5 ms·

Roughly 46% of all Americans expect to retire in debt

24 points by donsupreme 5y ago

kelseyfrog 5y ago
> Otherwise, you may need to work longer or find a supplemental source of income from a part-time job, Eweka suggested. Dying with the most amount of debt is the ultimate fuck you to austerity. Reap the earthly rewards and avoid consequences. Why should I grind myself to dust to support a system I reap no rewards from? If the answer to this relies on a categorical imperative, that system doesn't deserve to exist.
greedo 5y ago
Whenever I'm driving around my suburban neighborhood, I'm always amazed at how many people have boats/RVs, and cars that appear to cost over $60K. Then I realize that I could have that if I wasn't contributing to my 401k. I worry that a lot of the country is in the same boat.
- alexfromapex 5y ago
  I always wonder whose pockets are being lined with the loan payments. The bank just loans other peoples’ money to you and charges you for it. The way it’s set up there’s almost no risk for the bank and they do almost no work to get all that money.
- nicbou 5y ago
  In my last family visit I was seriously wondering how seemingly everyone has a large house, two new cars and a few other nice toys. Everyone seems to have so much money, but based on the incomes I hear, something just doesn't add up.
rahimnathwani 5y ago
'in debt' is not the same as 'negative net assets'
- WarOnPrivacy 5y ago
  Awesome. What category would encompass both of those?
  - bhelkey 5y ago
    One could still have a mortgage. Depending on the interest rate, it might not make sense to pay it off faster than the term length.
  - pfdietz 5y ago
    My brother died with a $60K tax liability and little in the way of assets. No one could be bothered to be an executor for his estate -- taxes owed always have top priority, and there would be nothing left after that -- not even the people he was renting a house from that he had seriously damaged (they tried some silly legal posturing to try to get us to take responsibility for that; haha no thanks.) I think his car just disappeared at some point.
  - rahimnathwani 5y ago
    The latter is a subset of the former. So 'in debt' is the union, and 'negative net assets' is the intersection.
silexia 5y ago
I just entirely paid off my home mortgage as I believe that is never worth the risk of going underwater. I like the peace of mind of knowing that I owe nothing to anyone.
- rfd4sgmk8u 5y ago
  It is good to not be beholden to a loan, however, it can be very much in your financial benefit to do so. Money is being inflated away -- anything you borrow is cheaper to pay back in the future. The next best thing you can do is to not save in cash, save in assets.
  - silexia 5y ago
    I agree that most likely inflation will reduce the real cost of debt. However, this is a decision that will be made by political policymakers and they are sometimes unpredictable. The downside of going underwater is much worse to me personally than the upside of having some debt disappear.
  - abdabab 5y ago
    This is only true if your income rises with time. Wage growth has been stagnant for decades for most Americans.
- bhelkey 5y ago
  I hope you will excuse the naivety of youth but could you elaborate on this? Clearly you are worried about something. I just don't understand what the issue with going underwater is IF AND ONLY IF you have the assets to pay off the loan in its entirety. I don't understand why having 100K house + 120K mortgage + 120K assets is worse than having a 100K house.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - theandrewbailey 5y ago
    I'm not the parent commenter, but here's my reasons for wanting to pay my mortgage off early: 1. Not having to be reminded to pay the payment every month, or making sure the automatic payments keep going. No more mortgage payments safely frees income for other purposes. 2. The satisfaction of fully owning my house and land. 3. Most millionaires pay off their houses early.[0] Who doesn't want to be one of those? > Clearly you are worried about something. Didn't you notice the millions of people who lost their jobs last year? Haven't you noticed that the economy isn't in the best of shape lately? > I don't understand why having 100K house + 120K mortgage + 120K assets is worse than having a 100K house. The reason is: if you had a fully paid off house, would you borrow 120K against it? [0] https://www.businessinsider.com/everyday-millionaires-pay-off-mortgage-strategy-build-wealth-2019-2 https://www.businessinsider.com/everyday-millionaires-pay-of...
GabbieReagan 5y ago
I don't think that making debt is such a bad thing, but it would rather be a calculated risk. In my opinion, it would be more effective to use personal loans houston https://zebrafinance.com/houston-tx https://zebrafinance.com/houston-tx for any personal financial needs if you don't need too much money, of course. I am not speaking of those retired people whose children support them with big sums of money.

24 points by donsupreme 5y ago

> Otherwise, you may need to work longer or find a supplemental source of income from a part-time job, Eweka suggested. Dying with the most amount of debt is the ultimate fuck you to austerity. Reap the earthly rewards and avoid consequences. Why should I grind myself to dust to support a system I reap no rewards from? If the answer to this relies on a categorical imperative, that system doesn't deserve to exist.

greedo 5y ago

Whenever I'm driving around my suburban neighborhood, I'm always amazed at how many people have boats/RVs, and cars that appear to cost over $60K. Then I realize that I could have that if I wasn't contributing to my 401k. I worry that a lot of the country is in the same boat.

alexfromapex 5y ago
I always wonder whose pockets are being lined with the loan payments. The bank just loans other peoples’ money to you and charges you for it. The way it’s set up there’s almost no risk for the bank and they do almost no work to get all that money.
nicbou 5y ago
In my last family visit I was seriously wondering how seemingly everyone has a large house, two new cars and a few other nice toys. Everyone seems to have so much money, but based on the incomes I hear, something just doesn't add up.

rahimnathwani 5y ago

'in debt' is not the same as 'negative net assets'

WarOnPrivacy 5y ago
Awesome. What category would encompass both of those?
- bhelkey 5y ago
  One could still have a mortgage. Depending on the interest rate, it might not make sense to pay it off faster than the term length.
- pfdietz 5y ago
  My brother died with a $60K tax liability and little in the way of assets. No one could be bothered to be an executor for his estate -- taxes owed always have top priority, and there would be nothing left after that -- not even the people he was renting a house from that he had seriously damaged (they tried some silly legal posturing to try to get us to take responsibility for that; haha no thanks.) I think his car just disappeared at some point.
- rahimnathwani 5y ago
  The latter is a subset of the former. So 'in debt' is the union, and 'negative net assets' is the intersection.

silexia 5y ago

I just entirely paid off my home mortgage as I believe that is never worth the risk of going underwater. I like the peace of mind of knowing that I owe nothing to anyone.

rfd4sgmk8u 5y ago
It is good to not be beholden to a loan, however, it can be very much in your financial benefit to do so. Money is being inflated away -- anything you borrow is cheaper to pay back in the future. The next best thing you can do is to not save in cash, save in assets.
- silexia 5y ago
  I agree that most likely inflation will reduce the real cost of debt. However, this is a decision that will be made by political policymakers and they are sometimes unpredictable. The downside of going underwater is much worse to me personally than the upside of having some debt disappear.
- abdabab 5y ago
  This is only true if your income rises with time. Wage growth has been stagnant for decades for most Americans.
bhelkey 5y ago
I hope you will excuse the naivety of youth but could you elaborate on this? Clearly you are worried about something. I just don't understand what the issue with going underwater is IF AND ONLY IF you have the assets to pay off the loan in its entirety. I don't understand why having 100K house + 120K mortgage + 120K assets is worse than having a 100K house.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- theandrewbailey 5y ago
  I'm not the parent commenter, but here's my reasons for wanting to pay my mortgage off early: 1. Not having to be reminded to pay the payment every month, or making sure the automatic payments keep going. No more mortgage payments safely frees income for other purposes. 2. The satisfaction of fully owning my house and land. 3. Most millionaires pay off their houses early.[0] Who doesn't want to be one of those? > Clearly you are worried about something. Didn't you notice the millions of people who lost their jobs last year? Haven't you noticed that the economy isn't in the best of shape lately? > I don't understand why having 100K house + 120K mortgage + 120K assets is worse than having a 100K house. The reason is: if you had a fully paid off house, would you borrow 120K against it? [0] https://www.businessinsider.com/everyday-millionaires-pay-off-mortgage-strategy-build-wealth-2019-2 https://www.businessinsider.com/everyday-millionaires-pay-of...

GabbieReagan 5y ago

I don't think that making debt is such a bad thing, but it would rather be a calculated risk. In my opinion, it would be more effective to use personal loans houston https://zebrafinance.com/houston-tx https://zebrafinance.com/houston-tx for any personal financial needs if you don't need too much money, of course. I am not speaking of those retired people whose children support them with big sums of money.