Responding to several thoughts on this thread, which are only loosely related:
1. As for "you might drop dead" tomorrow -- yeah, that's true, but statistically you're likely to live about 78 years. Sure, someone's going to die in his 40s, and that's terribly sad, but it's also terribly sad to be 75 and need to work as a Walmart greeter. I feel sure the Walmart greeters outnumber the "he was too young" tragedies.
2. A very good reason to save aggressively from a young age: We all assume that we have plenty of years ahead of us, but not all of us do. I'm in my 50s, and I know a number of people who've been laid off shortly after 50. I know a couple people who've died too young, but I know more people who've been forced to end their careers earlier than expected -- and it's tough both emotionally and financially not to be able to retire "on your own terms".
This seems to be particularly true of men in tech-y jobs; it's like companies think these workers have an "expiration date". Seriously though, part of it is that these tech-y types earn big paychecks, and (shortly after age 50) companies realize they can ditch the "old guy" and hire two just-out-of-college guys -- and they do it! If this happens to you, it's very hard to get another job -- age-ism is very real. Keep in mind, too, that someone's going to be disabled and unable to work. So many things can happen to cut short your working years, and the best way to protect yourself against that difficulty is to start saving while you're young.
3. As for helping your parents -- you owe it to them. They raised you, and unless you're in the unfortunate position of having a genuinely toxic family, you should be there for them in their elderly years. Hopefully they have money to cover their expense, but you owe it to them to help them when they slow down and need help with driving to appointments, heavy cleaning, and so forth.
4. Finally, to those of you who lament the "demise" of pensions, three points:
- At no point in American history have most Americans had pensions.
- Pensions really are a double-edged sword. Earning a pension typically requires 20-30 years, and most people today don't stay in the same job that many years ... or their spouse is offered a job in another state ... or they are laid off before they can complete those years (again, age-ism). I don't think it's lack of loyalty so much as a shift in societal thinking and the possibility of making more money by moving to another job. Keep in mind, too, that it's impossible to gauge how much your pension will be worth because none of us know how many years we'll live. Someone's going to live to be 102 and squeeze that pension for all it's worth, but someone else is going to start drawing a pension at 65 and die at 67, having only received a pittance of what he paid into the system -- a person who has roughly the same amount in a 401K at least has the solace of knowing he can leave that money to his kids, but a pensioner who dies "young" loses that investment.
- Pensions tend to be offered in jobs that offer a lower paycheck. Government jobs such as teaching, military, etc. The pension is a trade-off for the lower pay; it gives a person the opportunity for a comfortable /modest retirement IF those 20-30 years are completed.
