Winging Your Retirement is No Longer a Reality
In the past there is a good chance that even if you werent a financial person and were able to hold a job for a long period of time, you were able to retire somewhat comfortably. In the United States you could live off of basic wages, even afford a home and attain the “American Dream” so to speak. There was always room for savvy people to make more returns, but even people who didnt pay attention still had the cards stacked in their favor. Company employee plans, pensions 401k matching and more was given so even the most basic of employees, but times have changed and not paying attention is no longer an option.
In addition I believe the death of the social security for most retired Americans to be imminent. The government can no longer afford it so they will either push the age back to a point where most of us will probably not live to, or make cuts to the plan all together. In my opinion within the next 20-30 years the amount of elderly homeless people is going to skyrocket. The average American in their 60s has only around 150k for retirement, not nearly enough for the vast majority of people to live decently for even 20 more years. Account for emergencies like healthcare accidents, meds, ect and its completely unrealistic to think they can be retired.
I once saw an older man talk about being poor and not saving for retirement and he said there is nothing worse in your life when you realize you cant afford to live and youre too old to get a job. This is going to be the sad reality for many people if they dont pay attention to their situation. I would argue that for most people the biggest factor in being able to retire is not how much you put in, but rather how much time you have it in for. Obviously you cant just throw a dollar here and a dollar there, but even small amounts over a lifetime end up returning ridiculous amounts. If you simply cut a few costs and put that money in the market while you are young, you will be in a much better place than most of your peers.
I also expect that as automation takes over more and more jobs, those who have their money in the stock market are probably going to see better profits and growth than ever before. The problem comes with who can actually afford to buy the products at that point. I think some sort of universal basic income will have to be established but even then it will be the bare minimum. You dont want to be eating rice and beans, every meal for the rest of your life do you ? The time to start thinking about retirement was yesterday, this is true at any age in my opinion. The 100 you save now at 25 will be worth multiples more if you retire at 60.
If you happen to be in a union or have a good government pension plan, still take money and invest it on your own. There is a very good chance the government will pay on those plans, but they might devalue the worth of them if worst case scenarios hit. You cant rely on anyone else but yourself to invest your money and you shouldnt. It is your responsibility as an adult to make sure you save enough to take care of yourself and your family, so while using professions as a tool to help you is recommended, learning about things on your own and investing yourself to become financially independent is one of the most important things you can do.
-Calaber24p
Everyone I know who works for the government, does not like their job. They simple work for their pension. When they have bad days, they log on to their pension calculator to incentivize themselves.
I don't foresee the government dropping their pension, but ... it has happened.
In the early 2000's, Nortel, Ottawa's largest employer crashed - the layoffs were weekly. Once the company had totally folded, there was the issue of pensioners. Employees didn't lose all of their pension, but they did lose a good percentage. Nortel Pension Settlement reached
I strongly agree with you ... diversify to mitigate your risk and take control of your own destiny. With automation and AI, job security may be a thing of the past. You need to take care of yourself.
I think it depends on the state really, what they have done in NJ for most unions and government pensions is they now make people pay for certain things like healthcare. Pensions and social security are the biggest cost to the US government by far. With people living longer, they are going to need to figure out ways to cut payments. I think they will probably continue to have people pay more out of their pensions for benefits and increase the years before you can get a full pension. I think you dont really have to worry about losing your pension now if you have one, but I would invest additionally just on the odd chance something weird happens. If it doesnt then you have extra money to retire on, which is much better than wishing you had.
I can't agree more. The same rules apply here in Canada too.
Good post!
Great post!
I’m not worried about our future too much we should be fine. But I’m worried about our children’s future. That’s what scares me the most.
Thank you!
You should worry about your future, you dont want to just merely exist. You should want to be able to comfortably spend time with your kids and grand kids.
I agree with most of what you said, because the realization that by the time most of us will retire the pension pots will be empty is my main reason for getting into crypto. I realized I had to take matters into my own hands.
The population pyramid is upside down, less people are paying into the system because less people are being born, add to that the fact you mentioned - due to automation, blockchain, AI, etc. many many jobs will disappear, which means even less people will pay into the pension system through their employer, nor will they have any funds to put something away for the future.
What I do not agree with is the fact that if you save money now, it will be worth more in the future. That used to be true, but since we don't get any interest in the bank anymore, plus we keep having annual inflation rates, our money in the bank will actually become worth less and less and lose its purchasing power.
Some form of universal basic income has to come, I agree. And the savers need to become investors. Investing is very different from saving money in the bank. And I personally believe that a part of that investment should be in crypto - outside the old system.
Investing money in the bank has always been a bad idea. Whenever I talk about investments im talking about the stock market. Im not even really a huge fan of the bond market unless you really cant afford to weather the storm in a bad market cycle.
Invest in Real Estate, best retirement fund possible
Real estate isnt the best honestly, in fact it only slightly outpaces inflation in most areas, which is then lost when you have to pay the taxes. In addition the fees you have to pay to upkeep the property if you are renting might not even be worth it. Real estate is an industry that uses a large amount of leverage so with big real estate companies, they have a very poor asset to liability ratio.
This^🙏🏼 Key brother, +1 for spreading that knowledge.
Take charge and responsibility of your life and financial journey til the end. 🤟🏼
Otherwise, if you're into travelling, vlogs, fitness, self-development etc feel free to check out my channel, in any case keep up the good work and I'll see you around!
I think every job has a fixed time limit during this period to save him for the future and when he stores for that future, he will be comfortable in the future. I think
I like this bleak but reality check type reading and I totally hear you on the governmemt devaluing the pension in future - hell, most people wouldn't even notice it.
In fact they've already done it with the UK teacher pension by changing the inflation index it's linked to.
And they've put the retirement age back to 68 from 65 for the general pension.
On stock funds - do you think they'll go on growing? I predict capitalisms got two, maybe three state bail-outs left - one of which will decimate the entire Western welfare system (basically Greece for eveyone), then the next crash should trigger total global economic meltdown.
With any luck I'll be dead by that point, but if I am still alive, I want to be living self-sustainably without the need for money - that's my long term retirement plan = monyless!
I agree on your analysis of number of bailouts and subsequent outcomes. Now the question as to what comes next... What happens to those of us who have enough for a comfortable life when the majority is struggling? Violence is unfortunately increasingly likely as wealth disparity increases. The careful investor ought to put as much effort into strong family bonds and solid friendships, for after all money is just a representation of social capital.
Speaking with our paramedics way back...we got into consensus that by the time we will retire, the government won't have money to pay us back from their present spending.