Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => Politics => Topic started by: MillCreek on February 18, 2013, 04:39:42 PM
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http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2020379797_retirementdeficitxml.html
An interesting article from the Washington Post on the retirement prospects of those of us in the workforce now. It makes me wonder how my wife and I, and our kids are going to do. And we are probably better off than most, with her pension from the school district when she retires, about 10 years from now, and my 401(k) which is nudging $ 500,000 and hers, which is about at $ 102,000 right now.
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It's going to be interesting. Especially because the next few decades will probably be economically turbulent.
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Probably the only reason I'm still in the national guard
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Since my wife's kids never left, they're my retirement plan? :rofl:
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Looking at how things are going, three layoffs, divorce, crappy returns on 401(k), poor decisions on my part, etc., probably no retirement for me. It is entirely my fault, my responsibility.
Of course, the likely upcoming period of extreme economic uncertainty will change that prognosis, but doubtfully for the good. We will see when it gets here.
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Since my wife's kids never left, they're my retirement plan? :rofl:
Mexican insurance for me. I figure with 4 kids at least one should turn out well enough to take care of us in our old age.
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her pension from the school district when she retires
Assuming the school district doesn't go broke and default. =|
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I fear that a million bucks ain't gonna go as far as it used to, and that right soon. No real hidden tripwires I can point to, just an awful feeling.
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I don't expect there to be such a thing as "retirement" when I get older. It'll be just like a hundred years ago....you work until you can't & hope your family can care for you until you die....or just work until you die....
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Assuming the school district doesn't go broke and default. =|
Washington state runs the school pension system, not individual districts. And in a national audit, Washington ranks very high on the list of states that have adequately funded their state government pension obligations. I was pleasantly surprised to read that.
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I fear that a million bucks ain't gonna go as far as it used to, and that right soon. No real hidden tripwires I can point to, just an awful feeling.
I can hardly wait for the next big markets and 401(k) dumps. I have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in various market corrections over the years. The biggest sticky wicket when these occur in middle age is that you don't have very much time left working to recover from the correction. So I am not as blase about these corrections as I was in my 30's and 40's.
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Washington state runs the school pension system, not individual districts. And in a national audit, Washington ranks very high on the list of states that have adequately funded their state government pension obligations.
And Illinois, well, is not. (Pensions is a big issue right now.)
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I don't expect to be able to retire in the traditional sense. I've still got at least 15 more years in the work force for SS and company pension if this job holds and I'm not optimistic about that. I was a late starter with my 401K and right now it might last 2 years of normal expenses.
I'll have my house paid off at he end of next month (woot!) leaving me with no debt and only monthly/reoccurring bills which could be pared down pretty low if I had to.
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Crowbar retirement.
When faced with the prospect of eviction from his long time home, a senior gets a crowbar, finds a politician, and smacks him upside the head with it. Hard.
He then gets to go to the geriatric wing of Federal prison, where he gets free medical care, bed, blanket, three squares a day, and a roof over his head. Not ideal but better than living in a cardboard box or under a bridge.
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Looking at how things are going, three layoffs, divorce, crappy returns on 401(k), poor decisions on my part, etc., probably no retirement for me. It is entirely my fault, my responsibility.
Of course, the likely upcoming period of extreme economic uncertainty will change that prognosis, but doubtfully for the good. We will see when it gets here.
I don't even need to respond. Rocketman said it for me.
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What worries me is how flat my growth in my retirement investments has been for the past 10 years.
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Nothing needs to be said about how dismal the stock market is going to look over the next 20 years or so as the Baby Boomer generation converts their holdings into cash to live off of.
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I was on track to retire early, but then I had to liquidate my business in 2000 and use my retirement money to settle with creditors. I never recovered, no matter how hard I've tried. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't wish I'd just declared bankruptcy, kept my money and stiffed the creditors.
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Nothing needs to be said about how dismal the stock market is going to look over the next 20 years or so as the Baby Boomer generation converts their holdings into cash to live off of.
Ew... I never thought about that. Good point though.
Increased demand to sell (due to heavy retirement population attempting to live off investments) drives value of stocks downwards, though. Makes perfect sense.
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I'd read articles years back warning about the effect that baby boomers leaving the stock markets might have. Hard to know if the younger generations will take up the slack. So many have been unemployed that investing may be delayed a few years.
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Crowbar retirement.
When faced with the prospect of eviction from his long time home, a senior gets a crowbar, finds a politician, and smacks him upside the head with it. Hard.
He then gets to go to the geriatric wing of Federal prison, where he gets free medical care, bed, blanket, three squares a day, and a roof over his head. Not ideal but better than living in a cardboard box or under a bridge.
I pretty much expect to die of lead poisoning =|
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I don't think i will make it to retirement age.
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I have done all the "right" things, to include 401K as soon as available, even a well-funded defined-benefit pension at my company.
I still don't expect to be able to retire. The norm for humans has been work from maturity until death or disability and our last few decades has been but a short respite from that reality.
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I don't think i will make it to retirement age.
Me neither. Im going to die of an idiot induced aneurism during a Red Curtain of Blood Moment
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I just hope i have enough to at least switch to a career that isn't so stressful, that I enjoy.
Like, for example, go be a fish and game cop somewhere patrolling a lake
Or teach.
I dunno.
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I am going to be so pissed if I croak or something before being able to retire. There is much bicycle and motorcycle riding, hiking, reading and general fun that I am planning to have. I like my profession, but work does not define me, and having worked steadily since I was 16 years old, I want the chance to kick back, health and finances permitting.
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Forgive me if I marvel, given where things are, at long-term projections concerning "normal life" in America...
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I still don't expect to be able to retire. The norm for humans has been work from maturity until death or disability and our last few decades has been but a short respite from that reality.
Yep. American society and the "American dream" as defined by ad agencies trying to sell you something are just as unsustainable as any Ponzi scheme, and will crash under their own weight. Declining populations are a death knell for any nation, and a greatly reduced population + a socialist "safety net" + a huge anomalous population spike (ie Boomers) all trying to cash in at the same time will greatly accelerate the collapse.
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I just hope i have enough to at least switch to a career that isn't so stressful, that I enjoy.
Like, for example, go be a fish and game cop somewhere patrolling a lake
Or teach.
I dunno.
I don't think that means what you think it means =|
Me, I just want to get the house paid off and then do something mundane and not put up with my current soul sucking profession anymore. It used to be fun. =(
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Yep. American society and the "American dream" as defined by ad agencies trying to sell you something are just as unsustainable as any Ponzi scheme, and will crash under their own weight.
Dang the Joneses. Of course, these days it's the Kardashians. :facepalm:
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From pretty much the day I turned 18 until now, it's been roughly 60 hour weeks. I've lived well, but I honestly hope to take a bit of break. This job was supposed to be a comfy 40 ish hours a week. Took a pay cut for it. Yea... Didn't quite work out.
I bought a reasonable house, and I have a million projects I want to work on.
Thing is, I like making decent money. It's nice to have a couple bucks in the bank, and not have to freak out a couple days before payday.
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From pretty much the day I turned 18 until now, it's been roughly 60 hour weeks. I've lived well, but I honestly hope to take a bit of break. This job was supposed to be a comfy 40 ish hours a week. Took a pay cut for it. Yea... Didn't quite work out.
I bought a reasonable house, and I have a million projects I want to work on.
Thing is, I like making decent money. It's nice to have a couple bucks in the bank, and not have to freak out a couple days before payday.
Ok, honest question here and I hope it doesn't come across as offensive.
Setting aside .mil where long hours are just how things are, how much of that is the jobs and how much of that is a personality thing that won't let you not notice things that could be better and fix them? Great attribute in an employee, not awesome for the person who's doing it.
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Ok, honest question here and I hope it doesn't come across as offensive.
Setting aside .mil where long hours are just how things are, how much of that is the jobs and how much of that is a personality thing that won't let you not notice things that could be better and fix them? Great attribute in an employee, not awesome for the person who's doing it.
In my experience, it's a bit of both. Part of it is the job's requirements... part of it is that I won't allow myself to stop working until things are as they should be.
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I'm going with the win the powerball retirement plan.
I figure its about the only way we're comfortably retiring.
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Ok, honest question here and I hope it doesn't come across as offensive.
Setting aside .mil where long hours are just how things are, how much of that is the jobs and how much of that is a personality thing that won't let you not notice things that could be better and fix them? Great attribute in an employee, not awesome for the person who's doing it.
Yes.
Part of it is because I don't like doing a bad job, and few folks want to hire enough personnel to do the job right. Part is because tech can be a brutal profession. Part is because I want to be successful, and trying to do it the right way.
I declare very cent on my taxes. And I get clubbed in the face for it. Basically, on my side work, half goes to taxes. My normal work, say a 1/3rd easily goes to taxes. I get virtually nothing in return. What I do get is from local or state, which is under 5%. Direct taxes, not the fifty billion hidden taxes. I posted on FB, I no longer question why folks give up and don't try to improve their lives. I don't question tax evasion or folks riding on welfare or disability. If you pay the game according to the rules, you pay for it.
Since the day I turned 18, no one has handed me jack. I have survived and done well because I am intelligent, ruthless and work very hard. Few people are trying to kill me these days, which is probably good. But I have learned not to be excessively loyal to those that are not loyal to me. Sikorsky taught me that one. Not saying I would ever do anything unethical, let alone illegal. But going the extra mile? Yea. Less and less of a good idea.
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But I have learned not to be excessively loyal to those that are not loyal to me. Sikorsky taught me that one. Not saying I would ever do anything unethical, let alone illegal. But going the extra mile? Yea. Less and less of a good idea.
My loyalty is solely to my paycheck. I come and work for the money. I care nothing about my job beyond the money. I do not care about silly mission statements, organizational goals and so forth. I come, I do the work to equal the pay, and I get paid. I better get paid on time and correctly, too.
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Yes.
Part of it is because I don't like doing a bad job, and few folks want to hire enough personnel to do the job right. Part is because tech can be a brutal profession. Part is because I want to be successful, and trying to do it the right way.
I declare very cent on my taxes. And I get clubbed in the face for it. Basically, on my side work, half goes to taxes. My normal work, say a 1/3rd easily goes to taxes. I get virtually nothing in return. What I do get is from local or state, which is under 5%. Direct taxes, not the fifty billion hidden taxes. I posted on FB, I no longer question why folks give up and don't try to improve their lives. I don't question tax evasion or folks riding on welfare or disability. If you pay the game according to the rules, you pay for it.
Since the day I turned 18, no one has handed me jack. I have survived and done well because I am intelligent, ruthless and work very hard. Few people are trying to kill me these days, which is probably good. But I have learned not to be excessively loyal to those that are not loyal to me. Sikorsky taught me that one. Not saying I would ever do anything unethical, let alone illegal. But going the extra mile? Yea. Less and less of a good idea.
I would much rather just work part time.
At forty hours, almost half of my pay goes to taxes (marginally, that is). The more hours that I work, the less that I make per hour.
Why the hell would I want to do that ??? :facepalm: :mad:
Plus of course they outsourced the source code work to India, where they take longer to do a crappy job at a cheaper rate per hour. So now I am "Promoted" to oversight which means I do ugly people-related work instead of what I used to like to do and am really really really good at.
Who is John Galt?
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The problem beyond not properly planning for retirement is that for the last 5 years, many people have had to tap into their 401K's and IRA's just to survive. Beyond suffering penalties, early wirthdarawls essentially cut your legs off in terms of any kind of retirement planning for regular people.
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The problem beyond not properly planning for retirement is that for the last 5 years, many people have had to tap into their 401K's and IRA's just to survive. Beyond suffering penalties, early wirthdarawls essentially cut your legs off in terms of any kind of retirement planning for regular people.
How does one properly plan when all of your savings suddenly become nearly worthless ???
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I'm not surprised retirees are going to be worse off than their parents considering the retirees' children are going to be worse off than their parents.
That's what happens when you choose to decline as a country.
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My loyalty is solely to my paycheck. I come and work for the money. I care nothing about my job beyond the money. I do not care about silly mission statements, organizational goals and so forth. I come, I do the work to equal the pay, and I get paid. I better get paid on time and correctly, too.
"By order of the Governor, it's a great day in South Carolina!!"
:rofl: :rofl:
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Me, I just want to get the house paid off and then do something mundane and not put up with my current soul sucking profession anymore. It used to be fun.
Ditto.
One thing for everyone to keep in mind - chances are, that quite a few of us will not be physically able to work until the ideal retirement age we have in mind, or we will need to leave to take care of someone else. Assuming those two things don't happen, how many 65+ year old people do you currently see in the work force...not many. There are few opportunities these days for oldsters. Impaired vision, hearing, reflexes, and slowed thought processes don't lend themselves well to the computer age, and they aren't going to hire us to do heavy lifting.
The wife and I just save what we can and hope for the best.
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Impaired vision, hearing, reflexes, and slowed thought processes don't lend themselves well to the computer age, and they aren't going to hire us to do heavy lifting.
Wisdom and accumulated life experience doesn't count for much.
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Impaired vision, hearing, reflexes, and slowed thought processes don't lend themselves well to the computer age
Yeah, especially when you try to listen to sombody who can barely speak English twelve thousand miles away :facepalm:
As far as "slowed thought processes", I will put my olde phart brain against some of these young idiots any day. I rip them right up through the middle in code reviews >:D
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Unfortunately, I'm on the other side of IT. I don't do so well these days when our corporate IT management has money in their budget to spend, so they spend it, by changing every system we have, and without consulting any of us end users. Sometimes I feel like a blind and deaf man, living in a place where the furniture is moved every few minutes...while everyone tells me, I must do more with less, do it faster, and never make a mistake. They also decided to automatically delete emails after 30 days...I'm assuming the lawyers were also a big part of that one (gotta keep Sales and Marketing VP's out of jail I think). Great...I'm in R&D...not like I need to review information and communication older than a month.
Now everyone spends half their time finding ways to foil that exercise by saving files and emails to other folders and drives. The rest of the day we spend searching the intraweb and interwebs sites for all the things we used to keep in file cabinets, or were known by various admin persons. It's self service everything now...because the puter and voicehell make it possible to thwart every self-service effort. We must also maintain uncluttered desks, and have little file cabinet room for our paper files. I'd guess that nearly everyone outside of IT (and probably IT as well), spends a good part of each day just trying to navigate through the thousand internal web sites to find stuff. Half of those sites aren't updated for whatever reason - which is ironic, because that was the primary reason to switch to them from paper.
I feel better now...not.
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Man this thread is depressing.
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It really isn't THAT depressing. Just going the wrong direction and could be better. Recent generations have higher expectations, because they've simply had more stuff all their lives. My grandparents were plenty happy living in their warm little houses (cooled by a shade tree and a fan in the summer), having a meal or two a day, a well used Plymouth, one B&W tv or radio, the same old clothes they had for years, a few hand tools, a shotgun or two, and not much of much of anything else...'cept each other and the rest of the family. We spent Sundays swimming in a creek, while they sat in the shade, drinking a cold glass of iced tea and thinking life was grand. I could go on welfare today and live nearly as well as they did (after working their asses off in factories their whole lives, and dealing with the ailments they got from being exposed to a number of toxic pollutants every day). We should all be so lucky to live a decent life till we're 70 or 80, even if we are poorer than we'd like to be at that point. Truthfully, I'd b happy living in a trailer "down by the river" right now if my wife and kids didn't have such high expectations, based on us working ourselves to death. :laugh:
This lady woulda loved a partment, a meal and a Obama phone
http://history1900s.about.com/library/photos/blygd34.htm