Back when i had jobs that had 401k plans, all the calculators said i needed over $1 million to retire at age 70. Meanwhile i was living paycheck to paycheck trying to put something in there. How tf am i supposed to squirrel away 7 figures when i have mever made $40,000 in a year?
Quit with the avocado toast and Starbucks. According to Sociopathic Oligarchs, that seems to have been a bigger factor in their wealth than their multi-generational inheritance.
My 26 year old son is still living with us, and we are all totally fine with it. We’ve been an extremely close family all along, and I consider him my best friend, and I’m sure he would say the same thing.
OTOH, I couldn’t wait to get out of my parents house. I could deal with it over summer breaks, but as soon as I moved back in after college, it was clear they still considered me a high schooler, and imposed a 10 pm curfew during the week, and an 11pm curfew on the weekends (so understanding). I didn’t say No to that, I just ignored it, like any adult would. Imposing a curfew? Please.
Then they called me one Sunday morning and woke me up at my girlfriend’s place, and demanded I return home and explain myself (“What do you want me to say? I got laid, like an actual grown adult, which I am”).
Got with a buddy, pooled our minimum wages, and got an apartment together. Back then, rent was $300, so it was possible. Even with a friend, I doubt my son could get the money together to get an apartment today. His student loans are going to eat too much of his income for a significant portion of his life. He certainly couldn’t do it on minimum wage.
How tf am i supposed to squirrel away 7 figures when i have mever made $40,000 in a year?
Compound investment is supposed to do a lot of the heavy lifting. At a 7% rate of return, your money doubles every 10 years. So, assuming you set aside $6k of that $40k/year ($500/mo), starting at age 22, you’d have $1M at age 60 and $2.2M at age 70
But here’s the trick… You’re looking down the barrel of 40 years of inflation. So, if you’re earning $40k in year one (let’s say, the year 2000) and you’ve been on the job for 25 years without getting a raise, inflation has reduced the real value of that income by roughly one half.
On the flip side, let’s assume you’re keeping up with inflation (and that $500 you’re setting aside is increasing at the same rate). Then the math gets more complicated and I can’t help you anymore. But the point is you get to $1M sooner, simply because $1M in 2060 is worth a lot less than $1M in 2000.
Had a broker explain that - at my current rate of savings - I’d be looking at a $4M retirement account by age 62. But then he dumped some ice water over my head when he noted “That’s only going to be worth around $1.1M in modern dollars by then”. Suggested I actually up my savings, because $1M only really feels like a lot until you try to live on it for the rest of your life.
That’s why we need to have a conversation about taxing millionaires when everyone yells “tax the rich!”
A million may be more than what a lot of people have, but it’s probably not even a number people can even retire with considering taxes and inflation. Two to 3 million might be a start, 4 million would be ok today, but when people retire in 10, 20, 30+ years from now? Who knows what that will be worth. And before someone quotes some return on 3-4 million with some high rate and says it’s a lot of money… Isn’t that what you want!? Out of all that you’re paying for health care, maybe a mortgage (because who stays one place long enough to pay it off these days?) or rent that you have to pay? Maybe help you with your kid’s crazy college costs? Sit around the house and wait to die now that you’re retired? People might say they could live on less, but doing things is expensive. House maintenance is expensive. Medical is expensive. It’s all getting more expensive.
Where did I say anyone is making a million a year? What does a million a year have to do with a lifetime of saving, ROI, and compound interest for a normal person? If you’re making a mil a year retirement shouldn’t be a problem. Or are you just saying people should take up knitting in your version of retirement and constantly worry about money or a surprise expenditure?
Or are you just saying people should take up knitting
Man, don’t even get me started on the fast fashion industry. We’re killing the planet so that we can turn raw cotton into landfill waste on the backs of East Asian slave labor.
If we could end that by telling Jeff Bezos and Chip Wilson to take up knitting? Yes, absolutely.
Save the planet. Shut down Temu and lock Colin Huang in an oubliete until he darns everyone else a decent sweater.
I have no idea why you jumped to it from millionaires needing to be taxed more.
But if you think knitting as a profession is some kind of joke, why would you defend people from taxation when they were profiteering off the textile work of others?
I am lucky if i have $300 in my bank account after all my expenses each month, and i live in a cheap town working a 9-5 job. I have no health insurance and have had to cash out multiple 401k’s to cover emergency expenses in the past 4 years. Saving for the future is an absolute joke since i can’t even afford to live today.
Yeah, that fucking sucks. In theory, there’s a tax benefit to retirement savings. But in practice, it only matters to people with giant incomes to take advantage of the percentage tax discounts.
Back when i had jobs that had 401k plans, all the calculators said i needed over $1 million to retire at age 70. Meanwhile i was living paycheck to paycheck trying to put something in there. How tf am i supposed to squirrel away 7 figures when i have mever made $40,000 in a year?
Quit with the avocado toast and Starbucks. According to Sociopathic Oligarchs, that seems to have been a bigger factor in their wealth than their multi-generational inheritance.
Kill your masters and plunder their hordes. I’m told their scales have a weak point on the belly.
And that’s just one’s savings without kids.
Having kids, and returning to multi-generational homes might be the only way one is retiring these days.
Good luck on that one.
My 26 year old son is still living with us, and we are all totally fine with it. We’ve been an extremely close family all along, and I consider him my best friend, and I’m sure he would say the same thing.
OTOH, I couldn’t wait to get out of my parents house. I could deal with it over summer breaks, but as soon as I moved back in after college, it was clear they still considered me a high schooler, and imposed a 10 pm curfew during the week, and an 11pm curfew on the weekends (so understanding). I didn’t say No to that, I just ignored it, like any adult would. Imposing a curfew? Please.
Then they called me one Sunday morning and woke me up at my girlfriend’s place, and demanded I return home and explain myself (“What do you want me to say? I got laid, like an actual grown adult, which I am”).
Got with a buddy, pooled our minimum wages, and got an apartment together. Back then, rent was $300, so it was possible. Even with a friend, I doubt my son could get the money together to get an apartment today. His student loans are going to eat too much of his income for a significant portion of his life. He certainly couldn’t do it on minimum wage.
He’s welcome to stay as long as he wants.
My wife and I have no kids and live with family and we’re still dubious on retiring 😹😿
(granted part of this is due to losing all our money*2 during covid when some local businesses shuttered)
Compound investment is supposed to do a lot of the heavy lifting. At a 7% rate of return, your money doubles every 10 years. So, assuming you set aside $6k of that $40k/year ($500/mo), starting at age 22, you’d have $1M at age 60 and $2.2M at age 70
https://www.bankrate.com/banking/savings/save-a-million-calculator/
But here’s the trick… You’re looking down the barrel of 40 years of inflation. So, if you’re earning $40k in year one (let’s say, the year 2000) and you’ve been on the job for 25 years without getting a raise, inflation has reduced the real value of that income by roughly one half.
On the flip side, let’s assume you’re keeping up with inflation (and that $500 you’re setting aside is increasing at the same rate). Then the math gets more complicated and I can’t help you anymore. But the point is you get to $1M sooner, simply because $1M in 2060 is worth a lot less than $1M in 2000.
Had a broker explain that - at my current rate of savings - I’d be looking at a $4M retirement account by age 62. But then he dumped some ice water over my head when he noted “That’s only going to be worth around $1.1M in modern dollars by then”. Suggested I actually up my savings, because $1M only really feels like a lot until you try to live on it for the rest of your life.
That’s why we need to have a conversation about taxing millionaires when everyone yells “tax the rich!”
A million may be more than what a lot of people have, but it’s probably not even a number people can even retire with considering taxes and inflation. Two to 3 million might be a start, 4 million would be ok today, but when people retire in 10, 20, 30+ years from now? Who knows what that will be worth. And before someone quotes some return on 3-4 million with some high rate and says it’s a lot of money… Isn’t that what you want!? Out of all that you’re paying for health care, maybe a mortgage (because who stays one place long enough to pay it off these days?) or rent that you have to pay? Maybe help you with your kid’s crazy college costs? Sit around the house and wait to die now that you’re retired? People might say they could live on less, but doing things is expensive. House maintenance is expensive. Medical is expensive. It’s all getting more expensive.
Doing things is expensive because people with million dollar a year incomes make it expensive. That’s where the million/year comes from.
Where did I say anyone is making a million a year? What does a million a year have to do with a lifetime of saving, ROI, and compound interest for a normal person? If you’re making a mil a year retirement shouldn’t be a problem. Or are you just saying people should take up knitting in your version of retirement and constantly worry about money or a surprise expenditure?
Man, don’t even get me started on the fast fashion industry. We’re killing the planet so that we can turn raw cotton into landfill waste on the backs of East Asian slave labor.
If we could end that by telling Jeff Bezos and Chip Wilson to take up knitting? Yes, absolutely.
Save the planet. Shut down Temu and lock Colin Huang in an oubliete until he darns everyone else a decent sweater.
I have no idea how you got any of that from what I said.
I have no idea why you jumped to it from millionaires needing to be taxed more.
But if you think knitting as a profession is some kind of joke, why would you defend people from taxation when they were profiteering off the textile work of others?
I am lucky if i have $300 in my bank account after all my expenses each month, and i live in a cheap town working a 9-5 job. I have no health insurance and have had to cash out multiple 401k’s to cover emergency expenses in the past 4 years. Saving for the future is an absolute joke since i can’t even afford to live today.
Yeah, that fucking sucks. In theory, there’s a tax benefit to retirement savings. But in practice, it only matters to people with giant incomes to take advantage of the percentage tax discounts.
I guess the other retirement option is just say fuck it and start doing crimes. Clearly, that’s now the fast track to prosperity. Find some guy with a loaded bitcoin wallet and torture him in a basement.