Denial (no, not the river)

[Nords]

How about the signal flags we were required to memorize?  I found that to be quite useful in our line of work.

Our kid asks about that nearly every freakin' time we drive by the base. We finally threw our packs of plebe-issue signal cards at her and she's actually enjoying the decoding process.

My personal favorite useless knowledge is the max power limits for single-loop low pressure cutout on an S3G reactor plant. I even still have the rare nightmare about it.

I don't know if your squad leader aided your signal-flag memory with such vivid visual imagery as mine did, but every time I see a signal flag I remember Scott Griffith '79.

I'm hoping that I can eventually overwrite my head's old hard drive sectors with classic rock lyrics. The heck with signal flags-- someone has to pass the important messages of "Welcome to the Hotel California" down to the next generation!

 

[laurence]

Our kid asks about that nearly every freakin' time we drive by the base.  We finally threw our packs of plebe-issue signal cards at her and she's actually enjoying the decoding process. 

Plebe! I work with a bunch of ex-Navy officers and Cheifs, they all call me plebe. Good times!

CFB, Fry's sucks to work for, eh? That would be interesting to try, IMHO, once you are FI. I could pull an office space and see how quickly I get promoted to vice-president!

 

[Cut-Throat]

As far as the original topic, I think anything thats more than 5 years away is just too far in the future to be comprehended or acted on by a lot of people.

I think most people are like this. Just look at all the morbidly obese people in the U.S. - They could probably drop the weight in 2 years of disiplined diet and exercise. And their life actually depends on this

So why would you even think they'd be interested in planning for retirement that might be 20 years away.

 

[bosco]

Here is an article showing that Denial may be over for some
http://money.cnn.com/2006/05/12/retirement/savings_poll/index.htm?cnn=yes

While I'm sure it's true that most people are not saving enough for retirement, I find the following statement from the article interesting:

"Right now, the survey shows workers are only saving at a pace that would cover only 57 percent of their current income in retirement, which includes both workplace and personal savings, as well as Social Security and pension benefits.

Fidelity estimates that an 85 percent income replacement is a more reasonable target when planning for retirement."

I don't know about anybody else, but if I had 57% of current income in the bag, I'd be out the door today. I think the basic problem (I know it's true for friends and family) is that people haven't thought about it enough. They haven't tracked their spending and figured out 1) what the WILL need, and 2) how to get it.

I think it is in the interests of Fidelity and the big companies to keep everybody thinking they need more than they really do. That way Wallmart stock keeps going up also as people keep up with their frivolous habits.

 

[samclem]

Right, a majority of folks "can't" get by on 57% of their income--they are spending everything they make--and more (hence the negative US savings rate today).

We've had long discussions here about the inapropriate use of some % of income to determine the needed retirement savings, since obviously what matters is what you need to spend, not what your income was. Unfortunately, for a lot of folks it is/they believe it is the same number.

 

[bosco]

Right, a majority of folks "can't" get by on 57% of their income--they are spending everything they make--and more (hence the negative US savings rate today).

Yes, I'm sure there is a lot of truth in what you say. However, I think the negative savings rate is a bogus number. It doesn't count 401k's, IRA's, any tax-deferred investment etc. I'm not sure what my savings rate would be if I stopped counting these.

However, I certainly agree with the gist of what you say. I think a lot of the problem is mass, unthinking consumption and the concept of "shopping as entertainment" (something I've never understood, unless it was for a motorcycle )

 

[retire@40]

I have to admit I've thought working part time at Home Depot would be fun.  Or Fry's.  I have this dream that once I was FI, I would take up a job at one of these places for 20 hours a week, until we planned on a lengthy vacation/road trip etc. and then I'd quit, then when we got back, find another place like that and work there until the next trip.

I'd have to get pretty bored before I could commit to 20 hours a week at Home Depot or WalMart.  I could do maybe 4 hours on Tuesdays and 4 hours on Thursdays, but I don't know how long before I would quit, but I'm guessing a month tops.  I'd want a job like taking in the carriages.

I'm not sure how easy it would be to get a job like that.  I'm not sure if I would have to lie about why I would want the job, or my background, or that I really don't need the money, or the fact that I could quit whenever I wanted.

The fun part about it would actually be quitting.

 

[BigMoneyJim]

Heh, I worked for Office Depot for 3 months in 2001 while looking for "real" work. I wasn't sure what they'd think, so I severely dumbed down my resume and understated my previous job responsibilities. Come to think of it I probably didn't even submit a resume but severely understated my previous responsibilities on the application.

I discovered I hate retail. It wouldn't be so bad except the customers absolutely trash the store daily and they wanted me to perform like a salesperson. (Upsells, accessory sales, push the custom-built PCs, etc..)

I wonder if HD tries to push certain products over others? "I highly recommend these pan head screws..."

I'm not really complaining about OD. It paid decent compared to my other fill job candidates, and while I was unhappy about not finding a job in my field I was glad to have some income so I could start treading water instead of drowning. (At the time I was still deeply in debt and paying well over $500/month in CC and auto payments.) I just dislike any sort of coercive selling.

If I don't find a job relatively soon I'll look to HD or similar so I can tread water again; this time instead of draining my cash reserves.