31% Of Americans Have No Retirement Savings At All (emotionally, employer, pension plan)
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I've never had 401(k) opportunities and still have retirement funds doing quite well (a Roth and a SEP-IRA).
There is a belief on the part of SOME that people need to be led to the stream of retirement savings and employers have a role/responsibility to do so.
There are areas and groups where much of what he advocates is a core value. They can be a natural resting place for morality and ideology. He is a soldier and evangelist for his beliefs agreed with or not. Most here don't but in his element he can get an Amen.
I agree with this and have to state that buu has good points that are at odds with the "got my pie and nobody gets a piece of my retirement pie" thinking just like with the healthcare controversy over ACA, how some people have good healthcare for themselves and are adamant that there isn't enough healthcare pie for everyone and those people would say for those unfortunates without health care, tough luck, they should have planned better. Maybe like yin and yang they will always be at odds but I'd say buu is fighting the good fight and we need people with that perspective for retirement issues just as with healthcare issues Canada has a great healthcare pie for everyone no matter what the truly callous anti-healthcare people say.
I laughed out loud at your second sentence, which is so true. Can you imagine the reaction of people being harangued non-stop about their moral inferiority? Or perhaps poster bUU has found a small group of like-minded people who get together and congratulate each other on how morally superior they are and practice their sneering at everybody who does not agree with them?
And then return home to Mommy's basement, their cardboard box or favorite bus stop bench congratulating themselves on how morally superior they are.
Let's face it, not all of us have the same interests, experiences, educations, earning powers or any one of a number of commonalities. Those who think they have it made should rest easy in that fact and stop looking down on those who don't by their "exalted" standards. Those who don't may be content not to and strive for nothing more. Others may not whine because they've never known anything better.
Out here in the hills an' hollers of these here Ozarks are those who have never had much of an education, rarely held a "real" job but are very skilled and enterprising. Yesterday I paid one $300 for removing a 14.5' wooden handicapped ramp from the front deck of our house that came with it, reinstalling it in the step-down garage so my wife could get to the car and outside then building four steps to the deck. Add another $60 for materials/hardware and he did a very professional, wonderful job. Two weeks ago he replaced the subflooring in our neighbor's bathroom and tiled the floor. Another great job very professionally done. I doubt he's ever paid a penny in Social Security or ever does but he'll make it in old age and do fine. It's just the way things are here and always have been. By our standards he's poor but he doesn't think that and after all, isn't that what counts?
i wouldn't consider someone who is content a failure by any measure. if their goals are met and they are happy they won the game.
it isn't an amount it is a life.
it is those that complain and are unhappy about their financial state , and who had it within their power to change things and didn't and now are suffering for it that are the failures.
in fact many folks failed financially and things were not within their power to change but that does not change the fact they still failed meeting their goals and expectations financially. some may still see their way clear if they put more effort in, made changes or were more creative , others there may be no hope for,.
it is those there is hope for that would be wise trying to find that way instead of wasting time reading or digging up things about what folks don't have.
the best way to be successful is you have to think successful and hang out with those succesful. because if you think you can't -you never will.
there is a very popular early retirement forum many of us here frequent. it is filled with smart successful people as well as just regular folks who put plans and goals together and met those goals one way or another.
i fiound many to be very motivating for myself and i wanted the knowledge they had so for years i have been stealing their thoughts and ideas and molding that info in to my own outline.
many of those thoughts and ideas i bring to these forums.
the point is folks would be far better served spending that free time on sites like that vs digging up every "we aint got no money" article they can find.
Last edited by mathjak107; 08-31-2014 at 04:28 PM..
There are areas and groups where much of what he advocates is a core value. They can be a natural resting place for morality and ideology. He is a soldier and evangelist for his beliefs agreed with or not. Most here don't but in his element he can get an Amen.
You are totally missing the point. This is not about agreeing with or disagreeing with a given ideology or viewpoint. It is about respect for other viewpoints in a debate or discussion. It is the sneering, the blatant contempt for others, the total rudeness of the put-downs, that I object to. I don't know why you of all people can't understand that, as you exhibit civility in your responses to other people, much to your credit. It is the lack of civility that I object to.
Location: Subconscious Syncope, USA (Northeastern US)
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To be fair, not everyone has the opportunity to save for retirement. Their employer provides no offerings nor does the employer help educate employees on retirement needs.
At my current place of employment, there are several offerings, one of which is a pension plan offered directly through the employer, but there are others you can take advantage of, if you dont mind living a bit miserly now. Prior to getting this, what to me is a great position for a meaningful employer, job I never had such opportunity and benefits available to me. No previous employer offered much beyond a couple weeks vacation, and a week of sick time.
I was almost 40 when I started at my current job, joined the pension plan immediately. After 10 years, I was vested for my pension and health benefits. I then joined a Tax Deferred Annuity Plan, and steered money that had been a contribution to my pension in that direction. As income changed I increased my donation, and my TDA now has a cash value amost double that of my pension.
Even taking the hit in 2008, and another more recently in 2011, Im still ahead of the game. I recently transferred the total value into the Guaranteed Interest Account of the plan, and set my contributions to start playing the market again. The bulk of my money is now safely earning a pitance, while I see if I cant catch a break and build it some more.
This helps me keep my annual tax liability lower, and allows me to expect a nice refund check each year, aside from building for my future.
Am I this economicly intelligent on my own? Heck no. I had a now deceased tax preparer guide me through the just of it. Without her unsolicited advice, I'd probably have been clueless as far as continuing contributions and offsetting tax liability annually goes.
Most of us live paycheck to paycheck out there. If there is no opportunity, no offerings, and no education on the matter, most of us arent going to be doing much toward saving for a future. Living through right now is most important. We can worry about tomorrow, if it ever arrives.
P.S. As well as poor little me is doing on saving for retirement, I dont even have a fraction of a million saved yet. xD
Disclaimer: When I speak, I only represent myself.
lots of folks have no employer sponsered plans. so what? that isn't much of a factor. you can do roths and taxable account savings on your own.
in fact equities should either be in a roth or a taxable account , never a 401k or traditional ira for good tax planning..
they get special tax treatment so only income stuff should be in your 401k where it gets taxed at regular rates regardless.
to often folks use that excuse and it only reflects the fact they don't want to learn about what to do , nor do they want to seek advice.
many are funding a family full of i-phones , premium channels on cable and new cars for the kids and then complaining they have nothing left to save.
there are some there are no answers for but for many it is only poor choices and bad decisions that are keeping them from saving successfully or have kept them from it.
Last edited by mathjak107; 08-31-2014 at 05:04 PM..
There are areas and groups where much of what he advocates is a core value. They can be a natural resting place for morality and ideology. He is a soldier and evangelist for his beliefs agreed with or not. Most here don't but in his element he can get an Amen.
Funny you should mention that.
I was thinking how Jesus was persecuted for teaching much of the same...
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