The problem is basically sow/harvest. If you're in the situation most people are in, you need to eat today, and you need to eat tomorrow. Quite a lot is done t

The problem is basically sow/harvest. If you're in the situation most people are in, you need to eat today, and you need to eat tomorrow. Quite a lot is done to force kids to invest early on in their lives: go to school, don't get pregnant, don't waste your future. However at some point you have to get something out of life that isn't just potential. You can't eternally be building up to something that you'll enjoy later. The biggest issue I have with pensions is that it entices people to just endure whatever hardships they have so that they can stop doing it when they're old. It happens at both ends of your career: wait a bit to have kids, then when you're old and it turns out the game really wasn't worth it, don't complain and just retire. In the mean time you lose the ability to see your grandchildren, plus the org you're working for doesn't get the old timers telling them things are totally messed up.