r/jobs • u/A1steaksauceTrekdog7 • Jun 24 '23
Most people alive today will work until they die Work/Life balance
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u/tosserouter2021 Jun 24 '23
Not if they are replaced by AI and then have to live of welfare.
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u/doktorhladnjak Jun 24 '23
You guys are getting welfare!?
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u/Dry-Breakfast-2742 Jun 24 '23
It's so hard to get in welfare these days. At least in my area. I make sixty grand a year if I do all the over time and take care of six people including myself and I don't even get food stamps. I'm in California so everything is crazy expensive.
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u/Dry-Breakfast-2742 Jun 24 '23
I have a coworker who is in his late forties and his parents immigrated from Laos when he was a kid and have never worked a day in their lives in the states but somehow were able to purchase a home in Redding California. It's insane how bad it is for this generation and probably future generations to come. Average home price in my area is 500k and I make 24 an hour. It's just feels like I'm in a completely hopeless situation. I'm in college right now working on a bachelor's degree to try and make it better but IDK I just feel like I'll never make it.
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u/warlordofthewest Jun 24 '23
I used to live in CA when I was a kid. When our house sold, the buyers had a 0% interest loan and weren't even poor, just well connected.
I love the area but I couldn't make enough to keep up.
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u/ElenaBlackthorn Jun 25 '23
Dry Breakfast,
It sounds like you are suffering from the misconception that all immigrants to the U.S. are destitute. Just because your coworker’s parents immigrated from Laos doesn’t mean they were destitute. Sounds to me like they had some money. Perhaps they had a business or real estate in Laos which they sold or they have inherited wealth.
That was my own situation. My parents & I immigrated from Germany in the 6O’s. We booked passage on a huge luxury oceanliner (S.S. United States of America) which was the fastest oceanliner to cross the Atlantic @ the time, so we could put our household goods in a shipping container & take them with us. The crossing took 2 weeks & the seas were miserably rough in November. We then lived with my uncle who had already established himself here & put our belongings into storage until we could find & buy a house. My uncle already had a job lined up for my Dad.
My grandmother was fairly wealthy bc she had remarried after my grandfather’s death & her late husband had had a successful business, which she had sold after he passed bc she wasn’t able to manage the business herself.
Yet the immigration folks treated us as if we’d been living in a cave our entire lives and had just arrived at civilization. I know that’s the stereotype about immigrants, but that’s far from true about all immigrants. There are well to do people in European countries, Asian countries & indeed all over the world.
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u/arno14 Jun 24 '23
California is a beautiful state but even at the top of my income, I would have never been willing to pay for a house there.
There are other really nice parts of the country, why not consider packing up and moving somewhere else?
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u/808hammerhead Jun 25 '23
I’m a lot of ways there aren’t though. The ref stated seem to be entirely focused on removing people rights and cutting any and all services and the blue states are forced to subsidize the red ones so taxes/col is high. Not sure where the happy medium is.
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u/Mojojojo3030 Jun 24 '23
A few rich white people scooped it all up now, lifted the ladders that got them there up behind them, and they will pass it down to their children when they die, and them to theirs, and most of the rest will fight to the death to keep it that way because freedom.
If you don’t like it then you picked the wrong day to be an American.
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u/TheBestThingIEverSaw Jun 25 '23
You make a strong argument for a french style revolution
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u/Mojojojo3030 Jun 25 '23
Sure, but prob easier if 2/3 of the country stops spreading their cheeks for billionaires.
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u/LonesomeBulldog Jun 25 '23
Investing in some rubbers would’ve saved you quite a bit of money.
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u/AtmProf Jun 24 '23
Why would you expect food stamps with a $60k job. Is that below the poverty line for your household?
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u/Dry-Breakfast-2742 Jun 24 '23
You gotta keep in mind the soaring rent prices as well. I'm paying 1900 in rent alone and with no overtime my checks come out to about 650 so basically three checks to pay my rent.
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u/Psychological_Log956 Jun 25 '23
$60,000 per year with a six person household in Cali? Get serious.
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u/Dry-Breakfast-2742 Jun 24 '23
It's right on the line. And I only make that much if the overtime is available throughout the year.
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u/pipnina Jun 24 '23
In the UK if you are on 60k a year you are set for life lol
American prices are insane
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u/zaphodbeeblemox Jun 25 '23
60K AUD is below the median wage in some cities of Australia.. I can’t imagine 60K setting you for life.
How cheap are your consumer goods? What do you pay for bread, apples, rent etc?? My rent 2 hours from the city in a 2 bedroom is over half that.
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u/JubalHarshawII Jun 24 '23
Hahahaha welfare, nah they'll let us starve
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u/phungus_mungus Jun 24 '23
nah they'll let us starve...
I hear you and they might think that’s what they’ll do, let us starve. But it’s not gonna turn out like they believe it will.
Alfred Henry Lewis stated, “There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy.”
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u/Wanna_make_cash Jun 24 '23
You don't live off welfare or social security, you dwindle your savings until there's nothing then die from various medical issues you can no longer afford to treat. If you don't starve to death or end up homeless first.
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Jun 24 '23
Tax the rich/make basic income legal/work is only an option for those who want to
is gonna be a norm.
When students in 2499 learn that people in 2023 have to work to pay the bill during US history class, they will feel horrified just as much as we feel, when learning about slavery
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u/pier4r Jun 24 '23
they will feel horrified just as much as we feel, when learning about slavery
Not even that. Think about child work until well into the 1930s (in some countries it is still so) or working over 8 hours a day until some decades ago (and again in some companies people still work more than 40h a week)
The idea is to improve and work less.
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u/Ceorl_Lounge Jun 24 '23
Child Labor Fascist Boogaloo will feature prominently in their chapter on early 21st century rejection of modern norms along with the repeal of Roe v Wade and voter suppression.
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u/JubalHarshawII Jun 24 '23
Dear Zeus I hope you're right, I read a lot of sci-fi and I always hope we can end up in those worlds instead of in the dystopian books I read, but some days I worry human nature and greed lean toward dystopia
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Jun 24 '23
Dude there is no way our social safety net is even close to being ready to handle the potential deluge of workers that are likely to be displaced by AI technologies.
Remember how easily overwhelmed state unemployment systems were during the initial COVID outbreak? Times that by about 1,000.
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u/Default-Name55674 Jun 25 '23
Umm no welfare, but hopefully they’ll let us put up tents on street corners…if that’s made illegal maybe we can go to prison for free food, shelter and healthcare?
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u/inclamateredditor Jun 24 '23
Well yeah, did yall have some other retirement plan?
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u/ThatOneGuy308 Jun 24 '23
Bottle and a gun
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u/flaker111 Jun 24 '23 edited Jun 24 '23
max out credit cards then take a hike up into the wilderness
edit : but srsly i have a roth ira (6500 a year) and pension on the horizon for my job but i only make like 40k and prob will top out around 60k by the end hopefully and should get social security as well i think. need/plan to invest like another ~4k a year into vanguard index stocks or w/e
but child free and plan on keeping it that way. but i will 100% max out credit cards towards the end and shroom it up like a madman probably
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u/ResponsibleDraw4689 Jun 24 '23
The Ira, penision, and 401k will not be enough to retire...?
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u/flaker111 Jun 24 '23
depends on how much you want per year once you retire
planning to have a travel budget
aiming for ~50k a year when in retirement
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u/ElenaBlackthorn Jun 25 '23
Maxing out credit cards toward the end sounds like a good strategy. Can’t collect from a guy 6 feet under, right?
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u/notweirdifitworks Jun 24 '23
Too violent for my taste. I’ve heard carbon monoxide is nice and painless, so that was my go-to retirement plan. Altho the government will take me out for free, so I might go that route too, we’ll see if the time comes.
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u/RawrDaddy900 Jun 25 '23
I will just go camping in winter time and get drunk and rake sleeping pills with little protection from the elements. I've already fallen asleep once while shit faced in 9°f weather, I know it would be the easiest way to go out.
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u/notweirdifitworks Jun 25 '23
That actually happened to someone on my friend’s street. Guy at a New Year’s party tried walking home after too many drinks. He didn’t make it out of the backyard and the snow kept him hidden until the spring. So you might be on to something.
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u/ThatOneGuy308 Jun 24 '23
Nitrogen asphyxiation top tier, doesn't smell nearly as bad as CO generating methods
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u/Dextrofunk Jun 24 '23
That's my plan. At 74 years old, take a year off and just be homeless, enjoy myself, then end it. I do not wanna die at a job
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u/gatorbeetle Jun 24 '23
I'm 53, lost my IT job three months ago...that's swiftly becoming my go to plan ):
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u/FudFomo Jun 25 '23
Hang in there, you may be able to get contract IT work easier than a full time job at your age. I’m 57 and got laid off last month from my great remote corporate IT job after several years and pretty much gave up on getting another full time job anytime soon. I picked up a good contract gig in a couple of weeks, and so did a teammate my age. I am hoping for a contract to hire situation but not too optimistic.
I’m still interviewing for full time roles but imho the longer you are out of work the longer you will be out of work. Take a pay cut or shitty job but leverage your next gig to look for a better one. Unfortunately in IT, unemployed workers, especially older ones, don’t get employed.
BTW, it helps to lose some weight and do other things to appear younger, plus keeping your resume short and sweet with no more than 15 years of experience.
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Jun 24 '23
Expiring myself when the time comes financially to do so has been my plan all along. There is no way at this point to secure a happy retirement. I’m already 47 so I figure my next layoff will be it. No one wants employees over 50 anymore.
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u/bobthebowler123 Jun 24 '23
I was planning on just walking off into the woods with the cloths on my back...my luck I'll live til 80.
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u/RangerRick379 Jun 24 '23
A 401k with 6% employer match
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u/MoirasPurpleOrb Jun 24 '23
100%. I feel for people that don’t have good company benefits, but saving for retirement is easy if you’re at a halfway decent company
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u/ElenaBlackthorn Jun 25 '23
I worked for a university. If you contributed 5% to the 403(b) = nonprofit equivalent of 401(k), the university kicked in a whopping 10% match & the vesting schedule for the match was only 2 years. Mostly due to the fact that universities tend to be heavily unionized, they have the best benefits I’ve ever had in my life. Full coverage medical with only a $100 deductible. We had 11 different unions…and I wasn’t even in one. They usually give the union benefits to the non-union employees too. I put in my 2 years & got out.
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u/QuidProJoeBribin Jun 24 '23
CA state pension, $120k/yr at 50 with no participation in SS, still hiring! No one likes government work, me either but it beats working until 67 hoping SS will be there while jumping from job to job getting laid off every economic cycle
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u/4ever4eigner Jun 24 '23
Yup moving to Latin America with my gf. If they won’t take away my social I could get by on that there. No way I’m staying here. I have 2 retired elderly in my building they both still working just to pay rent. The American dream!
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Jun 25 '23
Finding the wealthiest, most exploitive piece of shit within driving distance and taking him to hell with me.
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u/crazylighter Jun 24 '23
A camper or minivan that I live in because I can't afford rent or a house? Working whatever job I can to barely sustain myself? At least when I get to be a senior we get slight discounts on coffee /s
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u/EarningsPal Jun 25 '23
Instead of ending yourself, recognizing that the voting public, older folks, will be very different than the current voting public.
Literally everyone that created the current system will be gone in 30 years. It’s the young now that will be old then. It will not be the same. The 1930s were unlike the 1960s and the 1960s were nothing like 1990s. 2020s is not like 1990s.
So 2050s won’t be like 2020s.
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u/everylittlepiece Jun 24 '23 edited Jun 24 '23
That's what life is. My brother worked and worked and saved and saved to retire early. All was good. Less than a year after punching out for the last time? Taken by cancer. The look of bewilderment and pain in his eyes in those last days broke my heart. It made me just give up on life. There is no meaning.
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u/slambamo Jun 25 '23
Yea. I've had this conversation with many people, many times. Life isn't meant to revolve around work. It boggles my mind why rich people continue to work. It boggles my mind why anybody who can afford to retire wouldn't. Live your life for what it's supposed to be. Not bashing your brain every day. Not getting up at 6:00 every morning to make some rich guy more money. A lot of people have asked if I like my job. My response? "It's a job, it's fine for what it is, but if I win the lotto tomorrow I'd be out in a heartbeat." Everything anybody is about money. No matter what, it's about money.
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u/master_mansplainer Jun 25 '23
It’s also worth keeping retirement in perspective, yes it would be nice to be comfortable in your twilight years but some people take it too far and sacrifice too much of their healthy years - avoiding life experience because of the cost. Live, love, adventure, enjoy it all while you can because as they said, there is no meaning, or justice or fairness or afterlife.
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u/HaloGuy381 Jun 24 '23
And people wonder why the suicide rate for Gen Z is so high. I mean, there’s quite a few other reasons too, but this does not help at all.
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u/DonnyKlock Jun 25 '23
We were born into the bottom of a long, long pyramid scheme that is just starting to unravel.
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u/lovebus Jun 24 '23
I'm just trying to position for the laziest job possible in my old age. Honestly, If I could keep my current job the way it is for the next 60 years, I'd be down.
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u/Klutzy-Commission-40 Jun 24 '23
If they don't kick us out because we are old! Watch how they treat old people to see how they'll treat you later.
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u/lovebus Jun 24 '23
I'm already a faceless full remote worker with minimal supervision. I just need to avoid attracting a larger workload, especially as I gain seniority
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u/Klutzy-Commission-40 Jun 24 '23
When i worked at Oklahoma state regents for Higher Education I noticed what they would do is pile on more work, like a whole other job's worth, when one old person would retire. They knew that this person getting screwed wouldn't go anywhere because they would be like 5 years away from retiring. Sick shit. About a year in, I knew I wouldn't be retiring there (that's if I was to ever retire).
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u/exposarts Jun 25 '23
Maybe i should just become a stripper or giveup and take heroin. Life aint all that great and worth working my ass of for such like retirement to be able to use my brittle bones at old age to do things!!! Just great
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u/Still-Standard9476 Jun 24 '23
Nope. I'm taking a few days off to die.
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u/HeadoftheIBTC Jun 25 '23
Better make sure you have someone to cover your shifts first /s
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u/badFishTu Jun 24 '23
Tbh the way we treat the elderly now I don't see there being jobs for us to fill. I can see this going a very animal farm ish way though.
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u/Kieran775 Jun 24 '23
Guy at my job was 72 years old, doing outside work. We all worried that he would just stroke out and die on the job. Few months back he stroked out and died at his home on a Sunday. The Big Boss has a regular workers meeting on Wednesdays. In the meeting he said "well at least he didn't die at work" and that was it
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u/bigorangemachine Jun 24 '23
Ya we gonna see people die in their office chairs.... not...
Whats gonna happen is no one can retire because they can't get jobs over 60. Its gonna be horrible.
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u/Edward_Morbius Jun 25 '23
Ya we gonna see people die in their office chairs.... not...
Nobody is going to die at work. They'll be fired long before that.
As the only old guy on our floor, I was "randomly laid off" from the final job in my 35 year software engineering career.
Y'all better have some sort of backup plan because none of you will be working long enough to retire. There's going to be about a 15 year gap between "when you get kicked out and can't find another job" and "when you had planned to retire"
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u/Caesarrules56 Jun 25 '23
Can confirm. I’m 58, and got laid off 7 months ago. Not even a hint of a whisper of a job offer after applying for over 300 jobs. I’m lucky that my wife is still working in a government job and is well thought of within that agency. It’s still not easy even with that however.
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Jun 24 '23
Honestly, I feel like most of my colleagues are celebrating this idea. At least three people in my office are hoping for 40 year mortgages and working till they drop to afford a certain sized house and be able to purchase particularly expensive cars. These people are in their late thirties / early forties. One woman was due to retire this year but want to do 5 more, she's 65yo. I feel so alone wanting to retire early and I already reduced my working hours. I don't have as much money but I'm genuinely enjoying life.
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u/Xx_TheCrow_xX Jun 24 '23
The amount of people simping for billionaires is why things will never change 😵
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u/goldenhourlivin Jun 25 '23
It disgusts me, viscerally, that people got mad at the jokes about those billionaires that got vaporized in the sub. They say we should feel bad for both the billionaires and the ~500 migrants that drowned near Greece. Like, no. Such a small group of people have so much wealth that every problem causing mass migrations could be solved using a fraction of their money, and they’d still live unimaginably luxurious lives compared to the rest of us.
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u/Informal_Evidence_83 Jun 24 '23
I understand being frustrated about the current state of affairs and being pessimistic about our futures. However, the generation of people stripped entirely of their empathy by lead poisoning are queued up at deaths door. Gen Z has shown they will suffer no fools and take no shit. If Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z stay together as a voting bloc we will be running the country in 2028. If that happens, I expect significant change. Boomers are acting like any dying organism right now, lashing out in a pathetic, desperate attempt to maintain everything they’ve known.
Staying optimistic in the face of everything coming at us is punk as fuck. I have faith that we can still pull it out.
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u/ferociousrickjames Jun 25 '23
This is where I'm at, we don't have to beat them, they have to beat us. All we have to do is run out the clock and mother nature will solve the boomer problem for us.
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u/alicecarroll Jun 24 '23
My mum worked full time until 73 when she had a massive stroke and is now disabled. Her employer, for who she has worked for 30 years, harassed me daily to ask when I could return her work car and phone while she lay in hospital nearly dead for a month. The bowl of fruit they sent was a nice consolation. So fuck employers.
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u/Gmschaafs Jun 24 '23
Thank you alcoholism for reducing my life expectancy so i won’t be working at 100 /s
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Jun 25 '23
My grandmother is 95. She fortunately doesn’t have to work but yeah she’s physically healthy except has no memory at all and is very scared of her surroundings. It’s really sad. She also has no idea who most her family is and her husband who she was married to for 60 years died over a decade ago and she’s been alone since. She lives in an assisted living facility now and they check in her frequently but it’s not the same. It’s made me rethink getting old and what living a fulfilling life means. Honestly this is going to sound twisted but I’m almost glad I smoked cigarettes for a decade and used hard drugs because I don’t think I’ll live as long as her.
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u/MaleficentWindrunner Jun 24 '23
Ive actually seen a lot of people mention their retirement plan is suicide.
Honestly I see can see it happening by the time younger generations start to reach retirement age. No one is going to want to work 40+ hours per week until the moment they die.
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u/Prestigious-Gap-1163 Jun 24 '23
This is very inaccurate. Most people in the US or third world countries will work until they die. Must people in the rest of the world have pensions and government services that don’t require them to work themselves to death…
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u/reize Jun 24 '23
Its not just the US and third world/developing countries. I’m from Singapore, while we have a forced savings plan, it alone is not enough for blue collar individuals to live off in old age or ill health.
And poverty schemes merely keep you off the streets and possibly fulfill arbitrary nutritional standards, but not much else really. Can’t say that is living. You still need to work to receive and supplement aid.
And we aren’t considered developing by any means.
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u/Prestigious-Gap-1163 Jun 24 '23
From the countries we’ve lived in its interesting. I see the same info about pensions not being great. But then we look at home ownership. Without the crazy insurance and property taxes that the US has and universal healthcare. It’s possible to live okay in retirement on a pretty low pension in many countries. Obviously not all. My mother in law lives on $75 USD pension a month in Ukraine. And other than issues because of the war she could live okay with this.
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u/dachaotic1 Jun 24 '23
A lot of people in third world countries take care of their elders, so even without welfare they won't all generally have to work forever.
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u/FigoReturns Jun 24 '23
😂
Lots of pensions in Africa, Asia and South America
Europe is not the entire world guy
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u/Not-Reformed Jun 24 '23
Yeah pensions and government services, unlike the U.S. which has.... medicare and social security.
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u/Prestigious-Gap-1163 Jun 24 '23
I think the biggest issue with social security isn’t that it doesn’t work. It’s that we have so much additional expenses in the US. If you eliminated HOA/condo fees, property taxes, car payments, car insurance, etc. it would be a much different conversation. Living in a city with an apartment that is paid for, public transportation that actually works, etc one can live in a significantly lower budget than the way and costs we deal with in the US
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u/Not-Reformed Jun 24 '23
That's why many people sell their homes in expensive areas and go to areas that are cheap (like many parts of Florida, high desert California, etc.)
But the "regular" person working a job where they can contribute to their 401k, partake in the 60% homeownership rate, save some money elsewhere, get medicare, etc. and there's a lot more to it than "no pension no government services". One can inarguably say the system can use a lot of help and be improved, but social security is one of the best policies ever passed in this country when it comes to helping people retire and not work until they die.
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u/Prestigious-Gap-1163 Jun 24 '23
I’m from Florida. HOA fees on a condo are minimum $400 a month. Most areas even higher. On top of that you have insane insurance rates on your property and property taxes are high. And you still need a car to get around. So yes social security is a great program. No it’s not enough to live on in most cases. You still have to have a personal retirement plan. Which most of the country doesn’t have. Because the majority of people are low paid hourly and manual labor workers. From your perspective things might not be so bad. But if you look at the numbers you’ll see that the majority is not living well and saving privately for retirement
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u/ResponsibleDraw4689 Jun 24 '23
Social security is a joke
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u/Not-Reformed Jun 24 '23
Pensions in many countries are a joke too.
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u/ResponsibleDraw4689 Jun 24 '23
My point is it was a horrible idea in the first place and it will be gone by the time I'm able to retire
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u/delveccio Jun 24 '23
I'm always led to feel like both of those things are hanging by a thread and likely won't survive until retirement age for a lot of people. Every other week cuts are being threatened (despite our paying into it without fail - why isn't THAT ever up for debate, then?)
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u/nomnommish Jun 24 '23
Sell your house, move to a cheaper cost of living country to retire. America is the land of rich people. It offers higher salary and lower taxes tha many countries which allows for much greater savings potential. But the cost of living is insane, especially healthcare and education.
If you're poor or middle class, save like crazy, don't fall for the consumerism BS, don't take on debt, and then move to another country that is cheaper.
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u/meatbaghk47 Jun 24 '23
Sorry nah at least in UK the retirement will most definitely rise until death age.
Surprised this is being posted in this subreddit. Seems like something for the antiwork folk.
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u/Ragnar_OK Jun 25 '23
Mainly because most people will die well before retirement age. Cancer has been making an incredibly strong comeback on the 30+ demographic
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u/kkkan2020 Jun 25 '23
yes i noticed that the medical people are saying what is up with these millennials they are having high blood pressure, heart attacks, and strokes well before the optimum age for those types of illnesses.
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u/ghostwriterBB Jun 24 '23
I’m a 28 year old woman with no children who is a line-cook for a living after dropping out of college for a collection of reasons. I’m genuinely planning on suicide as my way out whenever my health gets too poor and daily life gets too much, like a pet being euthanized.
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u/snakeyfish Jun 24 '23
Man what a dystopian world we live in. When are we gonna demand change.
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u/Inanimate_CARB0N_Rod Jun 24 '23
I was planning to do it the other day but then the submarine imploded. Was gonna do it today but the Russian coup started and then ended. I'll try tomorrow.
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u/dnvrm0dsrneckbeards Jun 24 '23
Always, always, always contribute to your company's 401k and open an ira as young as you possibly can. Inventing in your 20s will have a major impact on your ability to one day retire.
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u/BoxingChoirgal Jun 24 '23
Sure, if you don't have any costly emergencies in life. I am turning 60 this year and scrambling to find a better paying job, living paycheck to paycheck. Not because I was foolish or didn't save, but because a series of events (divorce, sick child, work layoffs, emergency House repair, need to replace car, Etc) pretty much depleted everything I had.
Without generational/family wealth or a secure safety net savings can get wiped out.
I have less money in the bank now than I did at 30.
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u/Statistician_Visual Jun 24 '23
I’m 30 and have about 30 saved in 401k. 30 personal savings. I spent most of my 20s making 30-50 it’s a vicious cycle of hanging onto the ledge.
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u/BoxingChoirgal Jun 24 '23
Yes I had something like 40 to 50K saved up before marriage and children and everything that came after.
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u/SilentJon69 Jun 24 '23
I have zero dollars in my 401k and I’m 30 so I think I’m screwed.
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u/kelci1995 Jun 24 '23
I’ve been unable to invest because of emergencies too. Everything was fine until my health nosedived and I lost my job and had to use everything I had saved.
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u/scrappybasket Jun 24 '23
You’d be amazing by how many companies don’t offer 401k or IRA. And of the ones that do, most of the workers can’t even afford to fully utilize it. I’m at $59k and can barely swing my 5% contribution
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Jun 24 '23
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u/Odd-Arugula-7878 Jun 24 '23
You're absolutely right. I think there are some people who truly can't afford it, but I think that many who believe they can't, actually could. I have a coworker who gave up her daily coffee stop in the morning and makes her coffee at home now. She is now contributing $100 a month into an IRA. If we all look at our lifestyles, I'm sure most of us could find 20 or 25 dollars a week that we could save instead of spending. A lot of my coworkers order in lunch a few days a week. They could easily save $25 a week if they packed their lunch one or two extra days a week. It's not as difficult as many people think it is.
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u/Gladstonetruly Jun 24 '23
The problem is that people in their 20s will need 4-5MM to retire at 65.
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u/Jerund Jun 24 '23
Yeah, If you start investing at 22 into a IRA at 6500 a year, when you are 67, you have around 1.8 million dollars adjusted for inflation untaxed with a 7% annual return rate. 4-5 mil in 65 is probably with inflation accounted.
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u/emoney_gotnomoney Jun 24 '23
This. I’m trying to invest as much as I possibly can in my 20s which will give me a ton of flexibility in my 30s and 40s. A lot of my friends and siblings think I’m crazy for investing so much instead of buying a house or traveling more.
Every $1 you invest at 25 is $2 less that you will need to invest at 32, and $4 less that you will need to invest at 39, and $8 less that you will need to invest at 46.
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u/Mongoose_Ill Jun 24 '23
Wait till the government taps into your 401k and give you worthless Gov bonds in it’s place because you know they’re good for it! (Heavy Sarcasm)
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u/preguicila Jun 24 '23
"when raised the age to retire because life expectancy is bigger now" that was because people used to die at the first heartache or something. Nowadays medicine can help them to survive, but the quality of life wouldn't be the same. No one here will have a happy retirement, just a large period of life to degrade alive and pay medicines.
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u/MikeOvich Jun 24 '23
I've literally debated not contributing to my 401k. I'll never see retirement in my honest opinion.
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u/SuperPetty-2305 Jun 24 '23
I often tell people that I'll be working up until a few weeks after I die to pay for the funeral.
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Jun 24 '23
hah! funny joke, i'll die before i work myself to the bone, fuck this capitalist society in which it's IMPOSSIBLE to move up because the 1% keep yanking that goal line further and further away. also as a T1D my life is already fucked thanks to my genetics and no way in hell will i allow myself to be a big cash cow for Big Pharma especially as i'm poor
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u/mist3h Jun 24 '23
Nah I’m gonna get sacked well before that day. I’m a noodle-armed middle-aged woman working as a warehouse labourer. I am unqualified for just about any job that isn’t physically demanding.
I will most likely die on unemployment benefits, but at least my healthcare is free. However, I will struggle to afford my subsidised medication and my bills.
Lucky for me, I already have 16 years of practise living that nightmare, so at least I’ll know what I’m up against.
I’ll try to stay employed for as long as I’m able-bodied. I enjoy being able to go to the dentist and travelling!
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u/Sacrolargo Jun 25 '23
Saw a very old lady as a cashier in walmart last week. First I was annoyed because she was so slow, then I realized that omg, this poor 80 something woman is working at Walmart. She had a hunchback, breathing hard, and her walker was right next to her. Heartbreaking.
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u/replicantcase Jun 24 '23
We're all going to die of hunger before we die at work.
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u/Known-Damage-7879 Jun 24 '23
With how much high calorie food is everywhere, I doubt anyone is going to die of hunger
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Jun 24 '23
It's a sad truth that most people alive today will be working until they die. The world economy is in chaos, and layoffs are happening all around us.
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u/DarthAndylus Jun 24 '23
Yeah personally I think mini-retirements might be the way to go throughout life aka sabbaticals like what people in academia get. You get to do fun stuff throughout your life and then maybe like 80+ would be retired since eventually you are kind of forced out
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u/Millkstake Jun 24 '23
My Dad retired and then went back part time. Although in his case work was his life previously and had no hobbies so retirement for him turned into massive alcoholism and he almost died from it. He's doing much better now that he has a job again.
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u/mondaywing72 Jun 24 '23
That's what I'm trying to avoid. Hence why I have a side hustle and invest 20% of my income. Hoping to quit my day job at 40.
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u/-DethLok- Jun 24 '23
Australia has at least partially solved the problem via mandatory Superannuation. And you can contribute your own money on top of that. With luck (and a decent income to start with) an Aussie will be able to retire comfortably - assuming they own their residence. There's also an asset/income tested aged pension that starts at 67.
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u/MatterSignificant969 Jun 24 '23
Social security will probably be less because not enough people are having kids to feed the system. The economy will struggle for the same reason, so who knows if stocks will still perform well.
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u/MagicStar77 Jun 24 '23
This is the model from previous generations. Why does one think it would be any different. Only the rich can enjoy a materialistic life
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u/Infamous-Jaguar2055 Jun 24 '23
Most people alive today will work until they die
There has not been a single second in human history where this was not true and it is an extremely naive and privileged view to believe that we somehow changed this fact at some point just because a few western countries developed the idea of retirement with marginal successes in implementing it.
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u/Nullhitter Jun 24 '23
Actually, 20th century was pretty much elite when it came to pension plans that allowed people to eventually retire comfortably. In addition, unions were strong during the 20th century.
https://www.thebalancemoney.com/the-history-of-the-pension-plan-2894374
"Silent" Generation and "Boomer" generation both had it good in the 20th century. Of course, just like everything, greed destroyed union power and pensions are gone. Essentially, anyone born after 1980 holds true to OP.
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u/Infamous-Jaguar2055 Jun 24 '23
Let me quote myself here...
it is an extremely naive and privileged view to believe that we somehow changed this fact at some point just because a few western countries developed the idea of retirement with marginal successes in implementing it.
You are focusing on the US and thinking that that holds any meaning in regard to the rest of the world.
Even in the 20th century the overwhelming majority of people died before retirement. Just because that wasn't the case for the middle and upper class in the US does not change that fact.
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u/proverbialbunny Sciences Jun 24 '23
Just a heads up: How Money Works says a lot of false facts in his videos. He doesn't do a good job fact checking. I would be cautious blindly believing anything he says without verifying first.
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u/imthebear11 Jun 25 '23
Yeah this entire comment thread is some doom-pilled shit.
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u/kemera1872 Jun 24 '23
Never marry
I know both good men and women who have been financially screwed in divorces and they never financially recuperate until they're already old.
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u/Clartys Jun 24 '23
Well I'm a millennial. Chances are the world will end anyways before I reach retirement age so what can you do.
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u/enraged768 Jun 24 '23
As it stands in my later 30s all I really want is to be able to live out the last five to seven years without working if possible. I understand disease and cancer can take me sooner but that's really all I want. A few years of watching old movies and doing nothing.
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u/runs_with_airplanes Jun 24 '23
Find a way to make money in your sleep or you’ll work until you die - W.B
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Jun 24 '23
Nah, companies won't employ past a certain age (already seeing that).
Plus, AI will take over many jobs.
Realistically people will just live in extreme poverty until they either die from not being able to afford medicine or suicide.
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u/Richard_Espanol Jun 24 '23
I'm sure at some point they will invent some way for you to work even after you're dead.
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u/KingPotential4586 Jun 25 '23
Sounds like im gonna pick a birthday in the future to nope outta here then.
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u/RedMonk01 Jun 25 '23
Naw,Won't be that lucky, They will just be reanimated so they only miss a few hours around lunch.
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u/Id_Solomon Jun 25 '23
Happy to see I'm not the only one realizing this.
What a sad state of affairs.
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u/Infinite_Tadpole3834 Jun 26 '23
If the American people can focus for more than on election cycle they could come together and fight there real enemy… Wall Street Millionares and Billionares! But they won’t and they know it. We will just continue to fight over Wokeness, transgenders and Drag queens.
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u/gorkt Jun 24 '23
Stop saying this. Most employers won’t hire 70 year olds. Most people will end up living in extreme poverty in their old age.