RiverDog wrote:
It's not limited to liberals or millenials. As a matter of fact, I just got through talking with my neighbors, conservative Republicans that are approaching retirement, and you should have seen the jaw drops when I told them about some of the things such as those we've been discussing in this thread. Ignorance has no political or generational boundaries.
idhawkman wrote:Oh, I wasn't referring to politics, I was referring to finding fault. I mainly hear it from Millennials and liberals more than I do conservatives. I'm not sure I've ever heard a millennial say, "I'm sorry, that's my fault."
Well, I don't see this subject as assigning "blame" so much as it's taking control of your own destiny. Many people, including A LOT of my fellow baby boomers, have become instilled with this notion that the government has this huge safety net that will save them if they haven't saved enough money for retirement, so rather than save, they succumb to the urge for immediate gratification.
25 years ago, my company got bought out and our 600-800 employee plant I worked at all had a choice as to what to do with our 401K's: We could roll it over into the new company's plan, we could move it into a self directed IRA (which is what I did), or we could have taken the funds out in cash. I walked into the HR office one day and saw a large box of received mail and was told that it was the checks for the people that cashed out their 401K had come in. There had to have been over 100 envelopes in that box. When I tried to coach people about saving their money for retirement and would pose a question as to what might happen if they haven't saved enough money, a common answer was "oh, I'll just go on welfare."
That's why I'm so against this liberal notion of "Medicare for All" or this re-distribution of income that dominates the thinking of the modern Democratic Party. Both me and my wife grew up in 2 bedroom, 1k square foot homes where both our parents worked. We both paid for our own education w/o any grants or scholarships, worked hard for our money, my wife as a nurse and me as a floor supervisor, and we saved for our retirement rather than use it to buy boats or motorcycles or go on expensive vacations. We've worked with an investment team that has put together a solid plan for us that has nearly all contingencies covered, but the one threat is if the government comes in and does something radical, like the "green new deal". I don't care if the best others can afford to live in is a 12x40 trailer house or that they can't afford to eat anything more expensive than macaroni and cheese the rest of their lives. I want to enjoy the fruits of our labors.
