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Just wait until the people in their 20s-30s today reach retirement age, if you are still around then. With the probable end of Social Security before then, the trend toward 401Ks rather than pensions, and the fact that people wait to long to start saving for retirement, they are likely to be in far worse shape than those retiring in the next 10-20 years. Even those that work where a pension is offered won't likely qualify for much since they tend to change jobs so often now. Whether you get 1% or 8% return on your investments makes little difference if you don't start saving for retirement until you are in your 50s.
Sounds like you should just brew up some Hemlock and drink it. First it seems to me that young people in their 20s and 30s are more concerned about money than I ever was. They faced career issues with high unemployment and they are the first generation to grow up since pensions have been largely phased out. My daughter and her 20 something friends have 401ks and they understand the importance of that money. I waited a lot longer to start any serious savings.
If you think Social Security is going to end, I think you are way, way overly pessimistic. SS has always been funded with funny money. We paid for our parent's SS. And our kids will pay for us. As the baby boomers age the incoming funds are unlikely to support the system and there will be more and more voting citizens at or beyond retirement age. What politician wanting reelection could ever fail to support steps to bail out or support the SS?
People are always talking about Social Security running out of money. When was the last time you heard someone talking about how welfare is running out of money?
People are always talking about Social Security running out of money.
And have been talking about it for a very long long time. For me, it helped my 'mindset' to save, pretending nothing would be there for me. I knew it would be there, but ...
Dad always told me to not depend on anyone or anything else - except for myself. And if anything came my way - it was a bonus.
Don't depend on a spouse.
Don't depend on the government.
Don't depend on an inheritance.
So now almost 45 years later, I have my savings. I'll get SS. And dammitall, I got an inheritance.
My mother raised my brother and I in the 60's and 70's on a secretary's salary (back then after my dad got sick, there were few options for women and work). She struggled all the time, and was not able to amass retirement savings. She does however get a $400 a month pension, for decades of work. I am doing better than she did, but am faced with the fact I will have to pay for many of her expenses as well as my own, and inheritance is certainly not going to be in my future. I think many don't have savings because they don't have a save "ethic", but many more are simply living paycheck to paycheck through no choice of their own. My brother was an auto mechanic his whole life, and he has managed to save a little money for retirement, but now after a back surgery he can no longer be a mechanic, and makes about $12 an hour as an assistant manager at a national auto parts chain, in his 50's.
I also think divorce is a big reason people have less money now. Many men are paying to maintain two households when it used to be one. I think there are many factors today that contribute to lack of savings. I think we will see a surge in multi-generational housing again.
I think many don't have savings because they don't have a save "ethic", but many more are simply living paycheck to paycheck through no choice of their own. .
I agree with the first part, but not the second.
There is always a choice to save.
My first job was 10 hours a week at 1.50 an hour.
$1.50 a week minimum went to savings.
When I went to $2 an hour for 40 hours, I saved $8 per week minimum.
And note the word minimum. That 10% got increased regularly, even if it was only by 1%.
This continued until my final paycheck, almost 45 years later.
It all depends on your decisions on what is important.
My first job was 10 hours a week at 1.50 an hour.
$1.50 a week minimum went to savings.
When I went to $2 an hour for 40 hours, I saved $8 per week minimum.
And note the word minimum. That 10% got increased regularly, even if it was only by 1%.
This continued until my final paycheck, almost 45 years later.
It all depends on your decisions on what is important.
I honestly don't get the attitude of so many who insist that people who don't get ahead by "saving" are irresponsible fools. Many, many people "save" but have to use those savings on children, aging parents, education, car and home repair, insurances, moving, job loss and emergencies, and healthcare. And so many are not making that much money to begin with. Seems this attitude is seriously skewed toward those with the ability for great income sources. The assumption that everyone can "save for retirement" and never have to spend those savings beforehand is just simply not so across America and in countries all over the world.
Wait, what's positive? That things are better or that you started a thread saying that....?
That things have improved. Private pensions are better funded and more respondents are saying they are comfortable about their retirement. Sorta for the more realistic crowd of folks.
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I am doing better than she did, but am faced with the fact I will have to pay for many of her expenses as well as my own, and inheritance is certainly not going to be in my future. I think many don't have savings because they don't have a save "ethic", but many more are simply living paycheck to paycheck through no choice of their own. My brother was an auto mechanic his whole life, and he has managed to save a little money for retirement, but now after a back surgery he can no longer be a mechanic, and makes about $12 an hour as an assistant manager at a national auto parts chain, in his 50's.
