April 29, 2013 at 7:34 am
Harold PollackWe continued our conversation about personal finance. Parts 1 and 2 can be found here.
Here we discussed the inherent shortcomings of 401(k) accounts, and why the New School’s Teresa Ghilarducci has been called the “Most Dangerous Woman in America.” I lament the public sector’s failure to properly finance its retirement obligations, which undercuts the political case for professionally-managed defined-benefit pensions.
We also discussed how the current system of tax-favored savings vehicles favors the affluent. I discuss my favorite subject: Me. We discussed how my own family righted our financial ship after a crisis using strategies that less-affluent Americans could not realistically emulate. . We tend to judge people as individuals when they respond to adversity. Yet the individuals and families most able to weather such crises are often those in the most advantageous situations.
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by Floccina on April 30th, 2013 at 16:17
If you ask people why do we have SS, they will say “so that no one falls into poverty when they are unable to work due to age”. If the structure of the program reflected that (that is everybody got the same payout in retirement) these problems would be reduced. Because then we are talking about extra money above the minimum.
On another subject, one thing that is usually missing from these discussions is the value of good strong family and friend relationships. Family and friends can help a person late in life to stay afloat by helping with care that would be very expensive if purchased or with a place to live. It used to be that most elderly people lived with family they would help around the home as long as they could and would get help from the family members.
by Floccina on April 30th, 2013 at 16:58
BTW As long as you are healthy it can be done:
If you’re new here, this blog will give you the tools to become financially independent in 5 years. Here’s how I did it and how I how I enjoy a middle class lifestyle while only spending $7,000/year. More importantly, here’s more than a hundred online journals from other people, who are following the same strategy tailored to their particular situation (age, children, location, education, goals, …). They have increased their savings from the usual 5-15% of their income to tens of thousands of dollars each year or typically 40-80% of their income. Many accumulate six-figure net worths within a few years.
Also Amish, Mennonites and Hasidic Jews do it right here in the USA. Countless people in other countries live good lives on very low income.
I made just a little more than minimum for about 7 years after graduating from college and while it is better to make $150k+ per year that have been making recently it is not much better. I had some great times back when I was making low wages and I always managed to save.
I think that poor health might be very bad (though I have never experienced it so I cannot know for sure).