The Misconception Around Retirement

Expectations vs. Reality: A broken system

The traditional system is flawed, and more people recognize this truth. Work 40+ years of your life to enjoy your last decade. That’s if you save and invest enough money to cover the rest of your life. If you want to leave your children with a sizable inheritance, the traditional model becomes more challenging.

Many retirees downsize to mitigate the risk of running out of money. Many buy a smaller home and drive a used car. Despite social security and maybe a pension, expenses get kept to a minimum to fund retirement.

That’s if social security trusts don’t run out of money. Social security trusts will run out of money in 12 years. The current decline in birth rates leaves fewer people to fund social security in future generations. Rising life expectancies result in more people needing social security longer. Fewer people can pay into a system rapidly growing in size. As someone in his 20s, I’m acting as if I’ll never get a penny from social security. The social security situation will get worse before it gets better (if the situation ever improves).

Never Stop Working

The misconception around retirement is that you eventually stop working. Your funds combined with social security (and a pension for…