this post was submitted on 15 May 2025
65 points (94.5% liked)
chat
8396 readers
245 users here now
Chat is a text only community for casual conversation, please keep shitposting to the absolute minimum. This is intended to be a separate space from c/chapotraphouse or the daily megathread. Chat does this by being a long-form community where topics will remain from day to day unlike the megathread, and it is distinct from c/chapotraphouse in that we ask you to engage in this community in a genuine way. Please keep shitposting, bits, and irony to a minimum.
As with all communities posts need to abide by the code of conduct, additionally moderators will remove any posts or comments deemed to be inappropriate.
Thank you and happy chatting!
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I understand that a lot of people look at those numbers and think that's an obscene chunk of money, but $28k/yr as a retiree (especially one who doesn't have fully paid off housing) is not liveable. This person still has property taxes to pay, utilities, groceries, and above all else massively inflated medical expenses (which may very well wreck their body to the point where working is a literal impossibility).
Also, for retirement money you're not taking the interest but instead slowly doling out what money you have saved up year over year, so the amount you could sustainably take out will shrink over time... which means if you live longer than you expected, now you're in a position where you have no money at all at the point in your life where your support network has quite literally died off and you have no ability to work anymore.
4% rate of withdrawal is supposed to be "safe" for 30 years, but that's only a 90-95% chance. So based off that around 1 in 10 or 20 people end up with nothing but social security even before the 30 years is up