With this talk of GM going under, what are your thoughts on pensions? Personally I don't have one and I don't have a retirement fund either. It's useless and I'd rather invest my money in a house rather than live like a dog for most of my life so I can have a few luxuries when I'm old. Too many people I think have these big ideas about travelling the world and living it up after their retirement, yet mostly I see these old geezers sitting around at McDonalds every morning while sitting on a hundred thousand dollars that they don't dare spend so they can enjoy their golden years.
I always wanna tell them that a hundred grand can buy them a lot of McD coffee.
Life is not that expensive if you don't want to live in splendor. I get by just fine with my measly paycheck and I'm always aghast when I see somene making 2-3 grand a month who can't make ends meet. Christ, how much do you need??? I know that some places are expensive to live in, but some people really push it. These people couldn't lose money faster if they threw it away.
I'm lucky that I work in a field that will let you continue to work long after you're 70 so unless I get very sick I'll always be able to get a job.
Still, some people are nuts when it comes to pensions. Screaming that they're owed in full and right now dammit!!! Of course these same people mismanaged their money like crazy during their whole life, spent like drunken sailors and had maybe one kid. Then after having lived outside their means and doing everything to lower the birthrate, they're terrified of losing their pension. Hello... you need to make 3 kids per family in order to maintain the whole "Kids pay for parents" scheme. That's how it works. Otherwise a) We can't afford government pensions b) We'll need a massive influx of immigrants or c) We'll need to raise taxes significantly to cover for the care of the previous generation. Take your pick of the lesser evil.
When I get to teh retirement age (longways to go) I will have 4 pensions to dray from (assuming I stick with the trade) and an annuity. Currently my employer contributes a fixed amount per hour I work and I contribute 6% of my gross income. I should be able to retire very comfortably in 35 years.
Knoxfire wrote:With this talk of GM going under, what are your thoughts on pensions? Personally I don't have one and I don't have a retirement fund either. It's useless and I'd rather invest my money in a house rather than live like a dog for most of my life so I can have a few luxuries when I'm old. Too many people I think have these big ideas about travelling the world and living it up after their retirement, yet mostly I see these old geezers sitting around at McDonalds every morning while sitting on a hundred thousand dollars that they don't dare spend so they can enjoy their golden years.
I always wanna tell them that a hundred grand can buy them a lot of McD coffee.
Life is not that expensive if you don't want to live in splendor. I get by just fine with my measly paycheck and I'm always aghast when I see somene making 2-3 grand a month who can't make ends meet. Christ, how much do you need??? I know that some places are expensive to live in, but some people really push it. These people couldn't lose money faster if they threw it away.
I'm lucky that I work in a field that will let you continue to work long after you're 70 so unless I get very sick I'll always be able to get a job.
Still, some people are nuts when it comes to pensions. Screaming that they're owed in full and right now dammit!!! Of course these same people mismanaged their money like crazy during their whole life, spent like drunken sailors and had maybe one kid. Then after having lived outside their means and doing everything to lower the birthrate, they're terrified of losing their pension. Hello... you need to make 3 kids per family in order to maintain the whole "Kids pay for parents" scheme. That's how it works. Otherwise a) We can't afford government pensions b) We'll need a massive influx of immigrants or c) We'll need to raise taxes significantly to cover for the care of the previous generation. Take your pick of the lesser evil.
I agree. I'm disgusted every time I see someone who makes $50/hour complaining that their employer doesn't provide good retirement benefits. If you make that much money and you can't retire - its your own damn fault. An intelligent person should always live BELOW their means.
A single person with good fiscal responsibility can live just fine on $20,000/year. If you make more than that and are struggling, you are doing it wrong.
Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in
America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the
country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along,
whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist
dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the
leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and
denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the
same in any country. - Hermann Goring
Well I like having it, im going to retire young enough that I wont be an old geezer sitting at mc donalds for a while. And I doubt Ill sit on it as its a defined benefit so ill receive mfixed amount untill I pass away. Plus my annuity. I dont contribute a dime to either so....
I did ditch my 401k But I keep a roth IRA. whats a 100 dollars a week our of your paycheck when the returns are so much more, its just like a savings account but you cant touch it.
I like the fact that when i retire, im going to make more off retirement than the National Average Income.
Sure im saving money, and I invest.. I plan on buying a home when I stop traveling so much as well but theres no reason not to have as much saved as possible, you can never be to safe.
you guys are making some very broad generalisations about peoples lives. if you work at a place and a pention is provided and that accounts for a good portion of your retirement you'd be upset if all the sudden it was taken away. thats great you say you can live on 20 grand a year knox. but ive also seen you in other posts complaining that you can't get a loan to buy a decent house. so maybe you can't afford to live like you are on the amount your making. some people are happy living in a tent in the wilderness their entire life and eating things they kill or grow. other people want to have anice house and a nice car and be able to go out to dinner or the movies and travel. my grandparents busted their buts growing up and they retired early and took trips all over the world when they retired. just because you feel fine working till you die doesnt mean everyone out there does. and it doesnt mean they should. people in that age all had pentions. that WAS their retirement money. just as most peoples retirement now adays is the 401k. i'd be pretty pissed if at retirement age the money i had coming to me was just gone and i was told that i just need to work till i die.
the problem isn't the workers at gm bitching about losing their pentions. it's gm's fault for not realising they couldn't afford to to pay out what they promised.
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The other thing to consider is cost of living in a given location.
My rent for a 1 bedroom apartment is near $800/month. There are some places where that would only get you a garage, and otheres where you could get an entire ranch and land.
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they have in common is that their country is run by a bunch of fargin iceholes.
