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DR says don't use 65 as a benchmark. "You are ready to retire when you can live comfortably". Not everybody is a good judge of their own financial situation.
I think that Suze is concerned that some people (No way would I want to be "responsible" for a job until age 70; driving in traffic every day, ....) want to retire early or at 65 and she wants to make sure you have enough to live on and you are really prepared. If people are asking her advice if they can afford to take that dream vacation or buy that new car, then maybe there really are people out there that need her or somebody's advice about saving for retirement.
I think Suze is most concerned with her own retirement so she spits out these articles that grab a lot of attention but don't mean very much to the average person.
I have never bought any books from people who give financial advice; there are a lot of them out there.
I have learned something from listening to Suze without buying a book from her.
The vacation thing? Why would people call her if they don't want advice? Fame? From what I remember, they tell her what their financial situation is and she advises them if they can afford to take that vacation. They can decide on their own after hanging up what they will do. I think Suze wants people to think before they make money decisions. Anybody watching the show can learn something about budgeting, justifying certain purchases, etc. unless they know it all.
Sometimes I think a lot of people on this forum are near perfect, spend money wisely, don't have a lot of problems with finances. The whole world is not like you.
lol, I'm not even in the same zipcode as perfect.
I kinda understand what you're saying. I do admit some times it is really hard for me to see how a person is having a hard time "thinking" as you say.
If you have 500 bucks in the bank and you want to take a 5,000 dollar vacation to London, you (not you personally, general you) really need someone who doesn't know you to explain that this is a bad idea?
You're take home pay is 3K a month, do you really need a stranger to say spending 2K on housing is not a great idea
Financially?
Now I have done really dumb financial things, when my mom was diagnosed with cancer we took her to Rome. she was a devout Catholic and always wanted to go. I totally knew I was going in debt to do it. I didn't need anyone to tell me that, I made the decision purely based on emotion and don't regret it and afterward I didn't need a so called financial "expert" to tell me I needed to pay off 12K credit card debt before going on another vacation.
So yes, I totally admit that it does baffle me that itwould take Suze to tell you these are not great things to do.
I can't say I watch her show as in I know when it's on, more of I'm channel surfing and pass it. I absolutely refuse to watch anymore of her PBS specials because she's been flat out wrong on a few things and pass them off as gospel.
That article is so generic, you can't apply statements like that for everyone.
DH has a pension that he will get when he is 51 and he will take it then (or maybe the next year), that pension will more than cover our bills. I'm glad he will have time to enjoy his retirement!
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There are people out there that just have poor judgement. Surely, you must know somebody like that. I need not look further than my own extended family! Yes they do need someone to set them straight. They usually don't listen. We'll never know how they made it in life thus far, living on a financial cliff.
Yes, "The Can I Afford it" segments seem outlandish and down right stupid, but don't forget a real person submitted it. We just don't know if they were kidding or wanted to get their question read on TV. Likely Suze's producers selected those that got on TV purely for the entertainment value and dumb factor.
My mother's 74 and still works full time because she enjoys it. She enjoys the extra money too, of course, even though there isn't much of it. She can retire anytime. She cannot retire and travel, live in luxury, afford the best assisted living place if it comes to that. (It won't.) Not everyone who isn't set up for life by 62 is that way because of poor judgment or bad choices or stupid overspending.
The problem with recommendations like this is that every single person has a completely different set of circumstances. There's no way of knowing what will happen next, for the most part, so umbrella plans don't work. There still are a lot of people who do not know the basics of managing personal finance and tons of people who don't even consider that they should pay attention to where their money is going.
like all suzies advice . so generic that unless you are not in good financial shape there are better alternatives to most of what she says
I take her advice like I take the advice of mass media physicians who get on TV with general information - I would never substitute TV advice for advice from my physician. TV financial gurus give advice that's "food for thought" and triggers thinking on strategies I might have never considered. Kind of like this subforum and the personal finance/investment subforums.
when they say "savings acct" I think they mean other financial accts/nest egg/IRA/CDs, etc......if not, it's worthless to discuss -
from the linked article .....
In your 20s: Aim to save 25 percent of your overall gross pay, Greene tells CNBC Make It. That includes any retirement account contributions, matching funds from your company, cash savings or money you have invested elsewhere, like in index funds or with robo-advisers.
I agree with Mathjak, it seems like that article is measuring actual bank savings accounts and is thus pretty useless. From the link to their data, the methodology states:
Methodology: This GOBankingRates.com survey posed the question, “How much money do you have saved in your savings account?” to 8,131 people among all 50 states and Washington, DC. Responses were collected through a Google Consumer Survey conducted from Aug. 15, 2017, to Aug. 17, 2017, and responses are representative of the U.S. online population. For some graphics, percentages will not add up to exactly 100 percent because the figures were rounded up.
If they asked me that question I'd respond with the amount in my savings account, not in tax deferred retirement plans. I guess someone else could interpret the question differently, but even then the ambiguity still makes the results absolutely meaningless.
I think Suzi might be right that millions of Americans better expect to work later in life.
Maybe a good wake up call for many. Either work longer or save/invest more - and expend less/be less materialistic, be cautious about taking out college loans and getting into major debt.
Last edited by BucFan; 10-25-2017 at 03:43 PM..
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