Like he** I'm going to pay these prices! (Boston, Somerville: landlord, wages)

[bigfatdude]

Problem is pensions don't exist nowadays so you need that 401K unless you're content with social security cat food. And I have nothing against having to rely on 401K as long as we don't have "I know communism didn't work but I'm sure we'll get it right this time" ilhanced aocratic grand comissar sandrski-warrenski morons doing their damnedest trying to collapse the stock market and wipe out our retirement savings. Same goes for "I know rent control never worked but we'll get it right this time" wuskin-campbelloff comissars trying to wipe out our home equity.

Originally Posted by bobspez

Well it all depends on what you want. You want to put money in a 401K and save for a down payment. It's your choice, and your mind is made up. Things haven't been terrible for years, that's just reality. At 26 I wanted to get married and start a family. It worked out fine for me. I could have cared less about a 401K or buying a house. By my mid 30's I was making decent money and due to working around the clock during a strike for 6 weeks I had enough for a down payment. I went from paying $260 a month rent for a two bedroom apartment to a $1300 mortgage, most of which went to pay interest for years, for a small 3 bedroom house in the suburbs. I paid that house off at 62 when I retired. I started my 401K in my 40's. Because I had a job with a pension, I never even touched my 401K when I retired. It's just a piece of paper to me. Do what you think is best for you, but in the scheme of things, money or owning a home is no magic wand.

[BostonMike7]

The biggest asset for a 401K is time. I'm not sure I would suggest delaying a 401K in your early years as that's the best time to invest your dollars. According to some graphs I've seen lately, $1 invested at age 25 can turn into $44 by retirement. That same $1 invested at age 45 can turn into $4.50.

[bigfatdude]

Exactly, anyone with a paycheck will be a millionaire by the time they hit retirement age assuming they start early. That is, assuming our well-meaning comrades don't destroy the stock market while trying to eat the rich.

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

The biggest asset for a 401K is time. I'm not sure I would suggest delaying a 401K in your early years as that's the best time to invest your dollars. According to some graphs I've seen lately, $1 invested at age 25 can turn into $44 by retirement. That same $1 invested at age 45 can turn into $4.50.

[redplum33]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

I'm not sure I would suggest delaying a 401K in your early years as that's the best time to invest your dollars. According to some graphs I've seen lately, $1 invested at age 25 can turn into $44 by retirement. That same $1 invested at age 45 can turn into $4.50.

This is a great point, but I think focusing too much on retirement during your early years can cause a person to miss out on life.

[bigfatdude]

There should be a healthy balance, one should not try to sock away every last penny and live with their parents until 45 but they also shouldn't blow every last penny on delicious avocado toast and instagrammy experiences and demand taxpayers bail them out when they hit retirement age with not a penny to their name.

Originally Posted by redplum33

This is a great point, but I think focusing too much on retirement during your early years can cause a person to miss out on life.

[BostonMike7]

How's the saying go? You can't finance your retirement.


I agree though, it's all about balance. I could have done a little less beer in my early 20's and socked some more funds away

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by redplum33

This is a great point, but I think focusing too much on retirement during your early years can cause a person to miss out on life.

Originally Posted by bigfatdude

There should be a healthy balance, one should not try to sock away every last penny and live with their parents until 45 but they also shouldn't blow every last penny on delicious avocado toast and instagrammy experiences and demand taxpayers bail them out when they hit retirement age with not a penny to their name.

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

How's the saying go? You can't finance your retirement.


I agree though, it's all about balance. I could have done a little less beer in my early 20's and socked some more funds away

Just keep it simple and put away 15% (if your company matches 5%, you contribute 10%). The rest is yours to play with.

[mdovell]

Eh.

Use a Roth IRA to buy a house. If two people are paying into it that makes it much easier in a five year period. Buy a two family in a gateway city and rent out the other side. When it is paid off reserve mortgage for retirement.

I don't think people are really missing out by not focusing on retirement or a house or at least some goal. Maybe it's just me but the whole sundays watching football and drinking died out about 15 or so years ago. it's easy to not have a care if you have a crap job and well..don't care. But if you want to be able to have things you have to save and invest. Would you rather be someone that can deal with issues and take them on or someone that has a panic attack if a price is above $50? Rapper KRS One made an argument about how much herd mentality we have. Why do we buy things at the same time as everyone else. Look at sales at stores, fast fashion, trends and fads that come and go. Think of the time, traffic, effort and cost that it takes from people.

Of course the other part is frankly about how much people want at a given point in their life. Before he passed John DeLorean argued that many people love to drive but by the time someone can afford a sports or luxury car they cannot physically drive it. Supposedly Cadillac had a study long ago that showed the average owner was between 75 and dead.

[ca1337]

Originally Posted by mdovell

Huh? Hardly. I travel plenty and to be frank Boston is overhyped. The lovable loser mentality with sports died off years ago, the big dig is finished etc. Working class? Hardly. Boston doesn't have to prove anything anymore. It will never be as big as NYC and frankly it isn't that big of a city when you look across the country. Heck boston is about the population of nashville. Some act as if Boston is as big as Chicago or LA, it isn't even remotely close. Ok that's proper what about by metro? Again it isn't even in the top ten. Phoenix is bigger.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...tistical_areas

I harp on sustainability not on some left wing liberal thing but frankly the less people you have the harder it is for places and companies to take you seriously. Ever go to Burlington VT? It's a nice place, a great place and I'd love to go up there vacation. But it isn't a place to really live year round long term.

I know people that act as if there's such specific health care that they cannot fathom the idea of going somewhere else. Ok I get that but unless you have a very specific condition and that doctor is the only one that knows how to treat that and that's the only place where they practice that's a bit of a leap. I even met someone that didn't want to move simply because he thought you couldn't see red sox games out of the region

Of course there's academia but how long do you intend to go? If you are in your 30's or older sometimes I have to ask what are you doing? I look at everyone I graduated high school with, my undergrad and graduate school and frankly most left. I grew up with a woman who became a doctor and she's in Baltimore. I have a old friend that's a test pilot in the Navy (if we still had a shuttle program he'd be a top candidate for a astronaut) and he's near Seattle. My father and his and his worked in factories. By the time the mid 90's came they went to Mexico. There's hardly any manufacturing in Boston as the land prices can get higher value with homes. Military bases closed...nuclear power closed (Yankee Rose, Pilgrim and I'll even throw in Yankee in VT).

So we have what. Middle management and administrative jobs. That might be fine for government but these are the first to go in the private sector, especially if you can have people work remotely. Yes people work in the trades as well but it doesn't mean there's enough openings for everyone. The state hasn't even increased vocational schools in decades.

https://www.masslive.com/boston/2021...iminatory.html

Boston doesn't represent all of the state though. I chime in about western mass and GeoffD chimes in about the south coast. Both are cheaper and have much less traffic.

Two words: Pharma jobs

[Boston Shudra]

Originally Posted by bobspez

I went from paying $260 a month rent for a two bedroom apartment

Hahahahahahahaha