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The sad truth is that there are too many people who are having an increasingly hard time of saving on their own, so when pensions disappeared, they are left with nothing but a SS check, which is often not enough to get by. Going forward SS will also shrink, so the situation is only getting worse.
Some European countries have laws which mandate the worker, and the employer to invest a percentage of the salary to a private fund, so when the worker retires, he/she will live off of that money as opposed to government SS checks.
The rate of people 65 and older filing for bankruptcy is three times what it was in 1991, the study found, and the same group accounts for a far greater share of all filers.
Driving the surge, the study suggests, is a three-decade shift of financial risk from government and employers to individuals, who are bearing an ever-greater responsibility for their own financial well-being as the social safety net shrinks.
Last edited by Finn_Jarber; 08-06-2018 at 09:04 AM..
The defined pension is a thing of the past outside of govt. It is not coming back.
I know Ill be a Walmart greeter. (actually probably not. launching an Ebay micro business that will likely bring in ~20K a year. Not great but that is survival)
I'll go along with the OP. I have tried to learn a little about why the pension disappeared, but I always end up reading some diatribe condemning some President or another. Bottom line is, accounting rules killed it. But that means accounting rules can bring it back.
The 401(k) is a failure, for the most part. And unnecessary, too. We're comfortably retired without one.
The poster who made comments about someone just barely passing high school:
That was me. But I have done very well in life. Some of the good students in my high school class have done very well, but not all. Some good students fell flat on their face. On average, the young people with good working instincts and good financial instincts have done well.
Sad thing is what's going on now will not be even close to how bad things will be in 4-5 decades.
My generation probably won't have SS & millions fail to put anything into 401k or something related.
So how do these people expect to live? My fear is that some socialist will be in office & tax us to death on our 401k (what we take out).
I can just see people demanding money and saying how they can't survive yet many had a choice to save but never chose to because of ignorance or their own faults. Anybody who did save or put money into a 401k will be ridiculed as "privileged" and made to feel bad because they have money they saved while others did not.
I think the best action for somebody my age range (late 30's) is to try and buy real estate so that I can at least rent out properties that are paid off so I can get money that way.
The future of our seniors is living on credit cards because they can't make ends meet on Social Security even with Medicaid and Food Stamp help, a lot will be homeless and living in their cars in the desert as some have to do now.
One vision I see in the future is massive house projections that house senior citizens that can no longer work a regular job & have very little funds.
It will be run by the government and feel like a big college dorm. You'll have 2-3 1 bed room apartments sharing 1 kitchen and that's how people will live.
The future of our seniors is living on credit cards because they can't make ends meet on Social Security even with Medicaid and Food Stamp help, a lot will be homeless and living in their cars in the desert as some have to do now.
There is actually a YouTube Channel which features a lot of seniors either living from their cars, SUVs, or converted cargo trailers, etc, either due to lack of funds or choice. It is called CheapRVLiving. While some of those featured got into that lifestyle through choice (ie: desire to be nomadic), it is clear that others did it due to financial necessity.
Everyone that I know that has a 401K and set aside some earnings has done quite well. Between my wife and I we will have over 2 million in ours at the time we want to retire. My company matches to 9 % but hers doesn't as it's a small shop.
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