Nope, never. My retirement plan is a ditch with a nice view of the Rockies in Colorado and a bottle of gin on a cold winter night. Everything I've saved into (SS, TSP, retirement accounts) will inevitably disappear before I can access them/hit the age requirements. I don't trust the system at all (I didn't trust it before the election outcome either). I'm fucked. We're all fucked. Might as well live it up now while I still can.
this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2024
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Yep. My wife and I are in our thirties and have good whole life insurance policies that will supplement our retirement accounts nicely in our old age. I’ve been paying into mine for almost two decades (maybe longer, my parents started it for me and locked in good rates when I was young), my wife’s is newer. We also both have matching retirement accounts and are making sure we hit our matching totals each paycheck to draw as much from our employers as we can.
It’s not ideal, but with good planning (and stable income) you can still do well. Now, stable income is the important part. I’m a software developer, my wife works for a non-profit, so my income is generally a bit more stable than hers.
I recommend finding a financial advisor. Our life insurance guy is great and because he gets commission on the life insurance plans he doesn’t charge us for advisory services (and also doesn’t try to sell us on other stuff, he actually recommended we NOT move our old 401ks from other jobs over to him because we’d end up paying him more than we’d make, he recommended we roll them into our current employer plans).
That advice seems like a red flag. There are way more options to diversify investments in an IRA than a 401k, you can also invest in the same funds through an IRA that are available to your 401k. Either way you end up paying fees to someone as well.
Oh sure, he’s not saying don’t diversify. That was specifically about the small amounts from previous employers. Like, I had worked at a place for about a year, and the amount in that account wouldn’t be worth him taking over.
Yep, about to turn thirty and have been paying into an Ira, a Roth Ira and a 401k, I want to retire as soon a possible and do things that actually make me happy.
yes. by staying in europe
I'm barely into my 30's so it's far too early to say what I'll be doing. I aim to be debt free within 10 years and have no major life goals after that. Another 10 years and pension should cover my living costs 1:1, so monetarily I should be fine.
Yep, pretty much the game I played. You're doing it right.
I'm lucky enough to be a state employee so I'll still have OPERS when Social Security is annihilated next year, but I'm not sure that'll be enough.
I already did somewhere in my 20s like 3 decades ago.
But today, with maybe "just" one good academic salary, the minimum rent, no car and saving nost of everything? Difficult. Especially if you maybe wanna live while waiting for retirement. Maybe even have a car or travel.
And if you want a great retirement, you need Hobbies and hobbies cost money. Considering that mayve the government-paid retirement is probably gone or reeeeaaally bad in another 30yrs...you gotta save a looooot AND invest it furiously but safely. Which is work too.
World is fucked.
My workplace has a defined benefit pension and they announced that all employees will be losing this pension (even those who are a couple years from retirement).
We will be switched over to a defined contribution pension and our previous contributions will be converted retroactively.
I don’t foresee this new pension lasting more than 5 years before they cut it completely. I wouldn’t even be surprised if they’re able to keep our pension contributions retroactively, fucking everyone over.
Sure. I mean death still comes one to a customer and I'm no different.
Retirement sounds great till you try it. The expression is "even your garage can't get any cleaner". This refers to the boredom retirement can be for some. The solution that I found was a part time job, not for the money, but doing something I enjoyed. You no longer have the pressure of a "real" job. The best job that you will ever have is the job that you really don't need.
Doing stuff is important. But I have enough hobbies that I think I could stop working and not get bored.
Honestly, it scares me a bit. I've known men who retired and just... stopped. Sat in their chair, or maybe went for a little shuffling walk. Dead within a few years.
I could probably retire now, finances wise, but I enjoy my job and don't know what I'd do all day without some structure.
I saw my retired parents waste away in front of the TV every day. As mentioned before .... the best job is the one that you don't need. So besides enjoying my part time "get out of the house" job there are other benefits. I save money and stay healthy by only drinking on Friday and Saturday. These of course are not my work days. I also don't go out for meals during the week. I have retired neighbors that seem to spend 5 or 6 days a week out for lunch or dinner and boozing everyday. That would never work for me
Dude, I'm retired for 3 decades and still would need more time and had to prioritise hobbies. I work voluntarily with abused people, but not because I'm bored but because someone needs to. Besides that i love gaming, coding, traveling, cars, boats, going on daily tours with wifey, reading, music, watching star trek...
But I've seen people retire and getting bored to death a week later. I always found that sooo tragically sad, like they were born to be worker-ants and without work there's nothing left worth living in their lifes.
But yes, the best job is one you actually want to do and are not forced to do.
I will have to cut down on costs but I won't be poor, so yes.
No. Retirement age is already higher than the age I'll probably reach, considering hereditary bad stuff. Aside from that, I have no skills and keep getting fired. Not to mention our planet will be on fire by then anyway.
No.
Existence had grown exponentially more expensive in my lifetime, well outpacing what a 401k or pension will realistically ever be able to achieve. At best, it might buy me 5-10 years after I am physically unable to work; if I mentally decline too soon due to age (quite likely in my family), I will die in poverty.
That isn't even touching on the possibility of a habitable climate or war, and assumes the survival of the current economic system.
Becoming so rich that greeds corrupts me and becoming the villian that I always despised.
Or die.
Probably the latter tho... 😓
Statistically people with depression like me is at a higher risk of suicide so yea maybe I'd be dead. Or since I'm in the US, die due to political persecution. Basically just boils down to "die".
At the speed at which government push back the retirement age, I expect something like 70 with 47 worked years by the time I'll be old enough.
I have an interesting job, mostly in an office, some savings, so I may be able to do otherwise. But yhea, I don't count that much on retirement
At the speed at which government push back the retirement age, I expect something like 70 with 47 worked years by the time I’ll be old enough.
I don't know which government you mean. Here in the UK it's gone from 65 to 67 for men and 60 to 67 for women (Sliding scale - currently 66, but 67 when I get there, and further still for younger people), so I guess it's happening for everyone. I started work at 16, so if I retired at the legal age I'll have worked for 51 years.
But - that's just the state pension which is subsistence only. If you're smart you have a private or work pension alongside it, and you can take that whenever you can afford to, then collect state pension as well when you're old enough.
We've also lost the mandatory retirement age - you can keep working until you drop, if you want to.
No. My mother has unretired twice and my grandmother has come out of retirement four times. They don't have the knack for it and I doubt I will either.
Barring societal collapse I believe I will be able to retire, but that's only because I've gotten extraordinarily lucky in life.
Yep. I just always put money in my 401k, I don't know what a paycheck without 15% going to retirement looks like. I've still got at least 30 years to go.
My wife and I have pensions plans. We won't retire for another 35 or 40 years but that's the plan.
That's awesome, it seems really far away, but trust me, it goes by quick. I'm 55 and I retire in a few months. And I remember thinking it seemed so far away. And fuck, now I'm here. Crazy.
Wow, how are you retiring at 55??? I'm 56, and have spent this year re-vamping my IRA accounts with the hope of retiring in 10-12 years without any reliance on the social security that will be gone.
[Edit] I see below you mentioned having a pension. Must be nice!
As long as Trump doesn't decide to suddenly end pension plans! I mean, i don't really think that will happen, but he's so batshit crazy, who knows. So I figure I should take the jump now and maybe any law changes that would happen would go towards people who aren't collecting the pension yet.
My pension plan is for state workers. So we can retire at 55 if we have at least 20 years service in. I turned 55 this year, and hit my 20th year this year.
Of course, the longer I keep working, the bigger my pension would be. I took my current job with the plan to work for 3 more years, then retire.
And I like my current job enough, but every single morning after I turned 55, when I wake up, I think to myself, "Shit if I were retired, I wouldn't have to go anywhere."
My job is a 10-minute walk away. So I really have no right to bitch about it at all. But just "having" to be somewhere, gets on my nerves so much now! lol
So since I don't owe anybody shit, and I can live off of potatoes and beans, I'll get by just fine. I don't give a shit what people think of me, so no keeping up appearances. That right there, makes my lifestyle sustainable on low income.
I have four more years to pay off my house. I just have to survive the Trump administration without losing everything.
You'll be fine. You got this, brother!
Yes.
By Planning.
I didn't think it would work for the first 10 years. I just wanted to eat better cat food in retirement.
Pursuing higher paid jobs when I can. Changing jobs periodically. Pursuing higher pay until the pay asked for my soul. Then stepped back, changed jobs, and make way more for less.
Paying down debt when possible. Building up to a constant dollar figure of debit and investment per month. Growing that when I can. I now save 40%+ of my income.
Keeping my spending low by prioritizing my time on free things. Prioritizing the money I spend on high pact purchases.
Planning with 4% rule. Works out to needing 300 times your monthly spend in savings. Driving that number down. A $15 a month expense requires $4,500 invested to support.
A great market runup.
I am glad I did too. My friends are dying. One's 40's are rough.
Yep! I retire in 5 months. 55 years old. With full pension.
My house is paid off and I have no debt. Since I have no bills, my pension will cover my needs just fine. It's not a huge pension or anything, but I've worked for my state for most of my adult life, and whittled down my bills to almost nothing. So I'll get by just fine.
I plan to just spend my time in retirement doing exactly what I want. I've recently started a local branch of my favorite socialist party, so I'll devote more time to that.
Plus, I'll do a lot of writing, a lot of Lemmy posting, garden more so I can grow most of my meals, and doing DIY solar projects so that I can cut back on my bills even farther. Because fuck the capitalist power infrastructure in my state. My state's BS laws won't let me go completely off-grid while here in the city, but I plan on reducing how much I have to pay as far down as I can go
Nah I guess I'm gonna build shit until it's time for a dose of buckshot.
No, and crying
Incurable cancer, chemo brain means I can’t concentrate and often have trouble thinking straight. Involuntarily “retired” on medical insurance. Not working wasn’t what I expected it to be.
One day, yes. I budget accordingly and am lucky enough to be paid relatively well. But at the same time, I prioritize quality of life now because there's no guarantee I'll make it to retirement. Id rather retire later if it means better qol now.
Yup, sometime in the next year or two I'll get laid off, then I'll just mooch off my spouse.
Intentional heroin overdose.
If I ever get off my ass and actually make all these games, maybe. If the ideas are as good as I hope they are.
Nope
Depends. What does retiring mean? Does it count if society collapses and i go live in the woods?