I’m reading Work, Retire, Repeat currently and many start claiming SS as soon as they can for extra money while they work…only they shoot themselves in the foot by not waiting longer to claim much higher (8%/year) benefits. Waiting until 70 nets you 96%(!) higher benefits. The rich who don’t actually need the extra 8% largely benefit, and because they live longer, collect it for longer, and wait until their payout is maxed or nearer to it than poor folks so their benefits are relatively higher. The poor get screwed again, which of course aligns with minorities and women being the most affected.
This started in the 80s when corporations took advantage of Regan’s policy to shed pensions and instead, ask financially illiterate Joe’s and Janes to manage stock accounts and decide how much they should save. The results were predictable. There have been winners though, corporations (much cheaper 401ks), and financial service industry that sprang up to support pillage uninformed retirees trying to save money to find their retirement for the first time. Regan admin also raised the retirement age to 67 for Social Security in 1983. This represents a permanent 13% decrease in benefits for Americans as it’s 13% less time on average they’ll collect based on mortality rates
There has been a large media full-court press to try to make working longer because:
-
Government knows citizens aren’t saving enough and without pensions can’t manage retirement funds. They are put in power by lobbiests that prevent changes to the 401k structure and repairing social security.
-
Corporations love older workers; they have fewer options despite the magazine covers showing laughing, healthy retirees on their laptop overlooking their vineyard. In reality they are working physically and mentally taxing jobs no one else will, and this also suppresses wages for younger workers. This is another reason why corporations lobby like hell against national healthcare…TONS of folks would stop working or work much less if they could see a doctor without bankrupting themselves, but can’t until they are eligible for Medicare.
-
Financial services want that money. Asset management, trade fees, expense ratios, “financial advisors” instead of fiduciaries so much easier to bully folks when they are on their own or in small groups. National programs have buying power and muscles in the marketplace, bad for worthless leeches.
sprang up to ~support~ pillage uninformed retireesBTW, that syntax is for subscripts. Strikethrough requires two pairs of tildes.
strikethroughsubscript~~strikethrough~~ ~subscript~
-
I work at a factory with unionized workers. There are 3 workers in their 80s who say they wouldn’t be able to live if they didn’t come into work. They’re all given light duties so it’s more like adult daycare than working.
When I first got hired I was shocked to learn that our union contract has no retirement benefits. I asked our rep and he told me that years ago the workers voted to remove retirement benefits in favour of a higher base pay. Now we have old people daycare because nobody used that higher base pay to save for retirement. They just spent it. People really don’t think about retirement until they want to retire.
I make good money, have a personal retirement account, and have a pension through my employer that will be vested in 10 years.
With inflation the way it is, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to fully retire. Most of my family made it well into their 80s, and there’s no way I’d be able to afford 15 years of retirement, let alone retire early like I originally planned.
It’s not just about saving. It’s if you can even possible save enough to retire these days. Unless you’re making truckloads of cash and are willing to live like a hermit for decades, it’s getting increasingly difficult to keep your head above water.
I remember my first year in the Navy (2013ish) we had to have one of those financial planning briefings. I distinctly remember them mentioning that the average American needs $1 million to retire comfortably, assuming their other assets are paid off by the time they retire (house, car, etc). And I remember that number because a friend of mine said the same thing to me once when we were in high school.
I think it was a couple years ago, someone (some talking head on a news site) was talking about how the average American needs about $2 million in their retirement account to retire comfortably now, and that’s the number you should aim for…
So the amount of money you need to retire comfortably doubled in 10 years, but wages are still stagnant as they are? Yeah, I’ve told my dad, unless some miracle happens, I will never be able to retire. I don’t even have health insurance, and I make $18/hr… With rent/mortgage, food, clothing, vehicle, etc expenses climbing and wages continuing to be stagnant despite this “amazing” economy I keep hearing about, where am I supposed to find money to put away for down the road? I’m one accident away from bankruptcy.
For me, personally, it’s why I think “no one wants to work anymore,” what is the point when we can’t get ahead? Why even bother when we’re going to be doing this into our 80s while being told we should be grateful by people who think a day of work is expensive lunches at the country club followed by a round of golf, and a blowie from their secretary?
Exactly.
I was shooting to have 1.5 million in investments, now I’m gonna need 2, which might be doable. But I’m also thinking that if it doubled before, it’s gonna double again, and 4 million invested is mathematically impossible for me to do, barring winning the lottery or making and selling a profitable company.
That’s why people are doing the bare minimum more often. If I’m never gonna get more than a week off of work every year for the rest of my natural life, what’s the motivation to do anything but the minimum.
Lol “retirement”
Millenials may have killed avocados or whatever.
Boomers killed retirement for anyone else not making 100k+.
Don’t forget boomers’ parents and grandparents. They all voted Reagan.
There is no middle class. There is the ruling class who exploits the working class, the working class who produces value, and the criminal class who exploits the ruling class.
Nobody over 60 should be forced to work just to stay alive.
Likewise, nobody under 60 should have enough wealth hoarded to support 10,000 lifetimes without having to lift a finger.
amen
