Increasing Retirement Savings

[calumniate]

Speculation - with girls outperforming guys at school these days and their incomes on the steady upswing, do you think that girls will be the ones actually saving for retirement in upcoming generations?

[Cowperson]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

http://canadianfinancialdiy.blogspot...er-choice.html

"The principal finding of this study, however – that is, a projected gradual increase in the proportion of future retirees likely to experience a significant decline in their standard of living upon retirement – persists even with differing assumptions for future real wage growth, inflation, rates of return, RPP coverage, and future saving rates." (page 2)

"... the proportion of newly retired individuals unable to replace at least three-quarters of their average pre-retirement consumption from the sources we model is projected to nearly triple over the next 40 years (see Figure 9). If current trends persist, by the 2046-50 period, about 45 percent of workers currently aged between 25 and 30 years would not meet our 75-percent threshold ... " (page 20)

"This decline in potential consumption replacement would be felt across the entire earnings distribution ... " (page 20)

The most obvious trend I see is people do not outright retire - black/white - anymore.

They just fade out of their employment through time.

They become "consultants" - very common - and benefit the company with their expertise but with less benefits. The tradeoff is they can make good coin while working only a few months of the year, leaving lots of time to winter in Arizona if that's their thing.

Through time, they eventually give up employment altogether and are genuinely retired.

Cowperson

[flamesfever]

Originally Posted by Cowperson

The most obvious trend I see is people do not outright retire - black/white - anymore.

They just fade out of their employment through time.

They become "consultants" - very common - and benefit the company with their expertise but with less benefits. The tradeoff is they can make good coin while working only a few months of the year, leaving lots of time to winter in Arizona if that's their thing.

Through time, they eventually give up employment altogether and are genuinely retired.

Cowperson

That's a good point. I think the present overemphasis on having enough money for retirement is somewhat overblown, and possibly causing anxiety in many. My Mom worked until she was in her early 70's, and probably got more out of life for doing so. Mind you, she lied about her age. I think she was always 5 years younger than her actual age...even on her driver's licence.

I recall a conversation I had with an old friend in my home town back in Ontario. He said years ago (probably 60 or more) the local railroad workers used to dream about retiring to do nothing but fish and hunt. Then when the time came and they retired, the fishing and hunting was not enough to keep them occupied, and they all died a couple of years later.

I think the moral of the story is don't spend too much time worrying about the future...the future will look after itself. Just live your life as well as you can, and try to strike a healthy balance between enjoying yourself today and saving for the future.

[Phaneuf3]

Originally Posted by flamesfever

I think the moral of the story is don't spend too much time worrying about the future...the future will look after itself. Just live your life as well as you can, and try to strike a healthy balance between enjoying yourself today and saving for the future.

Its just like the story of the grasshopper and the octopus. All year long the grasshopper kept burying acorns for winter while the octopus mooched off his girlfriend and watched TV. Then the winter came, and the grasshopper died, and the octopus ate all his acorns and also he got a racecar.

Is any of this getting through to you?