Saturday, November 22, 2014

Prepping for Retirement. It's for the Children Right?





I got to spend a 5 hour drive yesterday with two individuals that I think kinda sum up the two sides in the train wreck I see coming our way in the near future. Future? Hell for many it is already here with zero interest rates and inflation destroying what they had saved. Especially if they aren't one of the lucky ones with a public financed COLA adjustment each year.

One guy who spent his working years as a mechanic in the private sector, retired and then found out those 401K's were mostly a sham and Social Security has been looted of it's value by the money printers. He's a good guy really. In fact his political views are pretty much straight up the exact same as mine. Out of the group of us who work together they usually team the two of us up because I am the only one he doesn't get into an argument with on those long trips. I also don't complain about his listening to talk radio either :)

The other guy of course retired from a state job.

Now out of the crew of retired government employees who I work with, which out number the private sector co-workers about four to one I might add, this guy is about the most realistic of the bunch. Of course he retired from the prison system so not only did he get a healthy dose of reality on the job but wasn't any where near the top tier in retirement benefits either. Still the differences are staggering.

The mechanic worries about his children, grandchildren, what will happen when he can no longer keep working, what he can leave his children and will they take care of him in his final days. The other guy just stated that nothing would piss him off more than leaving anything to his kids and besides they didn't earn it anyway.

I listened to this back and forth for an hour or so until they finally brought me into the discussion. By that point I had been running scenarios through my head and could clearly see the bias in both sides of the issue.

On one hand we had someone who knew his assets were not gonna be enough and on the other we had someone who was counting on that check coming in from the government for the rest of his life that was enough.

The question I was asked was whether I planned on leaving my son anything. My answer was I damned well hope so. But why he asked? I bit back the standard "we need more money" school retort that children are our future and simply pointed out that without a government security net who would take care of you?

Before this whole retirement scam of social security, pensions, medicare whatever got rolling inheritance was about the best retirement account you had going for you. When a person relied on his own production to survive and reached the age he could not produce as well any longer than your best bet was to make sure someone you could trust took over the property you had and used it to produce for all of you. It wasn't about leaving your heirs money to play with but property that helped them become more productive. Tools, land, livestock.... for the entire family.

In essence the very things we as sustainers or preppers strive to have today. So why not count on it being a vehicle for own retirement when the time comes and the government ponzi schemes finally fail?

My bet is there would be a lot less grumpy old men out there who have alienated their own adult children if that were the case. Sitting around drinking and worried about what their kids might get that "They don't deserve".

Of course my final comment I think hit home the hardest. I simply said "Well when I get to be your age and as grumpy as you if my kid is still with me I think he would have earned everything I can give him".

Many things are going to change in the post debt society and I think a return to closer knit families will be one of them. Prep accordingly.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!


18 comments:

  1. Amen! Have reached "retirement" and setting pretty as long as gov't doesn't take it all. Still able to work hard, manage investments and property but everyone is a heartbeat away from not being able to do for themselves or others. Have no kids of my own but got an aged mother who has frittered away all my Dad worked for his whole life and she needs to be supported. Health cost for husband, Mom and me and any one else in family who may need it could take it all in a hurry. My " baby" sister's kids are some of the best in the world but writing is on the wall and as they toil to support the aging Boomer population and the "takers" I can see only a lifetime of struggle. God Bless them!! If they can keep working to feed the world (farm kids) and take care of me and their other aunts when we are drooling in our oatmeal and repeating our 'stories' for the 27th time they deserve everything I can leave them and more. I work everyday for what I can teach them, leave them, and if I can manage, to buy more farmland for their future. Love your blog. It is hard working, thoughtful people who may be able to turn this mess around or at least help us endure until future generations can do it for us.

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    1. Anon - Thank you for the kind words. It's praise coming from readers like you that keep me blogging honestly.

      I don't know when or why the concept of bettering one's children and grandchildren became something many stopped caring about. I suppose it was always with us to a point but by and large families were forever I think.

      Your last sentence really sums it all up.

      Thank you again.

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  2. Retirement is one of those words like vacation and benefits, words that other people use and talk about and don't apply to me. I have moved past those things and don't think about them as they simply aren't going to happen. The choice is to play the game and go after all possible benefits from the government or take your ball and go home and play your own game.

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    1. Sf - It is amazing how many men our age came to the same realization. Somehow many of us kinda fell through the government gimme cracks. I assume at the time it was all the rage to hire everyone but our particular make and model.

      I lucked out and have some retirement not to mention paid off property in a (for now) low tax county but like you I have made peace with the fact I ain't gonna be in on the gravy train during old age.

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  3. I see your point but don't agree. Would your perspective change if your child was responsible or reckless? Just saying, there are variables.

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    1. JMD - Of course it would change but that's not really the point. It used to be the family and it's continuance was important to most people. Also without government benefits to fall back on I think it would be so again is my main point here.

      I suspect it also had something to do with larger families too.

      That is really all I am saying. Of course there will be exceptions and those who are banished from the families or still parents who alienate their children or squander the family wealth. It used to be those things were looked down on and thought of as bad and rare. Not so anymore.

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  4. We don't think there is such a thing as retirement, in the traditional sense. Sure, we hope to only have to need money for the basics but the hard work will never cease. Perhaps we can just sit under a shade tree, have a nice drink and watch the end come.

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    1. Max - Well there seems to be two types these days around here. Those who can afford to retire and those who have to keep working. The divide seems to come with those who worked a government job and those who didn't. Not sure how long that will sit well with the those who didn't crowd but who knows.

      It really boils down to debt. As long as the government can get unlimited credit it will continue.

      I hope to be drinking and watching too :)

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  5. With the steps towards decline, and the easy oil days fading in the rear view mirror, the future holds multi-generational homes for the common folk.

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    1. K - I think so to. I think we will see families making some huge strides to stay amiable with each other unlike instances today when they tend to be more splintered.

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  6. Who wants to 'retire'? Look at all the guys who retire and then die within a week. And not doing anything would be boring. I'll keep on going as long as I can, teach my kids what I know, learn with them and hopefully this ranch will be a blessing to them in the future since the future sure doesn't look all that promising.

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    1. hobo - LOL I can't say I ever want to actually retire now that you mention it. I just want to not have a boss :)

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  7. My dad "retired* and never planned for anything. He and mother only have a 5,000. Life insurance policy- that they both have borrowed against. The only positive is dad is a veteran so they both get buried for free at the national cemetery in Jax. All we kids will get left is a pile of debt. My Moms philosophy is this: " my mother left me nothing, and I will do the same".

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    1. JuGM - See I started seeing that philosophy int he 80's I think. Not sure where it sprang up from although I think it had a lot to do with government taking on the role of retirement provider. First in SS and then in pensions. Once people knew they had something coming in they no longer worried as much about growing the family coffers if you take my meaning.

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  8. Why help your children? It's simple: "A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children" (Proverbs 13:22)

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    1. RP -I think that says it all right there and speaks volumes as to why it is falling by the wayside in some regions.

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  9. I don't watch any TV so I am not in a position to know, but I have always wondered if there is a personality on FOX that has pushed the ID of not leaving any money for the kids. I only say that because I have heard it in conversation a number of times and it was always the heavy (and I mean retired, real heavy) FOX watchers that I heard it from.

    But I will say, in all fairness, most of the older folks I know are more inclined to be FOX watchers in any case so the sampling number is skewed in any case.

    For myself, the few times I see the political talking heads programs, of both sides, I find them to be stunningly simplistic with the logic generally being of an "us against them mentality." One side assumes unlimited exponential growth forever is possible, and the other somehow thinks that there is unlimited potential funds to be redistributed.

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  10. My last post was on the extended family. My mother in law lives here as she had nowhere to go. I hope to leave property to m y children, but I also hope they will care for us in the case we need it.
    I believe in extend e d families

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