Saving for retirement is the new Rock & Roll….sike I actually don’t really know anyone else (my age) that is saving for the days ahead, but I know a lot of people who wear skinny jeans, drink starbucks, and drive toyota priuses (prii?, how the heck do you pluarlize prius!). Not to say these are necessarily bad things, except maybe men in skinny jeans, but they are all trendy.
It’s darn near impossible to convince a young person to put their money away. Delay of gratification is a fleeting concept in my generation. Who wants a million dollars at age 60 if ya have to sacrifice not buying the newest iPod touch today? What is it about saving for retirement that isn’t sexy?
I’m sitting here running through a list of my employed friends and I know of three that contribute to retirement. THREE! That’s craziness. I want to slap some of them and say “Do you know how much that new purse is really costing you” (not that I would ever slap a woman). The “I’ll just wait until I have more money” approach isn’t going to work. Ya gotta buckle down now, commit to saving at least 5%, more like 10-15%, before you spend one dime.
We live in a society where pop-culture tells us how to act, how to dress, and what to do. For this purpose,I have solicited a few celebrity endorsements, in hopes that they can influence my generation to start saving for retirement. Check em out….
To all you like minded 20-something bloggers, please do me a favor and share this with some of your “less informed” friends. Who knows, if Lauren from The Hills says save for retirement, we just might have a shot. Any freaks out there that everyone they know is thoughtfully saving for the future, or are you like me and one in a million?
p.s.I apologize to any skinny jeans wearers that I offended today 🙂
Hey Ninja,
I know exactly what you are saying. I think getting some celebrities to spread the word, like you did with Mr T and Lauren from The Hills above, could make a difference.
I’m a similar age to you and I’ve been saving for retirement for a while. Over here in Australia I think it’s a bit different to your system. Here it’s law that everyone’s employer must put 9% of their gross wages/salary into a superannuation account, which is similar to your 401k’s. You can always contribute more if you wish, which is what I do, and the government gives you bonuses for depositing some of your own hard earned cash. So here everyone is forced to save for retirement. But what happens is as people change jobs they don’t keep track of their retirement accounts, new accounts get opened, and after awhile some young people have 2, 4 even 8 retirement accounts floating around, each one paying admin fees and whatnot. It’s just crazy!
I don’t view superannuation/retirement funds as just for retirement, it’s also good to know it’s there as a buffer in case of some dire emergency, only to be accessed as a last resort.
You know…skinny jeans for men are growing on me. I wouldn’t dare call them sexy, but they’re kinda cute. On skinny men of course. You have to be skinny to pull that look off.
Fortunately, I can say I’m not the only one among (why does the spelling of “among” look so weird to me?) my friends that’s saving for retirement. But the frustration I feel with those who wouldn’t save a nickel if their life depended on it pretty much cancel out any warm and fuzzies I feel towards those who manage their money well.
My friends have all been poisoned. I actually was the last one to get on the retirement saving train. This was mostly due to me not being sure whether my job would be around, so I didn’t want to start dumping money into a 401K that could disappear along with my check. So I got a Roth IRA and I love it. I’m not contributing as much as I’d like, but it’s getting me there. All in all, I’m happy to know that all my friends, if we’re still friends 40 years from now, will be sitting on some pretty pennies in retirement.
LOL. I really like the 3 impersonations – did well in voicing them. I know for a fact that I do not save enough in my retirement – and I am in my mid 30s. I also try to mark my son’s brain by putting away 10% of his allowance into a savings account. He doesn’t understand the concept with him only gaining $1.50 per week (to which he almost has a hundred in the bank).
He thinks that when he has a real job he will put away then. I tell him all the time it starts somewhere and now is better than then.
Make your voice be heard, Ninja!
.-= Money Funk´s most recent blog ..20 Ways to Cut Expenses =-.
11 percent of my monthly pay goes to my retirement funds, automatically deducted from the pay each month, and i put away 10 more percent before i even spend the money. A few months back, the gov allowed us Malaysians to change from saving 11 to 8 percent (more money in pokcet coz of the ecocnomy crash etc), but I chose to keep the same amount in. Now that im getting more than what i did last year, i also know that i am SAVING more, which makes me real warm n fuzzy inside! I also tutor *gets half of my monthly pay just from that* so its awesome, i can save and spend too.
PS: I wrote u a while back asking abt credit cards n going to grad school. I got accepted into a grad school, starting this Dec semester. I think im enrolling =)
I save $50 a month into my IRA. That is all I can do at the moment. I am 27 years old. I wish I could save more but I have credit card debt, student loan debt, a mortgage and a job that doesn’t pay much. I will start contributing more in the next three years as I pay off the debt and earn more. Hopefully, by the age of 30 I will start/finish grad school and accept a position that pays well and allows me to max out my retirement. Yeah! Can’t wait for that!
I was thinking of writing a blog post for the sole reason of sharing it with friends. Some friends know about my pf love, but I have a feeling that there are lots of basics that I just want to tell my friends, without sounding like a know-it-all or getting all up in their business…but yes, it's pretty much painless to start saving…how do we make people stop being stupid and start doing it?