What retirement advice would you offer to younger people?

Knight said:
MarciKS there are millions just like you living from paycheck to paycheck, life isn't fair. Way to many variables to try to explain why that is. College isn't always the ticket or way to a higher standard of living, if it was there wouldn't be so many returning home to live with their parents. Where you live, your job opportunities , your age, your health, what skills you have, on & on for trying to figure out why you didn't get that lucky place in life.

Meanwhile there is a bright side. You could have been born in a 3rd. world country living in a shack with no indoor plumbing, & both parents sick with HIV. It's all in how you look at what you have as opposed to what you don't have.
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I understand that. That wasn't the point.
 
MarciKS said:
I understand that. That wasn't the point.
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What was your point?

It's not like I've/we've my wife of 58 years have never experienced paycheck to paycheck. But to move back to the states in 1973 with two kids, two suitcases of clothes, no job, no car, no home. Whatever you think your are experiencing is tough try to imagine how that must have been for us. Retired early fully funded at age 54 with two 401k's converted to 4 IRA's two pension checks & two soc. sec accounts assured in 1995. I am in no way bragging just pointing out that how you live and what goals you set make a difference .
 

jerry old said:
All good stuff, but experience is the best teacher.
I did not pay attention to the old folks advise; did you?
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Schools need to teach finance. Even basic finance would put a lot of soon to retire on better endings. Teaching of compound interest would also help.

Look for land for sale from private sellers. In many cases, they'll let you pay over time with minimal down payment. Always consult a lawyer for details.
 
StarSong said:
I'd strongly advise people in service industry or gig economy to declare their tips and income, meaning they should pay their taxes. So many seniors are barely scraping by on very low SS because a lot of their income came under the table.

Retirement will arrive before they know it.
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I would say diversify.
You want to start a 401k early so it has time to grow. Maybe a Pension if it only takes 5 yrs or so.

Acquire some Real Estate even if it's just owning your own home. Pensions are getting rare so you may not be able to do that.

Work a job for a while that provides a 401k. Choose a job with a pretty high 401k match. Match it with at least 25% contribution while living in your car or trading for a place to just sleep at night until you've decided what your gifts are, what you really want to do. Get creative. Work 2 jobs if needed for a short time. Really consider whether or not you want to pay off College Loans your whole life. Maybe consider the Trades. Consider a job that offers housing, even if seasonal then place an add on Craigslist to live in someone's home just seasonal. We'd consider that but an all year room-mate would be too much for us.
 
Gardenlover said:
What retirement advice would you offer to younger people?

Do it sooner than later.
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There was a surgeon back in 1961 who, at the age of 72, had been trying to retire, or at least, reduce his hours. In January of that year I was knocked down on a pedestrian crossing shattering my right leg. A younger surgeon had operated and plated the bones together, but when he asked me to wriggle my toes, nothing happened. Two more operations and still my toes wouldn't respond. Amputation of my lower leg beckoned.
"The lad is only fourteen," Mr Penrose said, he was the 72 year-old surgeon, "don't take his leg off, let me try." Later, on the ward, after I had regained consciousness, Mr. Penrose came to my bed and asked me if I could move my toes. Wriggle, wriggle, wriggle. Success! What he had done that others failed to do was to find every severed nerve end and reconnect them. My father had tears in his eyes when he shook hands with my elderly surgeon. I'm so glad that Mr. Penrose didn't retire sooner rather than later.
 
The Micawber Principle - David Copperfield by Charles Dickens 1850.

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen, nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery."
 
Disgustedman said:
Schools need to teach finance. Even basic finance would put a lot of soon to retire on better endings. Teaching of compound interest would also help.

Look for land for sale from private sellers. In many cases, they'll let you pay over time with minimal down payment. Always consult a lawyer for details.
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Agreed: Starting in elementary school through high school, personal finances should be taught and explained. Lesson #1: avoid student debt like the terrible plague it's become.

As for land for sale from private sellers - don't know where you live, but few (if any) sellers appear interested in carrying back paper these days. Most offers are for cash, or using financing the buyers have already qualified for and arranged through a bank or mortgage company.
 

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