Social Security

[faninor]

[Tattooed Angels]

[faninor]

[kyks17]

I think all retirement monies should be the sole result of the individual's own good planning and forethought. If you didn't realize you would need money to keep living after you stop working, then you don't get to stop working. There's so much information out there about these savings vehicles that it is simply unacceptable to use this excuse. I've had an IRA since I was 20, and I always contribute to it, even if I can only put a few bucks a month.

Why should the current generation put part of their pay aside to pay for the older generation, who themselves had put aside their pay to pay even older generations? Who the hell started this? What is so wrong with the current generation paying for the current generation? Then you don't have to worry about something like baby boomers sucking the funds dry since the population spike didn't hold and we don't have enough kids to support them now. And if the current generation supports the current generation, then just strike that down to the individual supports the individual. If your neighbor chooses to blow every cent they ever made keeping up with the Joneses, then too bad for them. I don't feel bad for the people you see in ads, demanding that their credit card debt simply disappear. Well who the hell forced you to go spend money you didn't have? Throughout all of this, I am not counting the extreme scenarios. Yes, I realize you can find yourself in debt just trying to get by, but those are not the people I am talking about here. You know the people I mean. They're the ones in those ads! If you don't want debt, don't spend money you don't have! If you want to retire some day, put away your own damn retirement savings! If you want to spend every dime you ever made, do it knowing full well that nobody (as a community) will financially support you!!!!

Please people. PLEASE. Wake the hell up and learn some basic personal finance. It is NOT HARD and will make all the difference in your life.