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My advice to young people is save, save, save. Be ready for the unexpected. It's wonderful when you can have that 40 year career and then retire but sometimes, through no fault of your own, that gets cut in half. The employment world is very unforgiving if your career doesn't go as planned.
I second this. Ideally, people should set themselves up to be able to retire or semi retire by 50. That means you'll need about a 33% savings rate and you'll need to invest that in a mix of stocks and bonds. A mutual fund like Vanguard Wellington or T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation should do the trick.
I know a 33% savings rate sounds impossible to most people, but if you're doing it in a tax sheltered retirement account, by a conservative estimate, it's probably only 25% to 27% out of your pocket, depending on your tax bracket. If your employer chips in 3% for a match, then that knocks it down to 22% to 25% out of pocket.
As Ivorytickler here points out, and as my personal experience has also confirmed A TON OF PEOPLE LOSE GOOD PAYING JOBS IN THEIR LATE 40s or EARLY 50s, and then they have to find a way to live on half their former incomes anyway....so why not just prepare for it from the start?
I think that sounds wonderful. Ten years ago I might have thought that sounded kind of dry but now it sounds just about perfect. It's hard to get it right the first time, marriage, family, house, job, and kids. It sounds like they have their values and priorities in order.
I agree about getting it right the first time, especially with marriage & kids. That's why some cultures have arranged marriage.. 'cause they figured out a few thousand years ago that people in their late teens and early 20s aren't good at that stuff. Human nature hasn't changed.
But in that generation it was taken for granted that you stayed with one employer. It's nothing remarkable. Now if today's 20- and 30-somethings stay at one employer for 40 years, that would be unusual. Still happens, though. People get a good gov't job, and work their way up the payscale. Great federal retirement benefits, often pretty good vacation allowance, depending on the job. It still happens.
I work in the public sector and I assure you it may still be possible but will surely be less common for young people to do it in government jobs going forward. We had layoffs back in 2010...and since they were by seniority, it was young people who were most affected by it.
I agree about getting it right the first time, especially with marriage & kids. That's why some cultures have arranged marriage.. 'cause they figured out a few thousand years ago that people in their late teens and early 20s aren't good at that stuff. Human nature hasn't changed.
I have been with my husband almost 20 years, and we met when I was 20. I think marriages/relationships can be very happy as long as you are well matched and have the same core values. Then as you age, you have to grow together rather than apart. We found interests to do together and work to keep our relationship vital.
I'm on the way - same employer for 20 years, married and in the same home for 18 years, on the way to an early mortgage payoff, and hopefully, an early retirement. It's not that amazing, people used to do things this way all the time generations ago, and should be doing it this way today. Too many people today want to live lifestyles that their parents and grandparents worked for years to achieve, and they think nothing of carrying large debt loads to get it - debt that would have shamed and scared the daylights out of previous generations.
I have been with my husband almost 20 years, and we met when I was 20. I think marriages/relationships can be very happy as long as you are well matched and have the same core values. Then as you age, you have to grow together rather than apart. We found interests to do together and work to keep our relationship vital.
I'm not saying it can't work. But let's be honest...marrying in one's early 20s has a high failure rate. Part of that is just the unrealistic nature of youth. Part of it is the trashy values, unrealistic expectations that young people get from the popular media/culture at large, as well as a lack of parental role models (I.E. If your parents get divorced or never married in the first place, then that is your template for what is normal, even though divorce/out of wedlock parenting have been shown to be detrimental to physical, emotional, & financial well being of all parties involved more often than not).
I'm on the way - same employer for 20 years, married and in the same home for 18 years, on the way to an early mortgage payoff, and hopefully, an early retirement. It's not that amazing, people used to do things this way all the time generations ago, and should be doing it this way today. Too many people today want to live lifestyles that their parents and grandparents worked for years to achieve, and they think nothing of carrying large debt loads to get it - debt that would have shamed and scared the daylights out of previous generations.
I agree the way you live shouldn't be an amazing or exceptional thing. Unfortunately, it is
I'm not saying it can't work. But let's be honest...marrying in one's early 20s has a high failure rate.
But when it works, it works.
Mom and Dad got married when they were 17 and 18.
When Dad died, they'd been married 62 years.
Mom celebrated their anniversary alone for the next 12 years.
Dad was in WWII, then went to work in the state Corrections Dept., until he retired.
Mom worked for the school district after the youngest started school (me!), until she retired.
They lived in 2 houses - the 'big house' on the corner while we were growing up, and then renovated the rental next door for their retirement years. Both of them died in that house, in a hospice bed by the front window.
A co-worker has been here just over 44 years. He was married 44 years ago, and they are coming up on 44 years of living in the same home. I thought that was amazing. He also told me that his wife packs him a lunch every day and she has been doing that for the 44 year time frame. She clips coupons. They paid their home off early, years ago. They did finally by their 1st new car, 3 years ago and paid cash for that. He drives a Dodge fullsize pickup that he bought used 9 or 10 years ago. He plans on repainting it next year as the paint has some fade marks. All of their 7 kids have been raised and are on their own. Both him and his wife are still "young" at heart anyway. Not much they can't do. I doubt that they are going to hit up the clubs on the weekends, still they are able to live and do what they want. he says that he likes living the way that they are living. I mentioned yo him that he doesn't like change much. He told me that one of the keys to his happy life was making sure that they were debt free so that they had freedom and didn't have to worry about much. He could retire today if he wanted to but has no intentions of doing that. Just thought this was a cool story. A lifestyle that I wouldn't mind living myself.
Have others done this or are working on this kind of lifestyle?
Good for them. Personally, this life style would have probably caused me to slash my wrists and bleed out (especially the 7 children) but I only learned that after almost falling for such a life style idea with my first wife.
The learning process was hard but it allowed me to live life along the way.
You can say that about any exception to the rule, though. I hear all the time from folks who are single parents who swear things worked out for the best and point out the forever unhappily married couple down the street. The odds are still the odds. But I do agree that more 1st marriages would work out if more people (and the popular media) instilled more realistic expectations in young folks. I'm not holding my breath for that to happen, though.
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