Gen X has no retirement plan...

[FinanceDude]

Originally Posted by starter82

Well, ultimately, he has no control over his life, as none of us do. Despite this, there are choices along the way that we can make that perhaps diminish our chances of failure. Anyone can have their efforts wiped out, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't try.

The things he posted reflect the choices he has made to this point to shape his current state. What he needs are choices in a new direction.........

[Milton]

Originally Posted by FinanceDude

What he needs are choices in a new direction.........

This is what he needs: Larry Winget - Bobble Head - Shut Up, Stop Whining & Get A Life.

[Hamlet]

I would argue that some people have more potential than others. I was born smarter than many, slower than some. Bill Gates was born with a lot more potential than most people, AND he made the absolute most of it.

Charlie Munger talked about people emulating Buffett as being similiar to going to a batting clinic with Ted Williams. The vast majority of people are not going to be able to hit like Ted Williams. However, they can get dramatically better results for themselve by emulating him.

I don't have the same investing ability as Warren Buffett, but by remembering that I am buying a business and not a piece of paper, I can avoid the dramatic mistakes that the general public tends to make. I will get good results over the long term.

Since you like Ayn Rand so much, think about Eddie Willers. His potential is less than Rearden's. He works to the best of his ability to achieve that potential, though, and that makes him as moral as Rearden. That's all any of us can really do.

Originally Posted by armor99

All men are NOT created equal. All men ARE created with equal potential. Each one of us has the potential to become the next Bill Gates, or the next drug addict living in the gutter. Some of us are gifted with enough intelligence to become great engineers, others are attractive enough to go into acting careers. However, what it is that ultimately determines where we wind up, are the decisions that we make in life. While there are random things that can happen to you in life, your reactions to those events can radically alter the outcome one way or the other. While it is true that if you are the son/daughter of billionaires it is almost impossible to fail financially, it does not ensure a happy life. The choices that you make ensure that. Your life is your own.... rise up and live it!

[armor99]

Originally Posted by Hamlet

I would argue that some people have more potential than others. I was born smarter than many, slower than some. Bill Gates was born with a lot more potential than most people, AND he made the absolute most of it.

Charlie Munger talked about people emulating Buffett as being similiar to going to a batting clinic with Ted Williams. The vast majority of people are not going to be able to hit like Ted Williams. However, they can get dramatically better results for themselve by emulating him.

I don't have the same investing ability as Warren Buffett, but by remembering that I am buying a business and not a piece of paper, I can avoid the dramatic mistakes that the general public tends to make. I will get good results over the long term.

Since you like Ayn Rand so much, think about Eddie Willers. His potential is less than Rearden's. He works to the best of his ability to achieve that potential, though, and that makes him as moral as Rearden. That's all any of us can really do.

Exactly my point.... It is all about what you choose to do with the hand in life you were dealt. Some start out with a pair of kings, others have a 7 and a 5. But just like the game of poker, in life even the worst starting hand, has the potential to win the hand, and eventually the game itself. The best any of us can do is live up to our full potential. Whatever that might be for each of us.

[FinanceDude]

Originally Posted by armor99

Exactly my point.... It is all about what you choose to do with the hand in life you were dealt. Some start out with a pair of kings, others have a 7 and a 5. But just like the game of poker, in life even the worst starting hand, has the potential to win the hand, and eventually the game itself. The best any of us can do is live up to our full potential. Whatever that might be for each of us.

That might have been your best post ever........

[Milton]

Originally Posted by youbet

I have complete confidence that the Gen-X generation can out-slack the best of the slackers! So X'er's, stop whining and go "get 'er done!"

Some interesting video and audio clips about the problems faced by Xers: Generation X: Lives on Hold - Life and Society - CBC Archives.

[Walt34]

Originally Posted by starter82

Well, ultimately, he has no control over his life, as none of us do. Despite this, there are choices along the way that we can make that perhaps diminish our chances of failure. Anyone can have their efforts wiped out, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't try.

Well said. Think "trim tab" as one on the rudder of a large ship. It won't steer the ship on it's own, but it will "nudge" the ship in the direction it should be going.

For example, I was a police detective working in the Fraud Section, and decided that I really didn't like that work, but didn't want to go back to patrol with the rotating shifts and the crazies. But I had a new-found hobby, computers, (this was 1991) and started reading about computer crimes, just a blip on the horizon at the time. So I volunteered for a class in computer forensics, paid for another one myself and earned a certification, then volunteered for every computer-related case that came in the door. This was welcomed by everyone else in the office because at the time most officers were completely overwhelmed at the legal and technical complexities of those cases. I got the reputation as the office "geek".

So taking a page from What Color is Your Parachute? I got the police department to create, from scratch, the job I wanted. It took two years, but after that I came to work thinking "I can't believe they're actually paying me to do this!"

I wrote lots of memos recommending the creation of a computer crime unit to no avail, then because of some luck, ended up sitting next to the second-in-command of the department at a meeting and talked up the idea. The next day my boss wanted to know what happened because he had been ordered to write a proposal for a computer crime unit. My response was "Gary, fear not. I just happen to have one all written up". A murder-for-hire case wherein computer forensics made the case nailed it.

Three months later I was exactly where I wanted to be and was as happy as the proverbial clam.

I did not control what happened. But I sure influenced it.

[Walt34]

Originally Posted by armor99

Some are willing to go that extra mile to ensure that their lives are not determined by "chance". Others continue to willingly live in a fantasy world world of "Well... things will work out in the end.... somehow".

I finally - sort of - understood those people after reading David Keirsey's Please Understand Me II, a book about different personality types.

Some people really do believe that nothing they do will have any effect on their lives, and (from my perspective anyway) are willing to just put their lives in a bottle, throw it into the ocean, and hope they land on a nice beach instead of being smashed on the rocks. I have a good friend who believes that. He believes that "what will be, will be" and he doesn't concern himself with it.

He's 56, an aircraft mechanic and pilot, earns about $65K/year, has about $250K in an IRA and a Pitts Special airplane that he built, (worth about $90K) about $25K worth of tools, and those are his assets. He's not the least concerned. I think most of us on this board would be frantic.

On the plus side he has a frugal lifestyle - he rents his modest dwelling, buys his clothes at Goodwill, brown bags lunch, doesn't own a TV, and only last year bought a computer. So he's probably the kind of person who CAN live on SS and little savings and not feel deprived about it.

[Fireup2025]

Originally Posted by Walt34

He's 56, an aircraft mechanic and pilot, earns about $65K/year, has about $250K in an IRA and a Pitts Special airplane that he built, (worth about $90K) about $25K worth of tools, and those are his assets. He's not the least concerned. I think most of us on this board would be frantic.

On the plus side he has a frugal lifestyle - he rents his modest dwelling, buys his clothes at Goodwill, brown bags lunch, doesn't own a TV, and only last year bought a computer. So he's probably the kind of person who CAN live on SS and little savings and not feel deprived about it.

Sounds like someone I'd like to add to my acquaintance list! Odds are in his favor he is rather comfortable in his life - more so than the ratty racers!

[armor99]

Originally Posted by Walt34

I finally - sort of - understood those people after reading David Keirsey's Please Understand Me II, a book about different personality types.

Some people really do believe that nothing they do will have any effect on their lives, and (from my perspective anyway) are willing to just put their lives in a bottle, throw it into the ocean, and hope they land on a nice beach instead of being smashed on the rocks. I have a good friend who believes that. He believes that "what will be, will be" and he doesn't concern himself with it.

He's 56, an aircraft mechanic and pilot, earns about $65K/year, has about $250K in an IRA and a Pitts Special airplane that he built, (worth about $90K) about $25K worth of tools, and those are his assets. He's not the least concerned. I think most of us on this board would be frantic.

On the plus side he has a frugal lifestyle - he rents his modest dwelling, buys his clothes at Goodwill, brown bags lunch, doesn't own a TV, and only last year bought a computer. So he's probably the kind of person who CAN live on SS and little savings and not feel deprived about it.

I guess I just will never understand why some people adopt the philosophy of trying to "sneek" their way through life, for lack of a better way to put it. Now there is certainly nothing wrong with getting clothes at goodwill etc. But with just a small amount of thought and planning your lifestyle could be much better. I guess in a certain way I am trapped by my own philosophy as well. I would never want to "squeek" by when I could thrive instead.

[eridanus]

nm

[Milton]

Originally Posted by Walt34

I have a good friend who believes that. He believes that "what will be, will be" and he doesn't concern himself with it.

He's 56, an aircraft mechanic and pilot, earns about $65K/year, has about $250K in an IRA and a Pitts Special airplane that he built, (worth about $90K) about $25K worth of tools, and those are his assets. He's not the least concerned. I think most of us on this board would be frantic.

On the plus side he has a frugal lifestyle - he rents his modest dwelling, buys his clothes at Goodwill, brown bags lunch, doesn't own a TV, and only last year bought a computer. So he's probably the kind of person who CAN live on SS and little savings and not feel deprived about it.

He's not in that terrible a situation. His net worth may seem low to us, but it's still higher than that of many Americans (I'm assuming no debt). As an aircraft mechanic, his job skills are in demand. He can probably write his own employment ticket (within reason), so he shouldn't have to retire any time soon.

Of course, if he develops serious health problems, all bets are off.

Milton

P.S. I am no expert but a typically-equipped homebuilt Pitts seems unlikely to be worth $90,000, even if it was constructed by an A&P.