Why are people obsessed with putting $$ in retirement?

[Anonymous]

This saying grounds the extent for why I save for retirement: "you can borrow for a house; you can borrow to go to school; you can borrow for a car; you can borrow for a vacation. You can't borrow for retirement."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My boss is 67 yrs old. Nobody wants him to retire because of the knowledge and expertise he brings to the table.
He is very well respected in our industry. He will retire when he decides to retire.

+1. I work as an attorney for a wonderful boss who's in his 70's. He is invaluable to the corporation and everyone respects him so much. He's also happy to work evenings and weekends when needed, to avoid having to asking those of us with young kids to have to do so.

I cringe when younger employees ask him (with some frequency) "when are you going to retire." Note to self -- that is a rude question to ask someone.

Extremely selfish of that 70 year old who has more than enough money he could ever spend in his life to hog a job that a millennial with a family needs.

The millennial with a family (what does having a family have to do with the price of tea in China?) is not likely to leapfrog over Gen Xers to become the boss if this man steps down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s a balance. My in-laws have around $5 million in retirement and this is in addition to around $3 million in property. They are still working. They seem to think they need more money. They are in their 70s.

I do look forward to inheriting that IRA but I think they are foolish for not retiring and enjoy their remaining years. You can’t take it with you!

If they like their jobs, working is really good for them neurologically. I wish I had a job I loved enough to keep doing it when I didn't need the money and could be retired!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a balance. My in-laws have around $5 million in retirement and this is in addition to around $3 million in property. They are still working. They seem to think they need more money. They are in their 70s.

I do look forward to inheriting that IRA but I think they are foolish for not retiring and enjoy their remaining years. You can’t take it with you!

If they like their jobs, working is really good for them neurologically. I wish I had a job I loved enough to keep doing it when I didn't need the money and could be retired!

DP but my in laws are similar- FIL retired in December (doctor) and last month un-retired to start teaching. He’s 70. Partly I think my MIL was driving him crazy but he also has this weird insecurity about retirement when in reality they are in good shape. They had talked about traveling and spending more time with the grandkids but now if he works a couple more years, I wonder how much they’ll really be able to do that before travel becomes too cumbersome for them (my MIL is not the sturdiest person if that makes sense). They live several states away and were planning to spend a month up here this summer. Now it will be back to long weekend visits.

But then there’s my parents, who don’t have nearly enough saved. My mom talks about retiring in a couple years but my dad will likely be working well into his 70s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old are you OP? How long have you been working?

I'm guessing a millenial with no sense of forward thinking.

Seriously? Anyone who claims financial ignorance on millennial is out of touch with reality. My parents generation screwed our economy and our government. Congratulations on sounding like an idiot and an asshole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old are you OP? How long have you been working?

I'm guessing a millenial with no sense of forward thinking.

Seriously? Anyone who claims financial ignorance on millennial is out of touch with reality. My parents generation screwed our economy and our government. Congratulations on sounding like an idiot and an asshole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old are you OP? How long have you been working?

I'm guessing a millenial with no sense of forward thinking.

Seriously? Anyone who claims financial ignorance on millennial is out of touch with reality. My parents generation screwed our economy and our government. Congratulations on sounding like an idiot and an asshole.

pot = kettle

[Anonymous]

Uggh. 70 year olds who need to retire are all hogging up space in law firms. It's insanity. Guess those guys didn't save for retirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because I don't want to be a greeter at Walmart when I'm 80.

And I don’t want to be a burden to my kids.

And I don’t want to end up in a crappy state-run nursing home like my grandmother.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This saying grounds the extent for why I save for retirement: "you can borrow for a house; you can borrow to go to school; you can borrow for a car; you can borrow for a vacation. You can't borrow for retirement."

Reverse mortgage. My uncle is leaving nothing to the kids. He paid for their educations. He has a reverse mortgage that meets his needs sufficiently. When he dies, that company gets the house, I think. His kids don’t have to worry about him. He doesn’t have to worry about them worrying about him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old are you OP? How long have you been working?

I'm guessing a millenial with no sense of forward thinking.

Seriously? Anyone who claims financial ignorance on millennial is out of touch with reality. My parents generation screwed our economy and our government. Congratulations on sounding like an idiot and an asshole.

This is such an easy way out for you, isn't it?

I have been working for 25 years and guess what - the people at my company starting today make more than twice what I did. Their apartment also costs about twice what I paid and they have about the same percentage of debt (I didn't live in a luxury building or in a fantastic area of town) but they are all getting along just fine.


The problem is that the average millennial has a lot more wants than we did when we graduated. It certainly never occurred to me to blame my parents' generation for my problems.

Grow up.

[Anonymous]

401k is for suckers you'll never get rich, start a business or buy a house

[Anonymous]

I don’t understand people who struggle financially early in life putting money in. If you have a career with serious growth potential you can easily make up for it in just a couple of years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand people who struggle financially early in life putting money in. If you have a career with serious growth potential you can easily make up for it in just a couple of years.

I started maxing out 401k with my first job at age 23 back in 2000 If you dont understand what that means today and at retirement, you struggle at math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:401k is for suckers you'll never get rich, start a business or buy a house

We sure do have a smart one.