RateSupermarket.ca Blog: When you’re in your 20’s, I bet the last thing you want to think about is retirement. Not only is it depressing having to think about growing older, but also it can be incredibly overwhelming. Still, it’s something that has been on my mind ever since I started my journey out of debt.
From graduating University, leaving home, finding a partner, having kids, to becoming financially independent – 20-somethings my age seem to be doing everything a little later in life than the previous generation. So it makes sense that retirement might also happen later. But who wants to work past age 65?! Not me.
11 comments:
I think that the idea of savings is a much more prominent thing to people in the entertainment industry then others since unlike most people, there's a better then likely chance that you will be taking money from your savings with a little more frequency then you might want to. Unlike lots of industries, entertainment folk are use the idea that they might not have work next week and have a tendency to at least try to live more within our means and in ways that if something were to happen we could sustain off of savings until we can find work again.
Although it is not pleasant to think about, starting to save up now may be a really great plan. The point about leaving college in debt particularly strikes home since tuition prices really have soared recently. Charlie makes a good point about how prominent this is to those in the entertainment industry, especially those who studied theatre, since many of us will be in a lot of debt and making a small and inconsistent amount of money. Starting to save up for retirement now may be a really great idea.
"I'm 18 and my future's fucked," was a sign I saw at the Occupy Pittsburgh march last month. While I think the sign was written too earnestly it's sentiment is the same as this article. He lists all the factors that show the dream of working for 2/3 of your life and do nothing for the last 3rd is no longer possible. The outcome for most, start thinking about retirement NOW. That means you 20 something. Sure, I can buy that. Things will suck later so start planning now. That's not a foreign idea. But there's a new idea, an idea that the Occupy movements have tapped into: things will suck later starting changing things now. All these bullet points show that retirement may no longer be something recent and future college grads will see. They need to work longer to get the benefits they need. Doesn't make sense to me. What doesn't make sense to others is that this is how things have to be. If things don't change I'd imagine anti-capitalist sentiments like those found amongst the Occupy movements will continue. Signs will then read, "I'm 65, my past and future is fucked."
Matt has a really interesting point. I feel that it is not an overstatement to say that most all young adults are feeling the looming pressure of our economic state threatening our retirement age- I know I am! But the only productive thing that could be done would be to SAVE more and spend less! I know that I need to work on both parts to that solution. Even though I own most college kid "essentials", I wonder how long I could go without living with the "extras". Probably a long time. I for one haven't watched television since I just got home this winter break (the exception of occasional movies in my dorm lounge), and my refrigerator use is at an all time, pathetic low. I could probably survive without it. Instead of worrying about not having enough money, we have to be pro-active and save as much as we can-- spend in the least possible ways.. cutting out small sacrifices now so a bigger sacrifice won't be our retirements. Although It's a hard pill to swallow, and I myself need to step up to the plate in order for this to be possible, focusing on this mindset will be a much more helpful way to approach the fear of this future.
This article makes me think of my father. My dad's an accountant, a CPA at that, and once in a while, whether he's talking to me or my sister (who's in her mid-20s now), he brings up a few things about planning for retirement and some things he wants to try to do to help us. He talks about starting a Roth IRA account (go look that up cause I had to the first time around) or something along those lines, and I always try and appreciate it, and usually just go along with it because the fact is that he usually knows about this stuff. The other part of it is though, that I (and I imagine many of my peers) just don't think about this kind of stuff. We're very much focused on the here and now, and what's in front of us, rather than what's another 40 or 50 years down the line. It's also because nobody talks to us about this sort of thing. While many of us have taking a required Consumer Ed course or some such thing, we don't have much idea about what kind of options are available to us for planning for retirement, so it's good to have someone who brings it to your attention, or who you can talk to, or just plain knows more about it then you do. Planning for retirement is a lifelong endeavor if you truly want to enjoy your retirement, and no better time than the present.
Where I see A.J. leading this discussion is that for a 20-something, the first step necessary is EDUCATION. I've advocated for a class in personal finance for college students because many of these topics (such as the true cost of living and financial strategies like IRAs and 401ks) are completely foreign concepts to many students (myself included), and are left to be discovered by trial and error in the midst of trying to pay off post-college debt (not a very receptive time to do so). For drama students, as Charley suggested, we need to consider periods of unemployment much the same as traditional retirement - strategies need to be put in place during periods of employment to cover the time that we aren't. But in order to figure out the most equitable solutions, there need to be avenues of education so that the 20-somethings can understand and apply concepts that will make their financial lives a little more stable.
Personal finance is not 2S2T.
So scary to think about!!! I can honestly say that I have not once thought about the idea of retirement. As a freshman in college, why would this thought ever have crossed my mind? Now it has, and there are so many things to consider. For those of us going into the theatre industry this is extremely relevant as we might hardly know what we will be doing from job to job. starting to save now is an excellent idea, just one that I'm not quite ready to cope with yet.
I honestly have not even thought about retirement because it seems so distant especially when I see my 70 something grandparents still working and loving their jobs. It is a lot harder to put into perspective not working after 65 because of family and the economy along with the occupy movements. So much looks like we will have to be working for forever because we won't be able to save. But then again, as Charley mentions, those in the entertainment industry, especially when we are freelancing, live more within our means and have a better understanding of savings. Still personal financing is a foreign topic to many of us and it seems education as Brain mentions the best way to figure out what we need to actually implement a retirement plan.
I think many of us are in agreement that not only due to our profession, but also to the deterioration of social security and the economic climate in general, that everyone look be educating themselves about retirement. My personal opinion is that why not start looking ahead. I would say that there is never a time too early to start thinking about retirement, but when you aren't earning a paycheck, and have no prospect of earning a paycheck, that might be too early. However when you're starting your career, it can never hurt to start thinking about the future.
In my mind, there seems to be a fundamental challenge with saving. So, little by little you put some money away in an account. And then a day comes when you need to pay for school, or a house, or a car and then that large nugget you have in the bank is a mere penny or two. Yes, I think it is important to begin saving now, so when the time comes that you want to settle down you do, but when I am already in debt, and going to be working from paycheck to paycheck for a while, it seems somewhat unrealistic to put money to a place when I have 20-something year old needs that are coming down the chute. Yes, it is important to begin saving for the rest of my life. But it is also important to start saving for those large life purchases that I'm going to want as an individual in this society.
It is so important to start thinking about saving up for the later part of your life earlier on. At this point in our lives, it seems like we will never reach that point in our lives when we will want to retire, but everyone does reach that point and life goes by much faster than we expect it to. One piece of advice that I heard once was to start saving up for retirement before you start a family and have to deal with those expenses. I think that once people start families and have to worry about their kids, it's easy to forget about your retirement fund or just not be able to afford to put any money into it.
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