Twinkie wrote:
The thought of retirement for someone my age (not yet 30) is totally non existent. My dad retires this month. everything paid off. cars, both houses, etc.
I look at my $70,000 student loan debt for gradschool at 7.8% interest (thank you for raising that from 3% to 7.8% government) - decided my father should use that money for retirement and not to help me - and current housing prices, fed interest rate hikes, cost of used cars, cost of gas, then the cost of all the things that my parents never had to worry about when they were young (internet, cell phone service, computers, actual cell phones, cost of microsoft office), price of going to a movie, hell going on dates, cost of groceries, etc, cost of health care, price of rent, the probability the social security will not exist when I am 60.
figure I will be working until dead. I also make good money too. Most of my friends feel the same way. Granted - I am on track to make superb money in 10+ years so grad school was an investment rather than a potential loss - but retirement is not a thing with my generation. Sure I am going to save for it (IRA, 401K, and separate equity account) best I can but it is not a reality with my generation. The numbers do not work out.
Yep. Older Americans have NO IDEA how hard is it to be young nowadays. I'm almost 50 but I get it. And yeah everything paid off, no debt (I never had any school loan debt to begin with), and looks like I'll go into retirement at 60 with more than enough to cover life expenses + travel, which is really all I want to do anyway.