First of all, as you probably are aware, I try not to be political in my posts. And although this will sort of start out that way, please understand, I am not trying to be.
I'm tired of some of the folks on my Facebook friends list complaining that those rich people love Donald Trump because their 401Ks are doing well. Then go on to say those rich people don't understand the working people. This week, I had had enough.
This is not a pro Trump or even an against Trump thought. I'm just glad the market has shown some improvement and my retirement accounts are showing some gains. But what got me is this latest person was basically saying I'm rich because I have retirement accounts. I finally commented that not everyone who has retirement accounts is rich, and those people who have them made sacrifices through their working careers to put money aside. Since I worked in education, there were no matching funds for my 403b. My Roth is funded by money made by me.
So, I thought for awhile. We went to high school together. I chose to attend college. I worked to put myself through school. Neither of my parents finished high school, so going to college was a big deal. Between scholarships, grants, and working, I paid for college. When I graduated, I worked various jobs, sometimes two jobs, to make ends meet until I could get hired as a full time teacher. When I was hired full time, I opened a 403b and let me tell you, at $15,000 a year, paying $100 a month into that 403b wasn't always easy. As I made more money, I increased that. I started a very small IRA on my own. And when I could, opened a Roth IRA a number of years ago. I'm not rich. DH worked at the library and library salaries are notoriously low and he was not a librarian. I earned my master's degree and then went on to get 32 hours beyond my master's to get the step increases that come with that. No school loans. We tightened our belts so I could get this course work in.
DH is older than I am so the goal was to get the house paid off before he retired. We were paying extra each month so our mortgage was decreasing. When we had a family member die and there was a small inheritance, we used it to pay off the house, the car, and to buy the year and a half I subbed for my retirement. When I subbed, the state didn't take out money for the teacher pension, so I had to pay for it to help my pension. Other than the small inheritance, everything else was earned. I know a friend of ours when he heard we had a small inheritance told us he would go on a fancy trip and buy lots of stuff. We said no, we wanted to pay stuff off.
When we no longer had a mortgage payment, we started putting money away. As we had more savings, we then could look into investing. I still shop frugally. I use coupons, buy loss leaders, make a lot of things from scratch. Am I rich? Probably not. Am I comfortable. Yes, happily so.
I get tired of people who could have done something more trying to make me feel guilty because I have retirement accounts and my house is paid off. I learned a lot of lessons watching my parents. They struggled and it wasn't because they were not lazy or felt entitled. They just never had jobs that paid much. My dad kept drilling into me as a young person I needed to get an education and improve my quality of living.
The specific person I am writing about had many more opportunities than I. Both parents were college educated. I'm sure they would have helped put her through college. She chose to be the party gal and live that sort of life. Not everyone needs to go to college to make a great salary. I'm not saying that. But whatever one's career, they need to keep learning and be diligent as an employee and work to help themselves when it comes to saving money and helping themselves.
I feel like I can safely rant here because I think we are kindred spirits when it comes to bettering our financial lives. I have learned so many things reading your blogs and the forums.
Retirement Rant
December 22nd, 2019 at 07:57 pm
December 22nd, 2019 at 08:42 pm 1577047376
I love this. And I do not look at this in any way, shape and/or form as being a political post. I think it is more of a common sense / practical post.
December 22nd, 2019 at 11:25 pm 1577057115
December 23rd, 2019 at 01:11 am 1577063514
December 23rd, 2019 at 01:23 am 1577064238
And the whole concept that "rich" people like Trump is inane anyway.
December 23rd, 2019 at 02:47 am 1577069279
December 23rd, 2019 at 01:28 pm 1577107722
I simply do not understand WHY the guesstimate is 50% of people whom have zero skin in the game. I also do not understand why some people do not participate in 401ks if they have the chance also.
I see no reason why most people can open an IRA or invest in many ways now easier then when I was starting out.
IF they have nothing if is their fault no one else. It angers me when people claim I was just "lucky" and their problems were the fault of ....(insert reason).
This attitude and outcome simply reminds me of the old fable of the grasshopper and the ant.
December 23rd, 2019 at 02:13 pm 1577110432
We have always lived very far below our means, because the reward is worth ten times more than the sacrifice.
Wink is very spot on with the jealousy comment. It's easy to be jealous of one small piece of the puzzle while ignoring the entire rest of the puzzle. That's what drives me batty about those comments.
December 23rd, 2019 at 02:51 pm 1577112712
I agree that those that haven't saved and see those of us who have and say such things are jealous or at the least frustrated with their own behaviors towards savings.
December 23rd, 2019 at 05:20 pm 1577121656
December 24th, 2019 at 12:15 am 1577146520
December 25th, 2019 at 09:50 pm 1577310602
December 27th, 2019 at 01:35 am 1577410547
December 28th, 2019 at 04:26 pm 1577550376
December 28th, 2019 at 06:30 pm 1577557836
This is a biggie, and I have to remind myself about it from time to time. We go to visit friends and see the shiny new cars in the driveway of their McMansions and I can't deny I get a bit jealous. But then I remind myself that we save 30% or so of income, have zero debt, and well over $1 million invested. I have no idea if that's true of our friends or not, though the topic of their lease payments or mortgage payment does sometimes come up in conversation.
I'll take our paid off house, old cars, and million-dollar net worth over the shiny stuff and debt any day.