It's a generalization. I ain't have to.

You vastly overestimate the impact saving 5% for MANY will have for their "retirement". Yes, something is better than nothing.

But you underestimate the plight MANY Boomers are facing with their 401(k)s and they didn't face the realities of crippling student loans, artifically high housing costs, etc. It will only get much worse for future generations.

Not to mention that the Right is always acutely aware of the conflicts involved with public sector unions but somehow doesn't see the same conflicts in the corporate money that pours into campaigns.

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Ecclesiastes 5:8

I don't know--I just don't get it. I guess, as Don Tiny said above, they feel that they will still get the benefits without paying $300 or whatever.

I can say that when my dad worked for the city--he got a job with them when he was middle-aged and desperate--they made him buy $500 worth of dinner tickets (for political fundraisers) each year. The union guy was the one who told him that if he didn't buy the tickets, he'd be laid off. That kind of bullshit should be eradicated. $500 in 1984 when you have a lot of kids is fucking steep.

If you only have $300-400k in your 401(k) at retirement, then you didn't properly contribute throughout your working life. Most of the value in your account should ultimately be from growth as a result of contributing throughout your entire career. That is why you want a Roth. You don't want to be taxed on the growth.

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

Can you explain that? What's wrong with the Boomers' 401k accounts? I wasn't sure what you were saying.

Make better choices. If you actually contribute to your 401(k) when you start working don't just start after 45, you'll be OK.

As for student debt, pay them off early and make better choices when choosing a school/career.

Home prices too high? Find another market to live in. There is a lot of affordable housing out there in other markets.

Just be an adult and take responsibility for your personal financial decisions.

I'm 30, have no students loans left, contribute regularly to my Roth, and now own a home. There is no excuse for my fellow millennials. There is nothing special about me so if I could do it, then anyone should be able to.

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

That's the problem! Retirees earning close to or more than their annual working salaries is not what the system was meant for, nor is it anywhere near to sustainable.

Here is an example of how a 401k could work:

Employee earns 50k and gets a 2% raise every year for 40 years.
Employer contributes 10% of the salary to the employee's 401k and employee contributes 4%.
Employee can choose how much risk to take on his investments, anywhere from ZERO risk to high risk.
Using the above numbers, if the employee's 401k earned 3% per year (pretty conservative), he would have almost 800k after 40 years. (Using Ogie's number of 8%, which I don't think is realistic going forward, you'd have $2.5 million.) This money is his, stays with his family/estate when he dies, and is not affected if he decides to switch careers/jobs. The state knows exactly how much the compensation will cost each year, regardless of market performance or life expectancy.

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How come the union then didn't fight on behalf of the employees so they didn't have to buy those tickets?

I don't see that example as a workplace issue. That is more a quid pro quo for ever having the job available to him in the first place.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Exactly.

Like I said, easier said than done for MANY.

He's a jew, this is like a black guy laying up a basketball.

Yeah, now they just ship your job off to an eight year old girl in Singapore.

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Ecclesiastes 5:8

Dammit, you beat me to it.

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My pension is not tied to the state, thank god.

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Not true. Spouses are entitled to payments until they die. Kids as well until they turn 18.

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Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.- JD Vance
If you committed violence on that day, obviously, you shouldn’t be pardoned.- JD Vance on the J-6 insurrectionists

Pensions are often reduced for the spouse (granted this varies from place to place) when they survive you and your kids should be older than 18 when you croak.

IRA's and 401(k)s are superior in just about every way. If you contribute the recommended 15% and get the expected 8% return per year, there is no reason that you shouldn't have a million plus dollar next egg to live on in retirement and then leave behind for those in your will.

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

I don't disagree with your broader point but your initial premise was misleading.

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Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.- JD Vance
If you committed violence on that day, obviously, you shouldn’t be pardoned.- JD Vance on the J-6 insurrectionists

I guess it's hard to make a broad statement regarding pensions when they do vary so much state to state.

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“When I walked in this morning, and saw the flag was at half mast, I thought 'alright another bureaucrat ate it.'" - Ron Swanson

That's ok though since you have one less person to be taking care of with that money.

Pensions give a nice security blanket in retirement because no matter how the market goes or how much you saved you still get a check you should be able to live on. A 401k can be better but once you live for 20 or more years after retirement it's likely the money will run out unless you have really turned your retirement to living off welfare. Even if you have 1 million dollars in your 401k, and that does not describe most people, you can only really take about $25,000 a year from that and feel confident in it lasting. That's a tough number if you want to do anything in retirement but sit at home and watch the Price Is Right.

With a pension, you could live to 105 and still be getting that check. That's certainly a comforting thought for the retiree.

For the business/municipality, 401ks are obviously better.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

A pension shouldn't be much more than that though. It should be one part of your retirement, with SS and personal savings representing the rest. It's expected that by the time you retire, your house is paid off, your kids are grown (and able to help support you if necessary), you've bought all the big ticket items you'll need. It's only been fairly recently where there seems to be this mentality that (public) pensions should be 75-100% or more of the salary you were earning while on the job.

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unions can be good or bad. at the end of their glory days they were awful to work for. they lock you in a system and you have little options, you just ride whatever wave the economy is on.

in the end they were nothing more than a pyramid scheme for retirement benefits. its sad but true. i get they initially created fair employment laws for many people, but thats not what they were for the last 30 years.

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

Welcome to the Machine (politics).

No. He never agreed to it. And the union was complicit. He had to do this for several years.

Sounds reasonable, though I wonder how many people are aware of this.

The Right to work states have very low wages, it'll happen to Michigan and Indiana in a dew years.. They are new to this.

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as one who has done non-profit financial advising, most people do actually have 5% to spare. my job was to find it and i found a shit ton of it. it might mean selling the brand new 30k car and buy a used vehicle, dropping the 5tv whole house dvr package but most people have it. most of the people i worked with were in the 30-50k income range.

Steak. Dinner. Fucking. Boom.

I've been chipping 10% since I was a 20 year old E1 in the Army and they didn't give us match. My current job does 5% match. If you never have the money to spend in the first place you don't notice.

It's called personal financial responsibility and more people need to take it.

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thats not what you do with your 1 million dollars when you retire....like at all.... you aren't spending your 1 million dollars over the course of the rest of your life.

you take some of that money and put it into an annuity that pays somewhere historically around 5-6%. the annual payment an institution pays you to utilize your money for their lending purposes. so when you die, that million dollars is still yours but a bank paid you to use it. the other popular method is throught traditional investing and withdrawing a set % of your investments. 3-5% is pretty typical.

when you retire with a million dollars, you should effectively still have your million dollars when you die.

goodness gracious.