When it comes to saving for retirement. 401k's and IRA's worked just fine for me and enabled ER at 52. I honestly don't understand all the negativity in this article Why retirement is a myth - MarketWatch
It's a political piece, designed to further the agendas of the likes of Teresa Ghilarducci and Elizabeth Warren. The "government needs to protect you from yourself and the evil corporate world" crowd.
If I had tried to blame my inability to save for retirement on everything else not in my control then I probably would still be working. "
What "old pension system" are you referring to that was better for the "vast majority" of Americans? There has >never< been a time in the US where the majority (much less a "vast majority") of workers had jobs that led to a pension. So, what was better about that setup for the "vast majority of Americans?" Were people better off before (the majority) had access to a 401K? Or the ability to save in a tax-deferred IRA? All this pining for the good old days ignores some important facts about then vs now. Again--there has never been a time when most American workers were in jobs that were covered by a pension.For the vast majority of Americans, the old pension system was better than the "new" 401-k system.
At the same time though, the "good old days" where "everybody got a pension" weren't so great as the rose-tinted glasses might have us believe. They can go bust, or get frozen.
The below quotation is very revealing. If I had tried to blame my inability to save for retirement on everything else not in my control then I probably would still be working.
"The inability to save isn’t because we’re wasting money on kitchen remodeling or fancy coffee, but rather because the cost of living has gone up — thanks to rising health-care costs and housing costs — while our salaries have stagnated or declined. And millennials have the extra burden of staggering student debt."
A lot of my family members like to lament over the "good old days" of pensions. But, I come from a long line of railroad workers and government employees, so they don't know any different. And, many of them have been retired for so long, they don't realize that things have changed.
For instance, my grandmother's cousin retired from the federal government back in 1980 or 81, as a GS-13. I think she gets about $38-40K per year now, under the old CSRS plan. She keeps telling me that I should quit my job as a government contractor, and try to get in with the government. It took awhile for me to finally get through to her that the pension isn't as lucrative as it used to be.
Well, now she's on another kick, saying I should try to get a state government job, as I think they do still offer pretty good pensions. But, I told her I'd have to be in for about 30 years or more before it amounted to anything. Her response is, "so what's wrong with that?" I told her that would put me around the age of 75-76. And her response was simply a repeat of "and, what's wrong with that?" Obviously, not an early retiree mindset...
When it comes to saving for retirement. 401k's and IRA's worked just fine for me and enabled ER at 52. I honestly don't understand all the negativity in this article Why retirement is a myth - MarketWatch
In my family 75-76 is at the end of life.(Some are gone before that) LOL
Old World Steve here.
Looking to trade my modern possessions for a yoyo, pinball machine, and a stack of Marvel comics...
That's cool. Can you make money with the lower quality issues, or do you do it just for fun?I actually collect comics.
Collecting in the internet age has made collecting old Marvel comics from the 60s pretty reasonable if you aren't picky about condition, outside of the very early issues and the big key books.
Well, now she's on another kick, saying I should try to get a state government job, as I think they do still offer pretty good pensions. But, I told her I'd have to be in for about 30 years or more before it amounted to anything. Her response is, "so what's wrong with that?" I told her that would put me around the age of 75-76. And her response was simply a repeat of "and, what's wrong with that?" Obviously, not an early retiree mindset...
That's cool. Can you make money with the lower quality issues, or do you do it just for fun?
The quote is true though. Why is that hard for all the old folks on this board to understand? ...Without parental help, graduating from the college I went to is going to involve about 40k of debt for most students.
They even have a meme for you folks--
https://www.google.com/search?q=old...ved=0ahUKEwjzx5Lw9erKAhWGuoMKHbX6BDAQ_AUIBigB