Why so concerned with retirement?

Where does this hate stem from?

Whiite Trash wrote:

Again, STFU and get a job you little clown. Nobody cares about your passion.

"You are lucky if it's some of the time""A lot of making a living is a grind"You've accepted this to be true so it is for you. But I'm telling you it doesn't have to be. The fact that you are so engaged in this post means you are questioning your life a bit. Which is great!You can love what you do most of the time. I promise! You just have to try hard to find it and question how you live now.

It comes from the next-level level of annoying that you and your little bitch millennials are when it comes to working and preparing to retire some day. Like I said before, STFU and get a job. You are a bum.

I'm 24 and work a 9-5 job that I absolutely love. I'm in sales and every few months get to travel to giant conventions around the world, do some sales, and then bang all the sexy foreign women I take out. My job is also super relaxed in the office which is key to my happiness. But tbh I got lucky with this job and no if you dig deeper you will not find I'm unhappy with it. Just keep searching and you might get lucky too but that's probably not the case for most. I've been on the other side, and had a 9-5 job I hated and honestly I feel terrible for all the people who call that aweful existence their life. Sales is awesome because all I do is get paid to socialize.

I'm 50 years old and haven't saved much, because I pursued a career as a freelance writer and author. If I had taken a more convential, remumerative path, I would have reached the end of my life feeling I'd wasted it, no matter how much money I had. You only get one spin. Do what you love.

Remember that when you're 76 and still forced to grind away to keep warm, wishing for a respite. In this world, security (Maslow type) should always come first in decision-making. You will not be happy, in fact you will suffer, when you are old, vulnerable, hoping to not be forced to live on the streets when you are frail and elderly. What the hell is wrong with you people? Can't see farther than the nose on your face?

All of the comments in this thread are predicated on the belief that you have control over your choices. Everything is predetermined. Soon science will show how many of your "decisions" are not made by you, they are simply a result of the events that happened before it.

Free Will Vs Determinism wrote:

All of the comments in this thread are predicated on the belief that you have control over your choices. Everything is predetermined. Soon science will show how many of your "decisions" are not made by you, they are simply a result of the events that happened before it.

That's kind of deep isn't it?

The Gray Zone wrote:

I'm 50 years old and haven't saved much, because I pursued a career as a freelance writer and author. If I had taken a more convential, remumerative path, I would have reached the end of my life feeling I'd wasted it, no matter how much money I had. You only get one spin. Do what you love.

You better start saving NOW or you'll be eating dogfood when you're retired.

I used to think like this until I was about 25 (although I am an engineer and was making closer to $65K at 25). I was/am a fan of Thoreau and your breakdown of your expenditures reminds me of his similar breakdown in the economy chapter of "Life in the Woods" (shortly after he lived at Walden pond for a couple of years, he spent a number of years working off debts, so you can't take what he wrote as gospel). Quite honestly, this lifestyle philosophy only works while you are young and single (Thoreau died young, single and childless). You are at an age where you are no longer all that young. You have spent the years of your life that most people spend mastering a trade that will financially support them and their families for the rest of their lives living free and easy, without a real career path. Unfortunately, it is not all that easy to hit a switch and become a professional in a career field if your life plan changes. By the time most people hit 30, they already have the professional certifications (MD, JD, PE, master of a trade, etc.) that will allow them to make 4-15 times as much in a year as you are making now. That is great you love your sub-poverty level job, the truth of the matter is if a single doctor were to choose to live your lifestyle (and trust me I know plenty of doctors that work 3-4 days a week, travel all the time and love their jobs). They could work for about 5 years and not have to work for the remainder of their lives. Your $40K nest egg won't last all that long in an emergency, and would be worth twice as much, if not more if you had purchased property (an inexpensive house or condo in an affordable location) rather than rented for the last ten years of your life. Investments and real estate are not some great mystery. I would recommend taking some time to get ,as you say "learned" about these useful subjects and less time getting "learned" about things that obviously haven't helped you make any money.

The Gray Zone wrote:

I'm 50 years old and haven't saved much, because I pursued a career as a freelance writer and author. If I had taken a more convential, remumerative path, I would have reached the end of my life feeling I'd wasted it, no matter how much money I had. You only get one spin. Do what you love.

I agree. If you do what you love and you can still handle it at an older age why would you want to retire?

My plan is to sell off the company I own if it's worth anything at retirement age and keep my low paying coaching jobs which will bring in just enough to live off of. In the meantime I'm enjoying traveling around.

A sobering thought is that you might spend all of your efforts in saving money your whole life it might not be worth anything when you reach retirement age. Here in the US the dollar is on shaky ground.

We have friends who have had cancer at a young age. They never did anything but work.

You have to do things while you can. We live on a rock hurling through space. I mean really, how stable do you really think your fragile lives really are? You're crazy if you think you have any control whatsoever about what will happen to you in the next 20 years!

My favorite modern author is Tom Clancy. When he wrote The Hunt For Red October, he owned an insurance agency. John Grisham was a lawyer and member of the Mississippi house of representatives when he wrote A Time to Kill. Nicholas Sparks (the best writer at running) was selling pharmaceuticals when he wrote The Notebook. My point: They were all responsible enough to have a Plan B that paid the bills. It is fine to do what you love, but be responsible about it.

The Gray Zone wrote:

I'm 50 years old and haven't saved much, because I pursued a career as a freelance writer and author. If I had taken a more convential, remumerative path, I would have reached the end of my life feeling I'd wasted it, no matter how much money I had. You only get one spin. Do what you love.

I think this is right on. A lot of this "work when you feel like it, live frugally and pursue your passions" is all well and good but basically rules out having children at the kind of income you're talking about (for example, $22k is not going to support a wife and 3 children very well). No kids, and no problem. Ok, maybe it's not impossible even with kids, but expenses increase exponentially when you have 2-4 kids to house, clothe and feed, and it's not exactly easy to travel whenever you feel like when kids are in school, etc.

I understand the Entitlement generation. The Dream big, live big and become Legend we have superior powers stuff. What I mentioned before, in this thread, is life hits and you have to make decisions. Decisions concerning loved ones around you. Are you going to put them first always....or is it just always about you and your powers. I knew me, and many years down the road I would question myself relentlessly. I decided my parents, son, grand parents, sister and niece were first before me always. I got two pensions, money invested that just goes up. You invest right and your not dwindling your money away! I really am content that I always put loved ones first ALWAYS. The rewards have been wonderful. I didn't get to jump off cliffs though...my Dad asked me to make sure I stayed around. I said you got it Dad, I was there at his last breath.

The word is remuneration , John Webster .

The Gray Zone wrote:

I'm 50 years old and haven't saved much, because I pursued a career as a freelance writer and author. If I had taken a more convential, remumerative path, I would have reached the end of my life feeling I'd wasted it, no matter how much money I had. You only get one spin. Do what you love.

You trustafatian .