I was 30 when this article came out. https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/13/magazine/commute-to-nowhere.html?unlocked_article_code=1.-Ew.mYN6.kn_DsrXdiLD4&smid=em-share. It made such an impression on me that I’ve been saving like crazy ever since.

I should have saved early too. I worked as an assistant at a financial firm for my first job. I earned $24,500. Then $26,000 when I got a promotion. I had 3 roommates and was broke at the end of each pay period. My money went to dry cleaning and alcohol. I could have been more disciplined but I thought retirement was forever away. Regrets!

Anonymous wrote:I’ve always maxed out my 401k since 2003 but my balance is only $500k?! Never sold anything, target date fund.

Maxing out your 401k is a very nice start but only a single digit saving start. You need to get your savings rate up to 15-20%.

I’m retired and I had a very successful career and the only piece of advice I shared with all young people was to save money and create an FU fund because you never know when you are going to need it. Some listened, some didn’t. When you create a big safety net it gives you the freedom to control your future.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Saving early is for the rich.

We both worked, but money was siphoned away to paying student loans, saving for a down payment, paying for that expensive house, childcare, paying for kids, and saving for college.

Sure we started saving for college and increasing retirement savings in parallel b/c we can’t get loans for retirement, but saddling our kids with loans is an unpleasant trade off.

Where does this early come into play? Our down payment for a standard 40s special in the DMV was $140k. That took forever to save for.

You don't need an "expensive" house, especially with student loans.

Hey boomer. ALL homes are expensive now, at least if you want safe and okay schools.

No, not "all" houses are expensive now. But, even if they are, then you should rent till you can afford it. You chose to get an expensive house even with your student loans, so now you have sacrificed your retirement.

Pay now or pay later. You chose to pay for it later.

And I'm not a boomer.

Where are the cheap houses with safe communities and good schools?

hartford suburbs

That’s great for people’s whose careers make Hartford make sense (insurance?). For those of us with DC type jobs, thanks for playing?

Woman, you have a really bad attitude.

-np

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Saving early is for the rich.

We both worked, but money was siphoned away to paying student loans, saving for a down payment, paying for that expensive house, childcare, paying for kids, and saving for college.

Sure we started saving for college and increasing retirement savings in parallel b/c we can’t get loans for retirement, but saddling our kids with loans is an unpleasant trade off.

Where does this early come into play? Our down payment for a standard 40s special in the DMV was $140k. That took forever to save for.

You don't need an "expensive" house, especially with student loans.

Hey boomer. ALL homes are expensive now, at least if you want safe and okay schools.

No, not "all" houses are expensive now. But, even if they are, then you should rent till you can afford it. You chose to get an expensive house even with your student loans, so now you have sacrificed your retirement.

Pay now or pay later. You chose to pay for it later.

And I'm not a boomer.

Where are the cheap houses with safe communities and good schools?

hartford suburbs

That’s great for people’s whose careers make Hartford make sense (insurance?). For those of us with DC type jobs, thanks for playing?

Anonymous wrote:I’m surprised that people still get shocked when they are laid off from a job, especially at age 40+.

This is not a new phenomenon. Imho Layoffs are common and should be expected and financially planned for.

The expense, skills and upward trajectory of a 50 year old are very different to an employer than a younger worker. Higher health care costs, larger paychecks, more vacation time off work, more sick time off. Coupled with a declining and outdated skill set, knowledge base and lower productivity compared to younger workers.

No worker should be surprised when they are laid off in this day and age. But older workers should definitely not be shocked by it.

Bs older workers are plenty skilled and experienced. Younger workers are just cheaper and companies accept the lower quality work (which is why quality of many things in life have declined since the 80s when this trend started)

But the shock is not of being laid off at 50, but instead the inability to be hired again after. That’s the surprise. You are still capable, more experience, you’ve seen these kind of problems before that companies face and that brings wisdom, but companies discard that for the cheap hire , deal with the resulting lawsuits (like the Pinto case) , and like to keep employees afraid to squeeze more hours out of them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Saving early is for the rich.

We both worked, but money was siphoned away to paying student loans, saving for a down payment, paying for that expensive house, childcare, paying for kids, and saving for college.

Sure we started saving for college and increasing retirement savings in parallel b/c we can’t get loans for retirement, but saddling our kids with loans is an unpleasant trade off.

Where does this early come into play? Our down payment for a standard 40s special in the DMV was $140k. That took forever to save for.

You don't need an "expensive" house, especially with student loans.

Hey boomer. ALL homes are expensive now, at least if you want safe and okay schools.

No, not "all" houses are expensive now. But, even if they are, then you should rent till you can afford it. You chose to get an expensive house even with your student loans, so now you have sacrificed your retirement.

Pay now or pay later. You chose to pay for it later.

And I'm not a boomer.

Where are the cheap houses with safe communities and good schools?

hartford suburbs

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Saving early is for the rich.

We both worked, but money was siphoned away to paying student loans, saving for a down payment, paying for that expensive house, childcare, paying for kids, and saving for college.

Sure we started saving for college and increasing retirement savings in parallel b/c we can’t get loans for retirement, but saddling our kids with loans is an unpleasant trade off.

Where does this early come into play? Our down payment for a standard 40s special in the DMV was $140k. That took forever to save for.

You don't need an "expensive" house, especially with student loans.

Hey boomer. ALL homes are expensive now, at least if you want safe and okay schools.

No, not "all" houses are expensive now. But, even if they are, then you should rent till you can afford it. You chose to get an expensive house even with your student loans, so now you have sacrificed your retirement.

Pay now or pay later. You chose to pay for it later.

And I'm not a boomer.

Where are the cheap houses with safe communities and good schools?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Saving early is for the rich.

We both worked, but money was siphoned away to paying student loans, saving for a down payment, paying for that expensive house, childcare, paying for kids, and saving for college.

Sure we started saving for college and increasing retirement savings in parallel b/c we can’t get loans for retirement, but saddling our kids with loans is an unpleasant trade off.

Where does this early come into play? Our down payment for a standard 40s special in the DMV was $140k. That took forever to save for.

Rich don't save, they invest. Anyone with money in individual stocks made 3-5x their money since 2019.

This is an obviously false statement.

Anonymous wrote:Saving early is for the rich.

We both worked, but money was siphoned away to paying student loans, saving for a down payment, paying for that expensive house, childcare, paying for kids, and saving for college.

Sure we started saving for college and increasing retirement savings in parallel b/c we can’t get loans for retirement, but saddling our kids with loans is an unpleasant trade off.

Where does this early come into play? Our down payment for a standard 40s special in the DMV was $140k. That took forever to save for.

Rich don't save, they invest. Anyone with money in individual stocks made 3-5x their money since 2019.

I cluelessly thought this would never happen to me and was laid off from a 20+ year position at 51. It took two years to find another job at 2/3 the pay. I’m expecting another layoff soon and not confident I’ll find something else. I agree with this PSA and hope even just one person in his or her 30’s benefits from it!

Anonymous wrote:I’ve always maxed out my 401k since 2003 but my balance is only $500k?! Never sold anything, target date fund.

What target date fund? Time to go for Amazon was when you started shopping there and love it. Time for Apple was when you bought your first iphone and loved it. Microsoft's time was when you started your maxing out your 401k . Time for Fb was when it went public. Time for Tesla was when it had 4 profitable quarters. Google time when it went public and there was always Berkshire and any S and P etf. Chances that all those companies will go to zero during the decades you hold them, is zero.
It will take a lifetime to get to a million in a target date fund.
You probably put in $600k to get the $500k.

Anonymous wrote:I’m surprised that people still get shocked when they are laid off from a job, especially at age 40+.

This is not a new phenomenon. Imho Layoffs are common and should be expected and financially planned for.

The expense, skills and upward trajectory of a 50 year old are very different to an employer than a younger worker. Higher health care costs, larger paychecks, more vacation time off work, more sick time off. Coupled with a declining and outdated skill set, knowledge base and lower productivity compared to younger workers.

No worker should be surprised when they are laid off in this day and age. But older workers should definitely not be shocked by it.

I'm a PP with a DH who is having a hard time now at almost 60 finding something that pays what he's used to.

I'm not shocked because I was already laid off once when I was 24, my first job. Then I learned at 28 that there is no such thing as loyalty from a company to its employees.

That's why I started saving a lot early on.

But, I think most people think things like this will never happen to them, or that they have time to save. When you're 35, 65 seems so far away, and you think you have those 30 years to catch up. But, those 30 years go by fast, especially if you have kids, and you're trying to also save for college, which is *insanely* expensive now. You also don't think ageism will impact you until you are 65, when it actually starts at 50.

We showed our teens the power of compounding and they were wow'd. We opened an IRA for our 18 yr old who has been working for 2 years. We are funding their IRA. Bonus: new rules allow leftover 529 to be rolled over to an IRA (with conditions).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Saving early is for the rich.

We both worked, but money was siphoned away to paying student loans, saving for a down payment, paying for that expensive house, childcare, paying for kids, and saving for college.

Sure we started saving for college and increasing retirement savings in parallel b/c we can’t get loans for retirement, but saddling our kids with loans is an unpleasant trade off.

Where does this early come into play? Our down payment for a standard 40s special in the DMV was $140k. That took forever to save for.

You don't need an "expensive" house, especially with student loans.

Hey boomer. ALL homes are expensive now, at least if you want safe and okay schools.

No, not "all" houses are expensive now. But, even if they are, then you should rent till you can afford it. You chose to get an expensive house even with your student loans, so now you have sacrificed your retirement.

Pay now or pay later. You chose to pay for it later.

And I'm not a boomer.