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Bottom line is people are living longer and saving less. Things are going to get real bad. Now throw in all the people in prison who can't get hired when they get out.
if folks really wanted to save they would find a way. since they don't they just find an excuse.
I agree with this.
Look, not everyone will be convinced, however my gut tells me, for most people there is a lot of room to improve one's financial situation that for one reason or other (ie laziness/ignorance/etc) don't do it. You see so many forums where people look for help and you get zillions of responses with really good ideas..
If I was in that situation, I'd give myself up and ask for help...
I'm one of Emigration's blue coasters who saw TN as a lower COL state. We retired first, sold our home, and then moved to the lower COL state. I've never been happier. Our retirement savings and pensions go a lot farther here. We started doing the math about 10 years ago and realized that we could have a better retirement lifestyle in a state where things weren't ridiculously overpriced and taxed to the max. I think we started imagining our retired selves about 15 years ago and thinking about the lifestyle we wanted. Then we sought out the kind of place that we could swing that on what we were going to be bringing in. Turned out that we found a place that's not only cheap, but beautiful and welcoming too.
CD has great ideas on Personal finance I agree...just got to sift through the responses...
Also, pinterest is very simple...all you have to do is goto the home page and type in 'budgeting' in the search bar, and you'll get a million links on the page w/simple ways of cutting spending that aren't too difficult...
one that comes to mind for me is "clean out your pantry"...how many canned items and stuff do we have in our pantrys that never get used? (and subsequently have to throw out because of the expiriation date)
you kill two birds w/one stone..you get more organized and you save money by using what you bought....
Its a silly article. Look at the obvious. People don't plan ahead. They are subject to their desires to get what they want NOW. That's why they go in debt. I'll pay the bill later. If you look at human behavior, a lot of it is more like an animal driven by its instincts, not a person who takes the knowledge they have and put it to use. This helps explain why folks get grotesquely obese, over their heads in debt, and get addicted to drugs etc.
Not only can't people see themselves in retirement, they can't see themselves if disaster strikes before retirement. Saving for retirement also doubles as a disaster fund. People who live credit card payment to credit card payment don't seem to think about what would happen if the paycheck isn't there anymore.
If you have been saving and lose your job or become disabled, a substantial amount saved for retirement can double as a relief fund that can keep your head above water and allow you to weather the unexpected tough times. It may keep you in your home instead of being kicked out and moving into dumpy subsidized housing or losing your car and other possessions.
The savings can make the tough times a whole lot less unpleasant.
I'm one of Emigration's blue coasters who saw TN as a lower COL state. We retired first, sold our home, and then moved to the lower COL state. I've never been happier. Our retirement savings and pensions go a lot farther here. We started doing the math about 10 years ago and realized that we could have a better retirement lifestyle in a state where things weren't ridiculously overpriced and taxed to the max. I think we started imagining our retired selves about 15 years ago and thinking about the lifestyle we wanted. Then we sought out the kind of place that we could swing that on what we were going to be bringing in. Turned out that we found a place that's not only cheap, but beautiful and welcoming too.
Your opinion is because you came from a healthy blue area where you had a PENSION (!) and fat retirement savings. I don't disagree that you can live well in TN due to the low taxes and low COL, especially if you are coming from a high wage blue sate. The same is NOT true for normal TN natives trying to scratch and claw their way to viability on $10-$12/hr, the normal wages of the locals serving you.
The way the world works today is you have to from when your young, either get a good education and keep furthering yourself, or learn a very good trade....Even if you are older, you can still better yourself....its not easy and will take you out of your 'comfort zone', but its doable if one applies themselves...
I'm guessing the point of all this is no longer today can you work hard 'and have a good job waiting for you' for life....you can't rely on a company staying in your small town for years...
Those days are long gone.
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