27 ms·

I am exactly the same @ age 27. I have an emergency fund, but living in USA in 2018, retirement isn't something I expect. I expect nothing like what my grandpar

I am exactly the same @ age 27. I have an emergency fund, but living in USA in 2018, retirement isn't something I expect. I expect nothing like what my grandparents experienced (all unionized, large pensions, SSI). I fully expect to be working until I die (not by choice) unless some massive union push happens, and I'm very skeptical that it ever will. I'll probably never own a home. My future is pretty bleak, but I feel like that's the general millennial view.

2trill2spill 8y ago
Why so pessimistic? I'm about your age and I very much expect to retire and to retire well and to make sure that happens I have short, medium and long term financial plans and goals set for my self.
- prolikewh0a 8y ago
  I see workers rights being crushed even further every year, and a new Lochner era is probably about to begin with the Republican majority Supreme Court. I haven't seen anything get better economically since I was born. I watched my grandparents lose their home & lose all economic security because their pensions and union payouts were crushed, their social security hasn't seen any reasonable increase in a long time. I just see things going downhill and never getting better because that's all I've ever experienced.
  - 2trill2spill 8y ago
    >I see workers rights being crushed even further every year, and a new Lochner era is probably about to begin with the Republican majority Supreme Court. That's vague and doesn't have any specifics so can't really comment on that. > I haven't seen anything get better economically since I was born. I watched my grandparents lose their home & lose all economic security because their pensions and union payouts were crushed, their social security hasn't seen any reasonable increase in a long time. So your grandparents had it tough in their retirement years so you and everyone else has to have it tough economically? > I just see things going downhill and never getting better because that's all I've ever experienced. So your 27, still early in your adult life and you have given up completely? Sounds like your setting your self up for a tough life. Do you not have plans? A career you want to excel in? Goals? Besides, being a union member or having a pension is not needed to retire comfortably. The S&P 500 index is up over 1000% since you were born if you were to reinvest the dividends. Prudent saving and investing will give you a comfortable retirement. Plus your young enough that even if you started now you could retire well off.
    - prolikewh0a 8y ago
      I do have plans, but I can't carry any of it out because I can't afford it. College prices are so high now that it's out of my reach, and debt of any sort scares me. I would like to get out of tech (corporate has ruined this for me) and peruse Meteorology, but Meteorology presents another problem, there aren't many jobs and they don't really pay well. S&P doesn't really help me since I've always been low income. My grandparents are an example, but with 80% of the country living paycheck to paycheck, 50% deemed poor or in poverty, 1/5 children in poverty, 60% of the country hasn't seen a pay raise since the 70's when adjusted for inflation, and workers rights being crushed daily, it's not just my grandparents, the majority of the country is feeling it. There's a reason most Millennials are "not on track", and it's because they have no money. What do I have to look forward to? I don't have money to invest in my future, and I'm a very frugal person. Cutting 2-5% to put into some sort of savings would crush me monthly. I feel like this is how most Millennials feel too.
      - 2trill2spill 8y ago
        Your in tech, are debt shy but don't have any money? Doesn't add up, or am I misreading your reply?
        prolikewh0a 8y ago
        I'm not a software engineer, so wages are abysmal. I also live outside of Seattle to be able to have this job in the first place, so rent is 1/2 my pay.
        2trill2spill 8y ago
        Move, you could find a tech job in many other cities that don't have ridiculous rental prices. Whats the point of living in an awesome city like Seattle if you can't afford to do anything? If you had a place here in Minneapolis you could live in a nice neighborhood and save anywhere from $600 to $1000 a month just on rent based on the average Seattle metro rents. That doesn't even factor in other cost savings from not being in an extremely expensive metro area. That would be more then enough money to have fun and save.
deleted 8y ago
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cimmanom 8y ago
Yup. Late 30s here, pretty decent chunk of savings, and still don’t expect to ever be able to retire in anything approaching comfort. Social security and Medicare will be gutted by the time our generation reaches what was once considered retirement age. There’s no longer such a thing as a pension unless you belong to a public sector union. Agism makes me concerned about being able to stay employed past the next 10 years. And that’s all still assuming that automation-related unemployment and growing inequality don’t result in extremely destructive social unrest that tears the economy to pieces. (Or that it doesn’t collapse in on itself due to inequality leaving the masses without the disposable income needed to sustain a consumption-based economy.)

2trill2spill 8y ago

Why so pessimistic? I'm about your age and I very much expect to retire and to retire well and to make sure that happens I have short, medium and long term financial plans and goals set for my self.

prolikewh0a 8y ago
I see workers rights being crushed even further every year, and a new Lochner era is probably about to begin with the Republican majority Supreme Court. I haven't seen anything get better economically since I was born. I watched my grandparents lose their home & lose all economic security because their pensions and union payouts were crushed, their social security hasn't seen any reasonable increase in a long time. I just see things going downhill and never getting better because that's all I've ever experienced.
- 2trill2spill 8y ago
  >I see workers rights being crushed even further every year, and a new Lochner era is probably about to begin with the Republican majority Supreme Court. That's vague and doesn't have any specifics so can't really comment on that. > I haven't seen anything get better economically since I was born. I watched my grandparents lose their home & lose all economic security because their pensions and union payouts were crushed, their social security hasn't seen any reasonable increase in a long time. So your grandparents had it tough in their retirement years so you and everyone else has to have it tough economically? > I just see things going downhill and never getting better because that's all I've ever experienced. So your 27, still early in your adult life and you have given up completely? Sounds like your setting your self up for a tough life. Do you not have plans? A career you want to excel in? Goals? Besides, being a union member or having a pension is not needed to retire comfortably. The S&P 500 index is up over 1000% since you were born if you were to reinvest the dividends. Prudent saving and investing will give you a comfortable retirement. Plus your young enough that even if you started now you could retire well off.
  - prolikewh0a 8y ago
    I do have plans, but I can't carry any of it out because I can't afford it. College prices are so high now that it's out of my reach, and debt of any sort scares me. I would like to get out of tech (corporate has ruined this for me) and peruse Meteorology, but Meteorology presents another problem, there aren't many jobs and they don't really pay well. S&P doesn't really help me since I've always been low income. My grandparents are an example, but with 80% of the country living paycheck to paycheck, 50% deemed poor or in poverty, 1/5 children in poverty, 60% of the country hasn't seen a pay raise since the 70's when adjusted for inflation, and workers rights being crushed daily, it's not just my grandparents, the majority of the country is feeling it. There's a reason most Millennials are "not on track", and it's because they have no money. What do I have to look forward to? I don't have money to invest in my future, and I'm a very frugal person. Cutting 2-5% to put into some sort of savings would crush me monthly. I feel like this is how most Millennials feel too.
    - 2trill2spill 8y ago
      Your in tech, are debt shy but don't have any money? Doesn't add up, or am I misreading your reply?
      - prolikewh0a 8y ago
        I'm not a software engineer, so wages are abysmal. I also live outside of Seattle to be able to have this job in the first place, so rent is 1/2 my pay.
        2trill2spill 8y ago
        Move, you could find a tech job in many other cities that don't have ridiculous rental prices. Whats the point of living in an awesome city like Seattle if you can't afford to do anything? If you had a place here in Minneapolis you could live in a nice neighborhood and save anywhere from $600 to $1000 a month just on rent based on the average Seattle metro rents. That doesn't even factor in other cost savings from not being in an extremely expensive metro area. That would be more then enough money to have fun and save.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

cimmanom 8y ago

Yup. Late 30s here, pretty decent chunk of savings, and still don’t expect to ever be able to retire in anything approaching comfort. Social security and Medicare will be gutted by the time our generation reaches what was once considered retirement age. There’s no longer such a thing as a pension unless you belong to a public sector union. Agism makes me concerned about being able to stay employed past the next 10 years. And that’s all still assuming that automation-related unemployment and growing inequality don’t result in extremely destructive social unrest that tears the economy to pieces. (Or that it doesn’t collapse in on itself due to inequality leaving the masses without the disposable income needed to sustain a consumption-based economy.)