Retirement Savings

[guido911]

Interesting read for those people getting "up there" in age and thinking about retirement.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/21/how-much-the-average-family-in-their-50s-has-saved-for-retirement.html

[Breadburner]

I'm starting my plan this year....

[Conan71]

Retirement?  What's that?  I just plan to keep working my arse off until I'm reduced to a smoking pile of rubble.

[Red Arrow]

I just plan to keep working my arse off until I'm reduced to a smoking pile of rubble.

Which may occur sooner rather than later if you do that.

[Red Arrow]

I want to keep my expensive toys so I need to keep on working, at least for a few more years.

[guido911]

I'm starting my plan this year....

I am going to begin thinking about my plan next year.

[Breadburner]

I am going to begin thinking about my plan next year.

Lol...and the year after that...!!!

[heironymouspasparagus]

Interesting read for those people getting "up there" in age and thinking about retirement.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/21/how-much-the-average-family-in-their-50s-has-saved-for-retirement.html

Always interesting to read how the people who will never have to think about it make such glib recommendations to those who will never be able to do any of those recommendations....

The recommendations - as if half the people in this country could even think about 1 let alone all 4...  In general, I like Warren Buffet a lot, but he doesn't really connect with most people.


1. Contribute as much of your income as possible. Most experts recommend setting aside 10 percent or more in a tax-advantaged retirement savings account, such as a 401(k) plan.

2. Automate your contributions. Have your employer do a payroll deduction or have your money taken out of your checking account and sent straight to your retirement account. You'll never see the money and will learn to live without it.

3. Get in the habit of upping your savings consistently, either every six months, at the end of each year or whenever you get a raise. Again, if you make this automatic by setting up "auto-increase," you won't forget to up your contributions (or talk yourself out of setting aside a larger chunk).

4. Invest in something other than your retirement-savings plan. Enrolling in your employer's 401(k) plan is a good start, but experts say that it may not provide enough to fund your future. It's smart to consider alternate retirement savings accounts, such as a Roth IRA, traditional IRA and/or health savings account.

You can also research low-cost index funds, which Warren Buffett recommends, and online-investment platforms known as robo-advise.

[Breadburner]

Always interesting to read how the people who will never have to think about it make such glib recommendations to those who will never be able to do any of those recommendations....

The recommendations - as if half the people in this country could even think about 1 let alone all 4...  In general, I like Warren Buffet a lot, but he doesn't really connect with most people.


1. Contribute as much of your income as possible. Most experts recommend setting aside 10 percent or more in a tax-advantaged retirement savings account, such as a 401(k) plan.

2. Automate your contributions. Have your employer do a payroll deduction or have your money taken out of your checking account and sent straight to your retirement account. You'll never see the money and will learn to live without it.

3. Get in the habit of upping your savings consistently, either every six months, at the end of each year or whenever you get a raise. Again, if you make this automatic by setting up "auto-increase," you won't forget to up your contributions (or talk yourself out of setting aside a larger chunk).

4. Invest in something other than your retirement-savings plan. Enrolling in your employer's 401(k) plan is a good start, but experts say that it may not provide enough to fund your future. It's smart to consider alternate retirement savings accounts, such as a Roth IRA, traditional IRA and/or health savings account.

You can also research low-cost index funds, which Warren Buffett recommends, and online-investment platforms known as robo-advise.

Do you ever shut-up....

[heironymouspasparagus]

Do you ever shut-up....

Might.  If I had as little to say as you!

[RecycleMichael]

The reason talk is cheap is that supply exceeds demand.

[heironymouspasparagus]

First, ya gotta get away from Sound Bite World!!


The big story behind that article is what an abject failure the implementation of 401k plans has been and how badly working people in this country have been hurt by the elimination of defined benefit pension systems.  401k's have been around since the 70's and by definition were specifically designed at that time to supplement regular pensions - another safety net thing to help the middle and lower class.  

But then...yeah, you guessed it... Reagan Era trickle down happened !   People into reality will remember that time - when they pi$$ed down your back and told you it was raining!  Wrote the laws that allowed the gutting of pensions and let companies raid them by substituting company stock at inflated values in place of real monetary funding.  And the "conservative" Fed said that's ok, we will let PBGC take over and cover everybody...  Oh, but wait - we won't actually fund that to truly cover the situation - we will do a "wave of hands" thing with lots of accompanying propaganda to make people THINK something real has been done!!  Yeah, that's it... THAT'S the ticket !!

So, as always, instead of moving to make the country stronger overall by making the middle class bigger and stronger and making the lower class shrink - we did the opposite.  And it continues today, culminating in the referenced article showing how bad the situation is for people heading to retirement (which is most of us, just different time frames).   Also see: real reduction of minimum wage by 35% in last 40 years.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Interesting read for those people getting "up there" in age and thinking about retirement.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/21/how-much-the-average-family-in-their-50s-has-saved-for-retirement.html

Good post!  Started out what could have been a good discussion about how policy in this country has affected so many!