The Amount of Money you need to retire early and live in poverty (years, generations)
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Been watching the several you tube channels out there with people who voluntarily live in their car. They make it sound pretty appealing.
Pros:
- don't have to clean your house.
- don't have to do house maintenance
- way more money on a monthly basis.
- get to travel
- no one dropping by unannounced.
- an incentive not to buy things you don't need.
Just get a ikea twin mattress and fold down your seats and you have a bedroom.
You can't live in a car in a public space, where are they living? Where are they going to the bathroom?
It is historical fiction. The Joads are fictional; the circumstances they endured are not. The story rings true with those who actually lived through it.
The Great Depression was an awful time, with unemployment well over 20%. But Steinbeck's purpose in writing Grapes of Wrath was to excoriate capitalism rather than to document actual life.
When preparing to write the novel Steinbeck wrote:
Quote:
"I want to put a tag of shame on the greedy bastards who are responsible for this [the Great Depression and its effects]." He famously said, "I've done my damnedest to rip a reader's nerves to rags."
As a novelist, that's his prerogative.
However, Steinbeck's wrath is misplaced, of course; with the benefit of hindsight, we now know the Great Depression wasn't caused by "greedy bastards" of capitalism. It was caused by the Federal Reserve failing to exercise its role in managing the monetary system in the late 1920s and early 1930s and ameliorating banking panics under then-Fed chairmen Roy Young and Eugene Meyer.
For 30 years I lived bicycling distance from Steinbeck's house in Monte Sereno where he wrote both the above statement of purpose and the actual novel. It is indeed an ivory tower location. And, unlike Tom Joad, my grandfather was an actual poor migrant Okie with an 8th grade education; I've heard his first hand accounts as well.
But can't we all agree the Grapes of Wrath has nothing to do with modern economic circumstances?
If someone wants to roll the dice and stop working at a young age, maybe he should go for it. Just be advised I have a few friends who tried it, [u]and I have never seen it work out.
Some people making poor decisions because they didn't have the financial acumen to understand whether retiring early was wise doesn't mean others who are educated on what it takes and ready/able to manage an early retirement cannot.
I'd be more interested in experiences from those who retired early with a nut that supported a reasonable safe withdrawal rate, and stuck to that plan. Some goofs with "live on a sailboat for next to nothing" aren't much of an example as a warning.
I think that the purpose of this particular blog post was to warn (those who aren't ready to retire) not to retire too early. Sam left Wall Street shortly after 9/11 to work full time on his Financial Samurai blog and manage his investments.
He was in his 30s when he left the financial industry job, a move he now tells his readers was a regrettable one. This particular blog was not about HIM personally or anyone. It was all hypothetical. If I'm not mistaken he has 5-7 mil in assets.
The Great Depression was an awful time, with unemployment well over 20%. But Steinbeck's purpose in writing Grapes of Wrath was to excoriate capitalism rather than to document actual life.
When preparing to write the novel Steinbeck wrote:
As a novelist, that's his prerogative.
However, Steinbeck's wrath is misplaced, of course; with the benefit of hindsight, we now know the Great Depression wasn't caused by "greedy bastards" of capitalism. It was caused by the Federal Reserve failing to exercise its role in managing the monetary system in the late 1920s and early 1930s and ameliorating banking panics under then-Fed chairmen Roy Young and Eugene Meyer.
For 30 years I lived bicycling distance from Steinbeck's house in Monte Sereno where he wrote both the above statement of purpose and the actual novel. It is indeed an ivory tower location. And, unlike Tom Joad, my grandfather was an actual poor migrant Okie with an 8th grade education; I've heard his first hand accounts as well.
But can't we all agree the Grapes of Wrath has nothing to do with modern economic circumstances?
My faovrite author - my favorite book
My parents grew up during the Depression. They lived in south Texas. My mom told us that since they were tenant farmers - they never went hungry. Of course - no dust bowl there.
The Great Depression was an awful time, with unemployment well over 20%. But Steinbeck's purpose in writing Grapes of Wrath was to excoriate capitalism rather than to document actual life.
When preparing to write the novel Steinbeck wrote:
As a novelist, that's his prerogative.
However, Steinbeck's wrath is misplaced, of course; with the benefit of hindsight, we now know the Great Depression wasn't caused by "greedy bastards" of capitalism. It was caused by the Federal Reserve failing to exercise its role in managing the monetary system in the late 1920s and early 1930s and ameliorating banking panics under then-Fed chairmen Roy Young and Eugene Meyer.
For 30 years I lived bicycling distance from Steinbeck's house in Monte Sereno where he wrote both the above statement of purpose and the actual novel. It is indeed an ivory tower location. And, unlike Tom Joad, my grandfather was an actual poor migrant Okie with an 8th grade education; I've heard his first hand accounts as well.
But can't we all agree the Grapes of Wrath has nothing to do with modern economic circumstances?
Irrespective of Steinbeck's intentions, much of what he wrote in The Grapes of Wrath is true. Those living in the Dust Bowl really were actively recruited with promises of high wages. As laborers poured in, wages could be cut and cut and cut again until only the most desperate were willing to work. Those less desperate could move on to another location, until the same thing happened there. It was perfectly legal, but oh so unethical.
The Dust Bowl is a topic of great personal interest to me as my mother was 5 when my grandparents (sharecroppers) took their children and left Oklahoma for the Central Valley of California. Extended family members did the same, so that my mother had grandparents, aunts/uncles and cousins enduring the same thing. Her childhood experiences impacted her life greatly, and later shaped my own.
The Dust Bowl absolutely was caused by capitalism and is quite a study in what can happen when proper controls are not in place.
Irrespective of Steinbeck's intentions, much of what he wrote in The Grapes of Wrath is true. Those living in the Dust Bowl really were actively recruited with promises of high wages. As laborers poured in, wages could be cut and cut and cut again until only the most desperate were willing to work. Those less desperate could move on to another location, until the same thing happened there. It was perfectly legal, but oh so unethical.
The Dust Bowl is a topic of great personal interest to me as my mother was 5 when my grandparents (sharecroppers) took their children and left Oklahoma for the Central Valley of California. Extended family members did the same, so that my mother had grandparents, aunts/uncles and cousins enduring the same thing. Her childhood experiences impacted her life greatly, and later shaped my own.
The Dust Bowl absolutely was caused by capitalism and is quite a study in what can happen when proper controls are not in place.
Irrespective of Steinbeck's intentions, much of what he wrote in The Grapes of Wrath is true. Those living in the Dust Bowl really were actively recruited with promises of high wages. As laborers poured in, wages could be cut and cut and cut again until only the most desperate were willing to work. Those less desperate could move on to another location, until the same thing happened there. It was perfectly legal, but oh so unethical.
The Dust Bowl is a topic of great personal interest to me as my mother was 5 when my grandparents (sharecroppers) took their children and left Oklahoma for the Central Valley of California. Extended family members did the same, so that my mother had grandparents, aunts/uncles and cousins enduring the same thing. Her childhood experiences impacted her life greatly, and later shaped my own.
The Dust Bowl absolutely was caused by capitalism and is quite a study in what can happen when proper controls are not in place.
We could swap stories handed down to us some time.
Still, I think you go to far when you say the The Dust Bowl absolutely was caused by capitalism:
Quote:
With insufficient understanding of the ecology of the plains, farmers had conducted extensive deep plowing of the virgin topsoil of the Great Plains during the previous decade; this had displaced the native, deep-rooted grasses that normally trapped soil and moisture even during periods of drought and high winds. ... During the drought of the 1930s, the unanchored soil turned to dust, which the prevailing winds blew away in huge clouds that sometimes blackened the sky. These choking billows of dust – named "black blizzards" or "black rollers" – traveled cross country, reaching as far as the East Coast and striking such cities as New York City and Washington, D.C. On the plains, they often reduced visibility to 3 feet or less.
If your cousin had continued her career as a lawyer in NYC, I suspect she would have sufficient assets to pay for her children's college education.
That is, by dropping out of the economy, the rest of us pick up the tab for her child to attend college. That is, the rest of us enable her irresponsible economic behavior.
that's pretty dumb, working or not has no bearing on her scholarship, she got an academic scholarship from the school and a sorority.
so whether or not she continued working wouldn't have made a difference she still would not have paid tuition because her kid is smart.
that's pretty dumb, working or not has no bearing on her scholarship, she got an academic scholarship from the school and a sorority.
so whether or not she continued working wouldn't have made a difference she still would not have paid tuition because her kid is smart.
The rest of you arent' covering a damn thing.
lol, haters gonna hate
I couldn't agree more. Sounds like your cousin made the right decision for her and her family. Not everyone loves to live in the rat race, including the children of those who do so. We all need to do what fits our own lives best, not what puts the most money in our pockets while disregarding everything else including peace of mind and happiness.
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