Friday, February 7, 2020

I've been speaking to people at work about retirement savings.
The subject comes up frequently. But it is shocking to find out these people - late 50's/early to mid 60's - have little to nothing saved up for retirement! These people are making 80k and more per year, and have anywhere from nothing to - next to nothing - saved.  It kind of made me feel good that the pittance of money I have saved now is far more than anything most of them have saved?

Just weird that people making very good money would have very little saved up.  People that are living on the road most of the time.  They have home expenses - but so do I.  When I was working at Ferguson, it was hard to save anything because I wasn't making that much money, but I still put at least matching employer contribution amount in. 

Both Prudential and Wells Fargo - I have 401k accounts in both - always say to up it a "little more". I can't contribute to the Prudential one because it's the former employer's 401k - it's doing so well there is no point in taking that money out of there.  But I think it's a better idea to find some savings account or some way to save extra money beyond those venues that is easy to save, a pain to get access to.  It seems more prudent to have a savings account with some real cash in it in case of emergencies.

Just very interesting to talk to people that are saving nothing or have very little saved up that late in life.  I feel like the 300k I hope to have by the time I retire is not nearly enough. But I'm not going to work til' I'm 90, thanks.  What kind of lifestyle do they expect to have living solely on Social Security?  With only 10 or 20 k in 401k savings, you can't do anything with that.  You'd just leave it alone in case of emergency? It would be easy to burn up that much money in a very short period of time. 

"The bad news is that almost half of Americans approaching retirement have nothing saved in a 401(k) or other individual account. The good news is that the new estimate, from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, is slightly better than a few years earlier.
Of those 55 and older, 48 percent had nothing put away in a 401(k)-style defined contribution plan or an individual retirement account, according to a GAO estimate for 2016 that was released Tuesday. That’s an improvement from the 52 percent without retirement money in 2013.
Two in five of such households did have access to a traditional pension, also known as a defined benefit plan. However, 29 percent of older Americans had neither a pension nor any assets in a 401(k) or IRA account. 
What, exactly, goes on in the minds of people facing retirement that never saved a penny? There's at least one at work: she brags about having saved nothing.  She will live on SS payments. Well I'm sorry to tell you this, but that isn't going to be much of a life?!!  Even in my poor and broke days, I had money being taken out for retirement, tho all of that disappeared at the time of divorce. 
Anyway, I just found out I'm heading up to Oklahoma tomorrow. Really? How did I get ahead of everyone in the queue?  It's literally the only run going out tomorrow. I mean, I'll take it over nothing, I'm just baffled how that worked. Took  a bit to get my mind into - "work tomorrow" after thinking I'd highly likely have the entire weekend off.
Anyway, I met Maria's - son - and - his - girfriend today.  They came into town to visit with mama - which is Maria. Another one is - well probably there by now.  The son - was a girl.  He has had the complete, full-blown sex operation to transform from a female to a male. I was quite surprised to hear his/her voice, it sounded like a guy.  I was informed that testosterone does that. Yeah, I knew it did other things, I had no idea it also affected your voice. It wasn't uncomfortable, but it was a point of intrigue.  Why would someone go to that much trouble to alter who they are physically? I saw pics of her before the operation, she was an absolutely beautiful woman.  So much so, that even with the deep voice and the breasts gone, still looked quite - female - in facial features.  Times have certainly changed.
Now, if I were where I will be tomorrow right now, at the casino? I'd be in there playing blackjack. I have the hankering. But, tomorrow is a different day and my mood may be completely different. I always - well usually - stop at the casino truck stop.  It's the best place to stop without wondering if I'm going to find a spot further on down the road. Paris Loves is full by that time of day, guaranteed.  There's a very shoddy, abandoned truck stop that I have no interest in stopping at. Well we'll see. 
















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