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In the U.S., the past few years have reversed two decades of gains in life expectancy. Not just Covid, but opioid use, chronic disease, mental health .. much of it preventable but our health care system excels at treating disease but not so much at preventing it. It rebounded in 2022, but still below pre-Covid.
Nevertheless, many more retirees are living longer in better health compared to even how it was as recently on the historic scale as in my childhood and teenage years, the 1960s-70s. When I was a child, it was normal and expected for people to become incapacitated and die in their 60s, even in their late 50s - now that is not particularly expected, and is considered as having health problems relatively early in life, and dying young.
My kids are in their early 20's. One is a college grad, the other is still in college. Neither is aggressively planning and saving for retirement, yet, at least not that I'm aware of. They are just starting to get launched in life. On the upside, they won't have student loan debt.
They also aren't quite ready to settle down just, yet. But neither was I at their age. They've got time. No need to start the midlife years too early...
Student loan debt will be a big factor on what the younger generation has to live on when they retire, especially if their social security gets charged, assuming social security in some form will still be around.
While some of the younger generation makes good money, they do not spend it wisely, living above their means with expensive cars, big houses and buying easy meals at the grocery store. They also like to have their hair and nails done, dressing in designer clothes and ordering out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by springfieldva
Curious to know what kind of savings account that you have that would allow the interest, alone, to exceed your 401K income?
401Ks amount to a significant chunk of most people's retirement income these days. They are a much needed supplement to the watered down pension plans (assuming there even is one in place). If you don't have 401K savings OR a pension then you will be heavily reliant on social security income and may even have to work PT in "retirement" just to make ends meet. Not a great position to be in.
Thankfully my hub has a pension that he's collected on for the last 2 years. His social security will start next month plus he hasn't stopped working yet. His parents didn't stop working until their early 70's which is what he will probably do.
Make good financial investments and savings plans now for the future and you'll be happy at retirement. Poor decisions and you might end up working for Walmart as a door greeter like one of my neighbors.
Make good financial investments and savings plans now for the future and you'll be happy at retirement. Poor decisions and you might end up working for Walmart as a door greeter like one of my neighbors.
The Walmart by me has 2 or 3 older greeters that look to be in their late 70's. I wonder if they need to work or they like to work.
The Walmart by me has 2 or 3 older greeters that look to be in their late 70's. I wonder if they need to work or they like to work.
No lie there. I could see myself doing something like that. I know a retiree in his 70s that works at the golf course club house. Maybe it is for a sweet deal at golf, or maybe it is because he wants the interaction or to get away from his wife for a while. Hard to tell some days.
To TRex2 who seems to want to take issue with unions, it is okay. You do not have to even be in a union to benefit from their existance. Unions are the entity that has protected workers in more than just pay. A lot of regulations governing safety were mostly brought on by unions getting involved in getting those passed.
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To TRex2 who seems to want to take issue with unions, it is okay. You do not have to even be in a union to benefit from their existance. Unions are the entity that has protected workers in more than just pay. A lot of regulations governing safety were mostly brought on by unions getting involved in getting those passed.
Unions were a good thing.
Were. Past tense.
I came from a union family.
My father even worked in the union.
At least, until the sixties.
Unions did a lot of good, from the 19th centuries thru the sixties. (I have written, repeatedly, about the tendency for Bureaucracies to go from solving problems to being problems, when they stay around too long.)
By the seventies, a few of them were amassing too much power, and if you know Acton's Maxim, you know the rest. I am sure there are many smaller unions that do a lot of good, but the big ones have become more of a problem than the problem they pretend to fix.
Unions were a good thing.
Were. Past tense.
I came from a union family.
My father even worked in the union.
At least, until the sixties.
Unions did a lot of good, from the 19th centuries thru the sixties. (I have written, repeatedly, about the tendency for Bureaucracies to go from solving problems to being problems, when they stay around too long.)
By the seventies, a few of them were amassing too much power, and if you know Acton's Maxim, you know the rest. I am sure there are many smaller unions that do a lot of good, but the big ones have become more of a problem than the problem they pretend to fix.
There is a UAW chemical plant near me that has been on strike for over 2 months now. The company may just break the union. Long time to be off work for most people.
Unions were a good thing.
Were. Past tense.
I came from a union family.
My father even worked in the union.
At least, until the sixties.
Unions did a lot of good, from the 19th centuries thru the sixties. (I have written, repeatedly, about the tendency for Bureaucracies to go from solving problems to being problems, when they stay around too long.)
By the seventies, a few of them were amassing too much power, and if you know Acton's Maxim, you know the rest. I am sure there are many smaller unions that do a lot of good, but the big ones have become more of a problem than the problem they pretend to fix.
again that is your opinion. it hasn't been proven. I prefer to err on the side of workers over companies. Just my opinion.
There is a UAW chemical plant near me that has been on strike for over 2 months now. The company may just break the union. Long time to be off work for most people.
They may break the people, but the Union will be fine.
Even if it bankrupts the company and leaves everyone unemployed, the Union will be fine, since they have contracts at two dozen other companies. UAW today resembles Ma Bell in the 70's or Standard Oil in the 1890's.
I work for a local government. I'm not unionized, but some government workers are, and that helps set the tone for better benefits and working conditions.
The hospital system I worked for was not union. Terrible working conditions, low pay, poor benefits. They have the most vacancies of any employer in the region by almost 3x. They aren't the largest employer either. No one wants to work there.
But yeah, I'll be honest, growing up in a manufacturing family in a poor area, we'd have been far better off if my dad was in the UAW or another union. Any entity can sometimes get too much power, but ultimately, most workers are probably better off in a union than not.
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