If there were a steady growing economy and no crazy events for the next 20 years, and no major health issues, my Roth 401k would probably be enough for a modest retirement.
I was just wondering what the penalty would be to withdraw everything before 59, so I could figure out if it would be enough to immigrate somewhere with reasonable healthcare and a social safety net that would take those worries out of the equation. I think since it’s Roth it would just be 10% of gains + one-time capital gains tax?
It might be enough. Simply having a lump of $ makes so many more countries welcome to immigrants.
I would tell you, but then some moron would chime in and call me a temporarily embarrassed millionaire because they can’t appreciate sound logic when they see it.
I don’t think think I’ll ever “retire” in the traditional sense.
My thought was to always have a severe mental breakdown around 50 and run off to the woods to build a log cabin and grow my own food. My wife knows of this plan but I’m pretty sure she thinks it’s a joke. It’s not.
Nope because I’ll never afford it. I’ll be at my desk on the phone listening to my BPD patient scream in my ear for the millionth time that she absolutely must come off the medication she needs to stay alive that she’s been on for 20 years because it’s giving her a rash (not possible and shes doing this for attention), and I’ll quietly expire into an exhausted puddle.
Edited to add: I have an excellent pension but it still won’t be enough. I have zero savings thanks to my SO wrecking my finances.
I started maxing my Roth Ira out when I was earning $10/hr. Avoid spending money on things that don’t literally matter and save for the things that do. Pay attention to where every single dollar/pound/Euro/shekel goes. Stay out of debt. Keep drug/alcohol use reasonable. Most of the time folks who are concerned about retiring/money have no idea how much they spend on what. Saving for retirement is easy once you start doing it and get used to it, but you need to start early and you need to invest in the stock market. Avoiding chronic illness or accidents or long periods where you aren’t earning income are probably necessary too. Staying out of legal trouble is probably necessary as well.
Yes, as a Swede I’d say we have way greater chances of reaching retirement, but it still comes down to saving by yourself if you want to live reasonably while retired.
I set myself a “spending budget” every month. After salary comes in i move what goes to bills and such expenses into a separate account. I divide whats left into 50/50, one half into savings the other to leisure. My savings account is set up to make long term investment into stock groups managed by the bank (unsure if there’s an english word for this, we håll them “fonder”). Usually i dont spend all the leisure money either way because i rarely purchase things and whats left when next months salary comes around also goes into savings.
I’ve been blessed by my parentes to start off with some savings so saving by myself once i started working was also allt easier.
To properly secure your future you need to earn enough money to even be able to start saving. Truly a “society” moment.
I’ll be surprised if I make it to retirement age, but if I do, lol no.
I enjoy working in my field, but as other commenter said, I have no interest on working until death for shareholders to be happy. I do plan to work until I’m dead, incapable or just tired, but I’m planning to enjoy it while it lasts.
Independence for me would be not having to respond to a higher up, just me, my craft, and peaceful money earned by not overstressing my ass. I’m building my own house now, after I have a place to live without rent, I have no more ambitions than eating, sleeping and be with my loved ones. I don’t need to overwork my ass to death to get that. Maybe 4 hours a day, or two-three days a week should be enough.
I think most people would do the same if they could, most people like working, they just despise the oppression of this rigged system.
I intend to. I refuse to die in old age, wasting my life working to support shareholders. Have a good few decades left to even be close to that though and I hate it.
Never took the blue pill in the first place. I worked to live only, not lived to work. Then Cancer retired me permanently at 42.
Nope, never. My retirement plan is a ditch with a nice view of the Rockies in Colorado and a bottle of gin on a cold winter night. Everything I’ve saved into (SS, TSP, retirement accounts) will inevitably disappear before I can access them/hit the age requirements. I don’t trust the system at all (I didn’t trust it before the election outcome either). I’m fucked. We’re all fucked. Might as well live it up now while I still can.
Yep, about to turn thirty and have been paying into an Ira, a Roth Ira and a 401k, I want to retire as soon a possible and do things that actually make me happy.
Retirement sounds great till you try it. The expression is “even your garage can’t get any cleaner”. This refers to the boredom retirement can be for some. The solution that I found was a part time job, not for the money, but doing something I enjoyed. You no longer have the pressure of a “real” job. The best job that you will ever have is the job that you really don’t need.
Doing stuff is important. But I have enough hobbies that I think I could stop working and not get bored.
Honestly, it scares me a bit. I’ve known men who retired and just… stopped. Sat in their chair, or maybe went for a little shuffling walk. Dead within a few years.
I could probably retire now, finances wise, but I enjoy my job and don’t know what I’d do all day without some structure.
I saw my retired parents waste away in front of the TV every day. As mentioned before … the best job is the one that you don’t need. So besides enjoying my part time “get out of the house” job there are other benefits. I save money and stay healthy by only drinking on Friday and Saturday. These of course are not my work days. I also don’t go out for meals during the week. I have retired neighbors that seem to spend 5 or 6 days a week out for lunch or dinner and boozing everyday. That would never work for me
I saw my retired grandparents buy property in the country and spend all day working on their garden and continuously making improvements to their home and doing other projects that interested them. In the summer they traveled the country and camped. If you spend your retirement wasting away in front of the TV that’s on you for not finding some hobbies.
Dude, I’m retired for 3 decades and still would need more time and had to prioritise hobbies. I work voluntarily with abused people, but not because I’m bored but because someone needs to. Besides that i love gaming, coding, traveling, cars, boats, going on daily tours with wifey, reading, music, watching star trek…
But I’ve seen people retire and getting bored to death a week later. I always found that sooo tragically sad, like they were born to be worker-ants and without work there’s nothing left worth living in their lifes.
But yes, the best job is one you actually want to do and are not forced to do.
yes. by staying in europe
No.
Existence had grown exponentially more expensive in my lifetime, well outpacing what a 401k or pension will realistically ever be able to achieve. At best, it might buy me 5-10 years after I am physically unable to work; if I mentally decline too soon due to age (quite likely in my family), I will die in poverty.
That isn’t even touching on the possibility of a habitable climate or war, and assumes the survival of the current economic system.
My workplace has a defined benefit pension and they announced that all employees will be losing this pension (even those who are a couple years from retirement).
We will be switched over to a defined contribution pension and our previous contributions will be converted retroactively.
I don’t foresee this new pension lasting more than 5 years before they cut it completely. I wouldn’t even be surprised if they’re able to keep our pension contributions retroactively, fucking everyone over.
Jesus Christ how can they even do that?
In the industry I work in, they can legally do anything to you because our work exists outside of the Canadian Labour Code. This includes give you $0 paycheques for months and expect you to keep doing your job until it’s fixed, which can take 3 months to a year.
Wow that’s terrible.
