Retirement

[SkinBasket]

Perhaps I need a comp sci degree like the 3 guys I work with who are absolute know-nothings?

You cloned Partial? Why on earth would you do that?

[Patler]

Anyone, and I mean anyone can retire by 50 with some very basic financial planning and saving. I would say most could do it by 45 if they were thrifty.

Sure, if you are one of the lucky ones it can happen. But for many, things get in the way, like:

- a choice between a lower paying career/location that is better for your family than a higher paying one from which you could save more.

- a job that evaporates as your employer moves over seas or just fades away, and you are faced with periods of unemployment or starting over in a new profession midway through those years in which you planned to build your retirement. Not only might you fail to save during those years, you might even be forced to use some of your retirement nestegg.

- having children and making the decision to rely on a single income so one spouse can stay at home with a large family that you wouldn't trade for a lifetime of retirement, because you know in your heart it is better for your kids with a parent at home.

- a chance to give your kids better opportunities than you had, because you can afford things your parents could not, like help with college expenses and beginning a career.

- unexpected expenses for the health of your parents, yourselves or your children.

Some of these are conscious decisions about which you can argue a person consciously decides to forgo early retirement. But, some are situations beyond a person's control. To suggest that "anyone" can retire by 50 suggests a lack of basic understandings of what happens in life to many people.

[the_idle_threat]

Nothing like short-n-curlies falling off that wad of singles as they're being handed through the drive-thru window later.

Not that this is an unusual occurance, by the way, given the places dollar bills often go.