Honestly... retirement, CPP, OAP, pensions in general, RRSP/RRIF - they all have so many assumptions built into them.
1. You work a labour job.
2. You will work until you're 65.
3. You will live until you're 75.
4. Your cost of living will decrease when you are older.
etc
I feel like all of these assumptions build a paradigm that is completely false for a very large number of people.
I am not a labourer and am not actually very opposed to "working" (i.e. using my brian to earn money) until the day I die. Why should I have savings beyond what I need to cover emergencies? Why cannot I engage my spare capital today into making sure my house is paid off (a guaranteed, risk free return) at a sooner date and taking some time every so often to enjoy life? Is having insurance policies to cover my outstanding debts, help fund my child's education, and provide a comfortable lifestyle should I become dead/disabled/invalid at the same time irresponsible because I am not investing into bunk mutual funds with negative real rates of return?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame
While an inheritance is a nice thing and being a trust-fund baby sure sounds nice, I think the real problem lies in education. Kids are NOT being forced to take money management classes, nor are they taught to respect the almighty dollar. Kids today play with Xboxes, iPhones, crazy light-flashing toys that connect to the Internet, and the parents don't realize that these things add up. They kind of beleive that it's good practice for their kids in the future.
Technology may change, but the buck sure doesn't. A dollar saved is a dollar earned. I don't think enough kids going into their teenage and young adults years have been taught to think like that.
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+1 for this.
The state of financial literacy is awful. I am critical of a leadership that does not teach proper rules of currency and financial discipline, who instead choose to promote a system that is really just a dangerous race to the bottom. The goals that are expounded to the masses though the marketing arm are totally out of whack with reality... brainless "saving" habits that only actually help feed a monstrous industry and do nothing to ensure a good lifestyle for people except for those who are managing the dollars. Nothing understood about economics, shrewd investing into companies that build projects with real returns... we've definitely reached a state of financial hubris and wonder why our world seems so manic and unsatisfying. It's pretty gross and it needs to change.