I decided to use that income as a nest egg to start my current business. As of this past May, I timed out on those benefits. I am completely ineleigible from a dime, state or federal, so I don't understand people who claim that people are living off those benefits ad infinitum. Even though the federal benefits continue, I was only eligible for those as long as I was eligible for the state assistance and that was limited to 12 months. When the state dried up, so did the federal.
Not to mention every dime of that assistance, including the stimulus relief, added up to less than $16,000. Not exactly a living wage.
On the bright side I was able to start a business and I even have an employee now and looking to have 3 employees by next summer, aa thanks to the federal assistance/stimulus checks. The only silver lining of the pandemic for me.
I’m the early retirement on a pension kinda guy. Life is awesome! I can hardly wait till I can start drawing on my early Social Security, then I’ll have even more fun money to play with. I do what ever I want, every day of the week. And yes, money does buy happiness.
Heck yeah! I “lost” my job last year to Covid. Sure, I could have cheated by taking the severance package, applying it as a “weekly wage” and then, apply for unemployment once the “weekly wage” timed out. Yeah, no. Retired, took the package, started my pension and….life is great!
Can money buy happiness? The new watch I just purchased makes me happy so probably. Dang well beats the alternative of being retired and being broke.
I’m the early retirement on a pension kinda guy. Life is awesome! I can hardly wait till I can start drawing on my early Social Security, then I’ll have even more fun money to play with. I do what ever I want, every day of the week. And yes, money does buy happiness.
Can you please define "early retirement?"
Anyone who can legitimately retire "early" should do so. Life is short.
My former boss retired at 56 with a pension and one other source of income. He's a very happy guy. Surfs daily. Travels often. He made wise investments and deserves the life he's living.
Anyone who can legitimately retire "early" should do so. Life is short.
Define legitimate retirement.
Anyone who have means to make living without going to work can retire, if they wish to. (inheritance, lottery win, investments, living off grid, bartering, stay at home dad if wife makes enough money AND it's mutually beneficial and agreed to, making money passively, blogging, vlogging etc...etc...)
Cheating the system is not the topic of this thread, right OP?
I don't understand what's wrong with that. People live that way not only in America.
Anyone who can legitimately retire "early" should do so. Life is short.
My former boss retired at 56 with a pension and one other source of income. He's a very happy guy. Surfs daily. Travels often. He made wise investments and deserves the life he's living.
I retired from 40 years of government work. I was 59. I could have went at 55, but my ex wife walked out and took a good part of my pension, so I had to put in a few more years. No big deal, I completely own my farm, debt free. I rent out my land, have my pension, a 401k, do some fun stuff on the side when I feel like it for coffee money. I’m still not old enough to collect social security, but I’m looking forward to it. I can do whatever I feel like. Travel, mountain bike, trail run, ride dirt bikes, fish, hunt, collect old trucks and tractors, or just sit on my porch with a beer and watch the wildlife. Life is definitely to short to be a slave to a paycheck. I’ve known a lot of people that have died and never got to enjoy the fruits of their slave labor for The Master. Get out and enjoy life…ASAP!
I’ve been doing diddly squat very well for 30 years and love it. I also pay more income tax than I did working.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
