Why so concerned with retirement?

I reject the implied notion that saving for retirement equates to not enjoying life now. If you are only able to enjoy life by mismanaging your resources, you have problems that run much, much deeper than your retirement savings.

I agree with your premise.

Some people are overly concerned about retirement.

Many will be dead before they get to touch their savings or die shortly after retirement.

Then there are those who squirrel money away to be spent on medical care and nursing homes.

Plan for the future. But better balance is needed.

Live a little while your young.

Fear tactics from financial services firms. The bottom feeders of this nation.

Maybe a very small percentage can both live the life they truly want and save the most money for retirement but I argue that is a very small percentage.Ie. if most people won 10 million they would quit their jobs and go do something they like.

Roger Murdock wrote:

I reject the implied notion that saving for retirement equates to not enjoying life now. If you are only able to enjoy life by mismanaging your resources, you have problems that run much, much deeper than your retirement savings.

Business trek wrote:

Maybe a very small percentage can both live the life they truly want and save the most money for retirement but I argue that is a very small percentage.

Ie. if most people won 10 million they would quit their jobs and go do something they like.

Roger Murdock wrote:

I reject the implied notion that saving for retirement equates to not enjoying life now. If you are only able to enjoy life by mismanaging your resources, you have problems that run much, much deeper than your retirement savings.

You missed my point. You seem to be under the impression that "living the life you want" requires spending rather than saving. I reject this idea.

Yep! The reason for the pressure stems from the timeline - people view the future as more important. But it's really just a balance. A year now is not less important than a year in the future just because it will be gone faster.In fact I would argue a year now is more valuable as you can enjoy it in a fit young body.Yet societal pressure enforces : "sacrifice now for your old age". The banks and government love it!

X-Runner wrote:

I agree with your premise.

Some people are overly concerned about retirement.

Many will be dead before they get to touch their savings or die shortly after retirement.

Then there are those who squirrel money away to be spent on medical care and nursing homes.

Plan for the future. But better balance is needed.

Live a little while your young.

Nope not at all! Enjoying your time is doing what you love. Unfortunately to save most people need to do what they don't love. I never mentioned spending.

Roger Murdock wrote:

Business trek wrote:

Maybe a very small percentage can both live the life they truly want and save the most money for retirement but I argue that is a very small percentage.

Ie. if most people won 10 million they would quit their jobs and go do something they like.

You missed my point. You seem to be under the impression that "living the life you want" requires spending rather than saving. I reject this idea.

In fact I would argue a year now is more valuable as you can enjoy it in a fit young body.

This is the point you're missing: you seem to think the key to enjoying life is to spend money rather than save it. I believe you are mistaken in that view.

Business trek wrote:

Why are people so concerned with this one short span of their lives that they will sacrifice their youth to it's benefit?

A recent poster had 1.3 million and most advised him to keep stressing and pushing.

Have you guys lost all perspective? People would rather slave away for 45 years in a job they only mildly like or hate so they can be a comfortable old person.

Enjoy your resources while young! Find something you love! It's so silly. If I reframed the question and said "would you prefer to start life as a frugal old man for 15 years so you could live passionately for 45 as a young person or live 15 years as. Comfortable rich bugger and then the next 45 hoarding away money and working in a job that made economic sense" what would you pick?

Some points for you to consider:

1) Don't use this view as a rationalization not to prepare for your retirement. 60 years old is different for people. Some people actually look and feel "old" at that age, and others don't. Would kind of suck if you hadn't prepared at all to retire and then at age 60, your body started to rebel against you so that you couldn't work any more and then you had to live a poor person's existence. People don't want to be a financial burden on children, and they want to be able to pay people to keep the house in order, etc.

2) You don't have to "hoard" money while working in order to have a comfortable retirement. Start with saving 5% of your income, and if possible, eventually get it up to 15%. That is hardly hoarding money.

3) Almost everyone can look at their spending habits and find some areas where that spending isn't really giving them any joy. Cut those things out and invest for the future.

4) If you prepare for retirement, then you might get to retire earlier than most. My parents were 61 when they retired, and they have traveled the world since then, and now they are both in their mid 70s and still going strong. People who don't prepare for retirement don't get to have as much fun.

Because if you save $100 today in 30 years it would likely be well over $200 net of inflation. If you wait for 30 years and save $100 it's still only worth $100.

Business trek wrote:

Nope not at all! Enjoying your time is doing what you love. Unfortunately to save most people need to do what they don't love. I never mentioned spending.

Yes, you have completely missed my point. I reject the premise that to save for retirement means doing something you don't love.

Let me give you a hint: I am suggesting that you are loving the wrong things.

1- why wouldn't I then save 2% and travel with the other 13%? Wouldn't travel now be more rewarding when I can do amazing things like rock climb and go on huge hikes and camping trips than when I'm 70?

2- again it's not totally about spending more - most passions pay less! Do you think most accountants love their job? Heck no!!! But they are living out of fear.

The government , banks and societal pressure have turned people into cubicle monkies wasting away their days at a desk out of fear of being old and poor.

What are you? 12 yr old? Grow up.

Good post. I would also add that retirement doesn't have to be looked at in the traditional sense, that you work until you're old and then stop working completely. In addition to possibly retiring early, someone who has been diligent about saving early on might be able to to start working part-time once they reach a certain age. This option would be much harder to do if one wasn't saving consistently when they first entered the workforce.

And I bet a rich 75 year old would give 100x that just to have lived his life not in an office and be young again.

quote]time value wrote:

Because if you save $100 today in 30 years it would likely be well over $200 net of inflation. If you wait for 30 years and save $100 it's still only worth $100.[/quote]

I love travel, rock climbing, gardening, art, photography and not working in an office.Are those the wrong things?

Roger Murdock wrote:

Business trek wrote:

Nope not at all! Enjoying your time is doing what you love. Unfortunately to save most people need to do what they don't love. I never mentioned spending.

Yes, you have completely missed my point. I reject the premise that to save for retirement means doing something you don't love.

Let me give you a hint: I am suggesting that you are loving the wrong things.

I suspect this guy is either you or your hero.

Typical Privilege white millennial American who thinks work is enslavement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2aQ2e0ch8k

Business trek wrote:

I love travel, rock climbing, gardening, art, photography and not working in an office.

Are those the wrong thing?

Anything (even good things) become the wrong thing if you love them inordinately.

X-Runner wrote:

I agree with your premise.

Some people are overly concerned about retirement.

Many will be dead before they get to touch their savings or die shortly after retirement.

Then there are those who squirrel money away to be spent on medical care and nursing homes.

Plan for the future. But better balance is needed.

Live a little while your young.

Lots of rationalization and/or denial here. I know several people who retired early and didn't die soon after. Also, if you buy long term care insurance beginning at age 60 like you should, you won't necessarily spend all your money on nursing homes. Finally, there are different quality nursing homes, so if you need one, it is nice to have the cash to help pay for one of the nicer ones rather than a state-run horrible one.

The reason why we hear that people retire and then die soon after is that many work until they just aren't able to any more, and then they retire and die. If they had prepared for retirement, they would have been able to retire sooner and lived longer after retirement.