Why work has failed us: Because no one can afford to retire anymore
no millennials expect to see a dime of social security income (whether or not this is justified is another question), nor do they have any plans to retire because the prospect of having enough money to do so is simply unrealistic for them.<p>i am not the only one that has put their income, expenses, and savings rate into one of those &quot;financial independence&quot; calculators (<a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;mustachecalc.com&#x2F;#&#x2F;calcs&#x2F;time-to-fi" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;mustachecalc.com&#x2F;#&#x2F;calcs&#x2F;time-to-fi</a>). i found that my predicted retirement age was in my 130s if i was willing to settle for a very modest retirement with a lower standard of living than i currently have.<p>that&#x27;s right: i&#x27;m roughly 100 years from having enough money to retire, even if i save perfectly diligently every single month from now until then, which is extremely unlikely. it doesn&#x27;t even make sense to plan for because i won&#x27;t live that long; the calculation doesn&#x27;t include anything along the lines of medical debt which is sure to accrue in old age if not sooner. the calculator may or may not be accurate to the decade, but it&#x27;s accurate to the half-century in any event. if it&#x27;s inaccurate by a half century in my favor, that still puts me as retiring in my late 80s -- hardly much more to look forward to.<p>i am always harping on the same thing: 6.5% interest rate student loans, rising rent, rising living costs, lower income, rising healthcare costs, shrinking benefits, and no social safety net to speak of have totally devastated the economic prospects of a generation.<p>the first plans to be thrown out the window during economic insecurity are the ones which are farthest away timewise. most people haven&#x27;t had a chance to even plan that far in the first place. by the time they have accumulated enough resources to start saving some each month, they may be forced to take care of their then-elderly parents, or, alternatively, their children -- which most people can&#x27;t afford anyway. so much for building up savings.<p>to be clear, it isn&#x27;t &quot;work&quot; that has failed us. it&#x27;s capitalism.