Now I know why old people work for Walmart. Social Security.

[CZroe]

Cliffs:

The retirement age is not 65.

The retirement age is 66, not 65.

Not everyone knows that the retirement age is 66 and not 65.

You be surprised how few people know the actual retirement age.

I had to tell someone who didn't know that the retirement age is 66 and not 65.

I personally know that the retirement age is 66 and not 65.

Military spending should be diverted to increase Social Security payouts even though the program is supposed to be paid for entirely by Social Security taxes (it's always been their money).

Even though the real problem has always been that the government spends the SS funds on things they shouldn't, I hate Bush, Republicans, and any associates.

Bush, Republicans, and their associates are PURE EVIL and tangentially responsible for absolutely everything I don't like!

PS: The retirement age for drawing Social Security is actually 66 and not 65. Surprised?

 

[lxskllr]

Jack Lalanne was 94 and still in great health when he passed away. Who says that we have to grow old and frail? It's bullsh*t and a myth that many people buy into, because we let ourselves go. I'm not saying that we don't have health issues as we grow older. We do. That's inevitable. What I am saying is that we can still be active and independent even in our 80s and beyond.

Jack was an exception. After passing on your dna, it's a crapshoot. Every year after 30 is a gift given at the whims of the gods and technology.

 

[Jumpem]

Cliffs:

The retirement age is not 65.

The retirement age is 66, not 65.

Not everyone knows that the retirement age is 66 and not 65.

You be surprised how few people know the actual retirement age.

I had to tell someone who didn't know that the retirement age is 66 and not 65.

I personally know that the retirement age is 66 and not 65.

Military spending should be diverted to increase Social Security payouts even though the program is supposed to be paid for entirely by Social Security taxes (it's always been their money).

Even though the real problem has always been that the government spends the SS funds on things they shouldn't, I hate Bush, Republicans, and any associates.

Bush, Republicans, and their associates are PURE EVIL and tangentially responsible for absolutely everything I don't like!

PS: The retirement age for drawing Social Security is actually 66 and not 65. Surprised?

1. SS revenue needs to be increased.
2. People need to save in a 401k and Roth IRA so that they can retire prior to 65, 66, 67 or whatever their so-called retirement age may be.
3. If able people need to have enough Roth IRA contributions to retire prior to 59.5.

 

[boomerang]

I wonder how much money is wasted on illegal immigrants and the programs to support them...

An excellent question but one that will be widely ignored. We have a slew of very misguided people that think it is money well spent.

 

[Sonikku]

I wonder how much money is wasted on corporate welfare and the subsidies to support them...

 

[Ketchup]

Kudos to this thread. A lot of people sharing good information about how folks need to be saving for retirement, and not just expecting the SS to pay for it all.

 

[Spacehead]

I'll never get people who don't put away at least something.

Yeah, i don't get that either.
I'm a saver. I understand not everyone is like that but to not at least put some small amount aside each week/month puzzles me. The majority of people i work with now have nothing saved for retirement. Some might have a little in savings, i hope. But our company got rid of our 401k several years ago because no one was contributing other than me. These guys are 40 or older too.


As for government spending:
It irritates me to no end when you hear about some wasted dollars on some stupid project & a politician or bean counter says "well that's just a drop in the bucket." Add up all those "drops" over the years & it adds up to real money that could be spent on something worthwhile.

 

[88keys]

Anyone that relies on SS for their sole retirement income is as big of fool as you are.

-KeithP

See signature....


It's the reason I have mostly lost faith in the ability of the people to self govern.

 

[TheSlamma]

The thread title is "now I know" but OP is talking like everyone should have already known these things that most people already knew

 

[Mai72]

Sadly, winning the lottery might be the only way towards a nice retirement.

 

[Spacehead]

Sadly, winning the lottery might be the only way towards a nice retirement.

FYI, powerball is $300+ million tonight

 

[jlee]

They don't pay income taxes because they are fucking poor. Those lucky bastards?

Or they have tons of kids. Or put a lot into retirement accounts. Etc etc.

https://blog.personalcapital.com/financial-planning-2/average-american-pay-no-taxes/

 

[SSSnail]

I wonder how much money is wasted on corporate welfare and the subsidies to support them...

We're on the right track! Cut corporate welfare, cut welfare for illegals. Let's take care of our own citizens first!

 

[brianmanahan]

Sadly, winning the lottery might be the only way towards a nice retirement.

i'm reasonably certain that saving %50 income can give at least a semi-decent retirement

 

[MongGrel]

We're on the right track! Cut corporate welfare, cut welfare for illegals. Let's take care of our own citizens first!

I imagine a vast majority of the high end corporate people have illegals working for them.

You're a silly guy.

 

[brianmanahan]

Or they have tons of kids. Or put a lot into retirement accounts. Etc etc.

https://blog.personalcapital.com/financial-planning-2/average-american-pay-no-taxes/

yeah, if you play your deductions (and possibly donations) right you can avoid paying most taxes.

i think the root of good early retirement blog guy paid almost no taxes on 120$k/year married filing jointly income, and retired in his mid 30's with about 1.5$ million, and gets ACA tax subsidies because his taxable income is low enough.

that is what i aspire to do, albeit probably retiring at 45 instead.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

yeah, if you play your deductions (and possibly donations) right you can avoid paying most taxes.

i think the root of good early retirement blog guy paid almost no taxes on 120$k/year married filing jointly income, and retired in his mid 30's with about 1.5$ million, and gets ACA tax subsidies because his taxable income is low enough.

that is what i aspire to do, albeit probably retiring at 45 instead.

While that is a good article overall, I have come to the realization by now that I'm just screwed with where we are currently at. Our combined income is well over the six figure mark. We are balls deep in the 25% bracket. Just this year I capped out my 401k in full and my wife came close. Without kids and such, I don't think we will be able to ever get a decent tax rate. In one of those examples they had one guy able to contribute to a 401k, a 457, and a Pension. Wtf?

The only thing I am debating is switching from a Roth IRA to a traditional.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Agree with this 10000000000000000000000000%, especially the last line.

Interesting to see jobs listed on Indeed for my current line of work. Salaries for basically the same job range from $40,000 per year (what I stated at over 20 years ago) to a now increasing max of $115,000 (seeing this as jobs go unfilled for six months and beyond). However, I truly feel there is a shortage of people in this field as nobody wants to enter it out of college (or, as I was, not told about it at all).

+infinity
Look at wages in the semicon industry. Stagnant since the late 90s / early 2000s, so we're basically making less now with inflation figured in :|

 

[Engineer]

While that is a good article overall, I have come to the realization by now that I'm just screwed with where we are currently at. Our combined income is well over the six figure mark. We are balls deep in the 25% bracket. Just this year I capped out my 401k in full and my wife came close. Without kids and such, I don't think we will be able to ever get a decent tax rate. In one of those examples they had one guy able to contribute to a 401k, a 457, and a Pension. Wtf?

The only thing I am debating is switching from a Roth IRA to a traditional.

Not sure you can do much with a traditional if you're well over the six figure mark (unless your 401k contributions lower your income enough to allow it - not sure how that works).

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Not sure you can do much with a traditional if you're well over the six figure mark (unless your 401k contributions lower your income enough to allow it - not sure how that works).

We're under 183k, so I'm pretty sure we're still good as far as contributing to a traditional is concerned.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_IRA

 

[Engineer]

We're under 183k, so I'm pretty sure we're still good as far as contributing to a traditional is concerned.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_IRA

But you are your wife are both covered by an employee sponsored plan (401k). You're limited to the $118,000 number and in reality, it starts phasing out at $98,000.

 

[Linux23]

silly americans. smdh.

 

[11thHour]

Jack Lalanne was 94 and still in great health when he passed away. Who says that we have to grow old and frail? It's bullsh*t and a myth that many people buy into, because we let ourselves go. I'm not saying that we don't have health issues as we grow older. We do. That's inevitable. What I am saying is that we can still be active and independent even in our 80s and beyond.

And people that smoked most of their lives have lived longer than him, so smoking is good too? Who's to say he lived that long because of exercise and healthy choices.

Given genetics, various exposure (either one's vices or inadvertent), bad luck, and avoiding accidents that may cause health issues, he was likely of an extreme minority imo, regardless of how much exercise he did. The idea that we can control our future health by 'living a healthy life' is naive.

 

[ImpulsE69]

And most people want to have fun now, not when they are 94.

 

[Mai72]

i'm reasonably certain that saving %50 income can give at least a semi-decent retirement

I was talking about the people who don't have anything saved. Nothing.