• @[email protected]
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    1446 months ago

    Health insurance is HOW MUCH!

    And there are Brits here saying how great private care is and how much they want it… fucking turkeys to christmas.

    • @[email protected]
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      606 months ago

      People who push for private healthcare are either the type that could afford it or are the sheep following them.

      And the thing is, private healthcare is great for those who can afford it. Both specialists and PCPs are readily available for appointments in the US, and the quality of care is good!.. You’ll just end up bankrupt if your employer doesn’t provide good insurance.

      It’s fucked up, and it’s not equitable. But I understand why it’s appealing to the wealthy.

      • @[email protected]
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        306 months ago

        Both specialists and PCPs are readily available for appointments in the US

        Where are you going? I usually have to schedule my appointments at least three months out, or there is no availability. My girlfriend had to wait a year and a half to see her OBGYN

      • @[email protected]
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        96 months ago

        Both specialists and PCPs are readily available for appointments in the US, and the quality of care is good!

        My wife and I have high incomes and good insurance and she’s currently waiting 2 months for a specialist.

        The system is not good by any metric.

        • @[email protected]
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          26 months ago

          No no no that’s only supposed to happen with universal healthcare! That only happens with socialism! Sean Hannity said so! Our system Is The Best On Earth!™

    • @[email protected]
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      326 months ago

      There’s a reason why literally no other country in the world is imitating the US healthcare insurance system.

          • @[email protected]
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            16 months ago

            Putin had a hand in the Brits leaving the EU and the election of Trump in the US - both massive wins for Putin.

            • @[email protected]
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              6 months ago

              I’m sure he’s had a hand in a lot of things. Trolls are very cheap in Russia.

              But it doesn’t absolve anyone of their responsibility now, and it won’t in the future.

        • @[email protected]
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          86 months ago

          Britain has universal healthcare with zero deductible and zero co-pays. Not even on the same planet.

          • @[email protected]
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            16 months ago

            Sadly, only somewhat true nowadays.

            There are plenty of parts of healthcare that are privatised and pay only. Some of this paid for by the NHS and the current government are attacking the “costs” of that. Especially as the treatments are often more expensive when done privately than they were on the NHS. Dental and optical treatment are privatised now. Much of our ambulance and rescue service are now private or voluntary. We’re seeing ever increasing costs for the ambulance services, while watching wait times skyrocket. Given private ambulance firms are measured on a few KPIs, they are targeting those over general care. Many surgeries that used to be covered (such a cleft lip) by the NHS are now regarded as cosmetic and come with insurance deductibles or are not even covered by insurance.

            Many industries, such as software development, are offering private cover as a workplace bonus. What that means in reality is when I come off my motorbike, the expensive emergency surgery I need will be covered by an NHS surgeon. The insurance company will then “elect” to pay for me to be moved to a comfortable hotel/hospital where I can stay in comfort. That comfort is what I’ll be paying my insurance for, not the actual surgery.

    • @[email protected]
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      306 months ago

      Haven’t heard of that phrase but it’s an apt analogy for my fellow Brits. Same with Brexit. Wasn’t till afterwards did they realize that what they voted for and were upset. Heaven forbid you listen to those warning you about it.

  • @[email protected]
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    686 months ago

    … median lifetime earnings for the typical U.S. worker stand at $1.7 million…

    And Musk makes over 3.5x that amount in a single day.

    Three and a half lifetimes of work per day, and nobody wants to do anything about the billionaire problem?

    • @[email protected]
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      46 months ago

      But you don’t understand. Billionaires earn their money. They’re superior to us. They make that much because they’re just much better people than the rest of us. If you stood next to Musk you would notice the heat radiating from his head as his massive Iron-Man like intellect dwarfs your puny brain. You should be in awe of his superiority and beg to have his children (even if you’re a guy). Clearly they should be rewarded for all their helping society and their taxes should be LOWERED, not increased.

      The REAL billionaire problem is that we don’t have enough of them!

      • @[email protected]
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        316 months ago

        If money is imaginary then why can’t we guarantee food, shelter, clothing, and education for every single human on this planet.

      • @[email protected]
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        236 months ago

        You’re half right (there is no finite pool of money) but your conclusion is bonkers. Rich people are not spending their money, they’re using it to outbid each other for control of existing assets. So that they can overcharge ordinary people to access the things that they need.

        The boots are not that tasty. Stop fucking yourself over for a chance to lick them.

          • @[email protected]
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            26 months ago

            You are not a temporarily embarrassed millionaire. You’re one of the people the wealthy gladly step on. We’re all in the same boat, sharing the same crumbs, rowing our hearts out.

            We’re tugging a yacht behind us, full of billionaires having a banquet on the backs of our labor.

    • @[email protected]
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      176 months ago

      If you read the actual original Investopedia article, most of these claimed costs make silly assumptions about the definition of “The American Dream” and a lot of the data is cherry picked.

      They claim the “American dream” requires an $800k house at an over 7% interest rate and they assume you only put 10% down.

      They claim the “American dream” involves buying a different used car every 6 years.

      They claim the “American dream” involves spending $70k on pets over the course of your lifetime.

      Its an interesting exercise, but the assumptions are weird and the headline is sensational.

      • @[email protected]
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        206 months ago

        If we assume a generous pet lifespan of 15 years that’s not unreasonable that’s like $400/mo which depending on what your pet needs food wise and how much you spoil them is easily met

      • @[email protected]
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        126 months ago

        If you have pets bigger than a hamster, 70k in your lifetime seems reasonable, even low. That around 1k per year.

        And a different used car every 6 years is borderline frugal. My dream would be a new car every 3 years.

        I don’t see the data to be so bad. Even the house financing is realistic (heavily dependent on location, of course).

        • TechyDad
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          36 months ago

          I bought my current car new 14 years ago. It has some issues that might be too expensive to fix so I might need to buy another car. My ideal car would be an electric car, but that is way too expensive for my budget. So I looked at hybrids. I might be able to make a hybrid work, but even a gas car will be stretching my budget.

          And I plan to keep my next car until it breaks down - which hopefully would be about another 14 years.

          • @[email protected]
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            26 months ago

            I’ve never understood the mentality of ‘its too expensive to fix’. $3000 is unobtainable, but $15000 just fine? My jeep needed a new engine, instead of buying a new car I just put a new engine in it. Saved me over ten grand and I’ve got transportation for at least the next ten years. Just fix your car, you’ll be better off in the long run.

          • @[email protected]
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            26 months ago

            Cars devaluate around 50% every 3 years, so if you bought a 3 year old car instead of new, you could swap it every 7 years for the same cost. And if it holds some residual value, even more often than that…

            Some manufacturers even offer warranties on 3 year old leasing returns.

      • @[email protected]
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        66 months ago

        The $800k house figure includes interest payments. So the value of the home will be much, much less than $800k.

      • @[email protected]
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        66 months ago

        As an average, those assumptions are downright modest. The cliche of a house with a white picket fence, a wife, 2.5 kids, a dog, and a mortgage line up pretty well with that.

        Granted, this isn’t everyone’s dream, and it doesn’t apply everywhere. But I would bet that the majority of people in this country would describe that as the cost to live that cliche.

  • TechyDad
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    406 months ago

    Retirement: $715,958

    And this is why I likely won’t be able to retire. At a recent retirement meeting my company gave, they said that people should be putting 15% of their income into retirement. However, I can’t afford to do this. Not even close.

    I live a pretty frugal life. I don’t vacation. I rarely go out to eat or order food in. I plan my meals and only buy what we need. I drive a 14 year old car that’s paid off. Still, my expenses, while less than my income, wouldn’t let me reduce my pretax income by 15%.

    I’m 48 and I doubt if I’ll have 20% of the figure above when it comes time to retire.

    • @[email protected]
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      116 months ago

      And still 700K for retirement is still low since I’m sure they’re using the US median salary and the old adage of saving 10 times your salary for retirement. So far every place I’ve worked and attended the financial seminar, my own retirement manager, and my sister who works in the industry have told me you really should be saving 15 - 20 time your salary if you want to live comfortably.

      So to me what this article is saying is that you’ll need that just so you can live pay check to pay check through retirement and still be stressed the fuck out and at risk for being homeless in your golden years.

    • @[email protected]
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      56 months ago

      I assume you’re in the US? Because many other developed countries rely a lot less on private retirement savings and a lot more on public retirement programs in order to get everyone covered.

      Of course, that means higher earners would have to pay more into programs similar to social security through taxes to cover lower earners, which many Americans are not willing to do.

    • @[email protected]
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      46 months ago

      Are you me? Wow.

      Now, I don’t know where you live, but Canada at least has old age security (and a pension plan) that should offset a good chunk of your expenses when you retire.

      That’s in addition to whatever you do manage to put away.

      However, it really helps if you own a home and are mortgage free by the time you hit retirement age.

      • TechyDad
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        66 months ago

        I do own my house and hopefully will be mortgage free by the time I retire (or hit retirement age). I’m in New York State. Social Security would theoretically help, but who knows if it’ll be around in 30 years. If it’s not, I’ll be working until I’m 90. If it is, I might be able to retire at 75. Assuming I don’t have any large, unexpected expenses (which is a huge assumption).

      • @[email protected]
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        26 months ago

        US also has Social Security to help fund a basic retirement but it’s pretty minimal. It is enough to keep you from living on cat food

        I also can’t finish paying off my mortgage before I should retire and given rampant ageism, I don’t know whether I’ll be able to find a job that long. And Social Security won’t cover my mortgage plus utilities

        And even worse, Social Security needs adjustments to be able to continue meeting its commitments. The longer our political leaders avoid that, the more impact it will have when they are forced to do their jobs

    • @[email protected]
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      16 months ago

      What’s your employer match for you 401k? that 15% saving should be the savings after your employer match. So if you have that, you might be able actually sacrificing less than 15% of take home pay to save fore retirement.

      • TechyDad
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        56 months ago

        I’d have to look it up. My company actually just changed the entire system to help out younger employees - but with the effect of hurting employees who have worked here longer. So it actually ends up being harder for me to save up. They acknowledged this, but argued it off as not affecting that many people. (Not many people - just the folks who stuck around the longest!)

        The explanation we were given, though, was that 15% came before the matching. So I should take every $100 I earn and stick $15 into my retirement fund. Then, of course, I’d need to put some into healthcare, some into taxes, and some into basic costs of living. Then, when I’m done, I might be lucky enough to have a shiny penny left over. Unless I have any unforeseen expenses in which case I’d go deep into debt.

        • @[email protected]
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          16 months ago

          I think that advice makes sense. Ideally put away more than 15% of your gross income if possible, but I think the general advice is that you should be saving 15% of your gross income every year. Whether part of that 15% of gross comes from employer match or directly from you doesn’t matter.

          I think my employer did have a grant or something for new hires as well. The other thing I think they have is automatic increases annually of 401k contribution. So just in case you are an employee that doesn’t manually go in to modify contributions, those employees will automatically have an increase of 1% contribution to 401k every where up to a certain upper limit, iirc.

          Good luck on the retirement. Hope it works out. Also, when you look at the calculators to project future retirement, they tend to assume the market will greatly underperform historical market performance. For me it looks bad on that default. When I flip the project to match historical performance, or out perform historical performance, my retirement looks excessive. So save as much as you can and follow the guidelines, but there is some luck of market factors involved as to how you will end up.

      • @[email protected]
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        36 months ago

        I work in a municipality in Texas, and despite our state government being crazy the benefits at most cities are fantastic.

        We have the Texas Municipal Retirement System in most places. At the last several cities I’ve worked at there’s a mandatory 7% employee contribution, but then the city double-matches the contribution, so I’m paying 7% in while putting 21% away.

        The catch is you have to work in TMRS city for a minimum of 5 years before you vest. If you don’t put in your 5 years you only get the 7%.

        And the really big cities don’t participate. So I ain’t gonna go work for Austin or Houston.

    • @[email protected]
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      16 months ago

      Do you mind me asking, what do you do? Do you own or rent your residence?

      I’m 41, and really striving to hit those numbers too and I feel like I’m doing pretty well with my position in life… it’s just life seems to be getting away from me as I look into the future and see my kids getting much more expensive.

      • TechyDad
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        46 months ago

        I’m a web developer. I own my house, but am still paying the mortgage. (So I guess I don’t technically fully own it yet.) I’m in a decent position financially at the moment - my income exceeds my expenses. Still, I’ve had some big financial hits recently ($3,600 for hearing aids for me, $1,000+ for tests to rule out cancer for my wife, $750 for a new dryer when our old one died, the potential new car that I might need to buy,…).

        So while I’m able to keep my head above water, financially, I’m not able to put enough away to secure my retirement. Also, one big adverse event (medical crisis, job loss with unsuccessful job search, etc) and my current financial state could go from “decent in the short term” to “drowning in debt.”

        • @[email protected]
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          16 months ago

          That’s wild. Like 4k of that isn’t anything I’d consider an expense due to universal health and insurance that covers the gaps.

          I hope you are able to remain stable though.

    • @[email protected]
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      Yeah, I think these rules (US) were made by people doing the math, without considering reality. It’s real easy to set aside a good amount to retire, as long as you set aside the recommended percentage throughout your career.

      Of course the reality is that most of us will never do that. Many of us will get divorced and lose half what we put aside. Many of us will have financial emergencies such as medical emergencies, or being out of a job. Many of us will just be scraping by and can’t afford to set aside that much of our pay. Many of us just won’t have the perspective to be willing to set aside money for retirement many decades away. Many of us will live through times when our investments lose significant value over years. More importantly , most of us will hit those conditions sometime in our career and the basic premise is just not realistic. At least as importantly, with so much dependency on compounding returns over decades, there’s no way to recover when all those rosy assumptions don’t pan out.

      I’m a good example, where I make a good income and realized the importance early on. At the beginning of my career I was able to daydream about my expected millions to retire. A few decades later and I’ve hit all of the above so am not even close. Even now as I panic about how soon I need to retire and how little I have set aside, and am making renewed effort, there’s no way to make up for all those missing years of compounding returns, and there’s only so much I can do while paying kids college expenses.

  • @[email protected]
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    6 months ago

    It costs lives too. Exploitation is hard baked into any $ucc€$$fu££ vulture venture or ideology

  • @[email protected]
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    396 months ago

    To put it in perspective… I inherited my mom’s house, retirement, life savings, car, etc. And I am still very limited in buying a new home where I actually want to live, bc of how outrageous prices are. Just imagine… almost 70 years of her life, and I can’t do what my dad and his first wife easily did at age 20 working as a restaurant manager. Insane.

  • @[email protected]
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    226 months ago

    Considering the Earth is dying and society will probably collapse in the next 20 years, there’s no “retirement plan”. You either die in your work boots at 90, get shot in the water wars, or starve to death once agricultural zones turn to sand.

    Buy the game you want. Tell that hot person you’re into them. See as much as the world right now as you can.

    Sure, there’s a COL crisis right now in North American, but in 20 years we’ll look back at right now as “the good times”.

    • @[email protected]
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      206 months ago

      You’ve forgotten the fourth category: the rich who barricade themselves into a paradise of hoarded resources while everyone else dies.

        • Hildegarde
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          56 months ago

          Or afterwards. One cannot live in a bunker without help. Why would the support staff not turn on the rich owner when the pay is worthless because there’s no world outside in which to spend it?

          • @[email protected]
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            16 months ago

            Oh fun story they already are trying to plan for that.

            Some of that answers the rich have come up with are:

            Shock collars for their security team that can’t be taken off.
            Implants that allow for remote killing of their security team.
            Biometric scanner that locks all food and water so I only the bunker owner can distribute it.
            AI systems that are self running.

            You know, literally comic book villain shit that when you try to point it out to them they seem truly confused as to your point. Reminder that the rich are already building their doomsday bunkers and have been just waiting for us to all die off for a while now.

      • @[email protected]
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        76 months ago

        It’s funny that the ruling class is banking on this outcome, without the understanding that to have a functioning society where people don’t just randomly die of disease or infection, you have to have a few thousand people that all live relatively close to each other. Bunker living is just delaying the inevitable death by starvation.

    • @[email protected]
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      -146 months ago

      Man my kid is going to have such a leg up over all the people who think like this. I hope your hilarious pessimism spreads honestly.

        • @[email protected]
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          6 months ago

          Please keep believing this. I have no interest in talking you out of your life choices.

          I don’t care about you. I do care about my kids. It benefits my kids for more people to think like you and give up on their lives. I hope your beliefs become widespread so my kids have life on easy mode.

            • @[email protected]
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              6 months ago

              Allowing you to make your own choices is not selfish. Being excited about your bad choices, that you make without my input and that I firmly believe are silly, is not selfish.

              Being happy my kids will have an easy life is not selfish, by definition.

              • @[email protected]
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                126 months ago

                Selfish:

                : concerned excessively or exclusively with oneself : seeking or concentrating on one’s own advantage, pleasure, or well-being without regard for others.

                By definition.

                • @[email protected]
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                  6 months ago

                  My daughter is not me. Your beliefs do not affect me at all. I’m already doing great, and you and i are most assuredly not competing for anything.

          • @[email protected]
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            76 months ago

            This is honestly one of the most pathetic things I have heard in awhile. How shitty of a parent are you that you bank on this kind of stuff?

            Sucks that your kids aren’t going to be given a good head start on learning empathy.

          • @[email protected]
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            6 months ago

            Just a guess, but I think your kids are going to be assholes. For their sake, I hope the apple rolls down a hill, far from the tree.

            • @[email protected]
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              -56 months ago

              My kids are saints lol. As am I. Disagreeing with people with crazy views doesn’t make you an asshole.

          • @[email protected]
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            56 months ago

            Your kids are going to have shitty lives if everyone around them has given up on life because the world sucks. Life on easy mode is being born rich.

            • @[email protected]
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              -46 months ago

              A small percentage of one generation is not “everyone around them.” This is not a large community and opinions expressed here are not widespread.

              • @[email protected]
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                06 months ago

                For all of our sakes, I hope you’re right. But with the amount of crop failures occuring in North America, I’m probably the one who is correct.

            • @[email protected]
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              -26 months ago

              We don’t get to pick when we exist, just play the hands wre dealt. Im happy they’re born into the safest, healthiest, most prosperous time in all of human history, worldwide.

      • @[email protected]
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        6 months ago

        Let me guess, you’re one of those “climate change is natural and the Earth has changed climate before a bunch of times periodically!” types of people?

        Turns out, pumping trillions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere for 150 years is bad for interconnected ecosystems. Notice how it doesn’t really snow anymore in North America, or if it does, it’s a “once in a lifetime” snowpocalypse? Notice how the hurricanes in the south don’t really ever stop now? Notice how Europe floods like a motherfucker now? Notice how many people are dying of heat stroke every year? How every single year is the hottest year in history? Remember when the North Pole existed?

        Also, how do you figure your kid is going to have an easy time? Statistically speaking, you make around $35k a year. Given the housing market and wage stagnation, your kid is most likely going to be in the working class who scrapes a living together with 5 roommates.

        • @[email protected]
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          6 months ago

          Let me guess, you’re one of those “climate change is natural and the Earth has changed climate before a bunch of times periodically!” types of people?

          I’m literally a climate lobbyist for Citizens Climate Lobby. You should join! We always need more passionate people.

          https://citizensclimatelobby.org/

          Statistically speaking, you make around $35k a year.

          I make slightly more than triple that, plus my wife’s income. It’s trivially easy to clear $35k right now, if you’re willing to work some difficult, boring hours. I’ve dedicated my life to a role where I help frontline, unskilled laborers, and my last 2 jobs require 0 skills for our bottom-tier worker and will pay you well over 35k per year.

          My daughter is in college for psychiatric nursing. I’m not worried about her. Entry level salary is about what I make now.

          Also, slight correction - the north pole still exists. It’s just ice free more often. The north pole is a magnetic feature of the planet

  • @[email protected]
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    Nope, the Big Brain Compassionate People have since informed me that the American Dream™ is ONLY that you have the OPPORTUNITY to maybe afford that life.

    So the American Dream™ is that CEOs exist, you can be one. The end. Get fucked Mr.Factory worker, your time passed and even though we still need you we don’t care about your quality of life, just be a CEO.

    It’s amazing, because in that world the American Dream™ is literally impossible to deny. Rich people will always exist and Big Brains will always point to them and say “you can be that” so shut up.

  • @[email protected]
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    226 months ago

    Some costs might be lower or higher, depending on a family’s goals. For instance, some might pay for more than one-year of college for their children, while others might buy fewer cars.

    Wedding and engagement ring: $35,800

    One year of college for two kids: $42,080

    Pets: $67,935

    Average cost to buy a home, including lifetime mortgage payments: $796,998

    Are you really buying a house if you never finish paying for it?

    • @[email protected]
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      116 months ago

      And you effectively never truly own the house, if you stop paying property taxes on it the city/county takes it.

    • @[email protected]
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      16 months ago

      Yes, because you have equity. You have partial ownership from the first payment until the last. If shit hits the fan, you can choose to sell it for whatever your portion of ownership is worth.

      You also don’t (generally) have to ask permission on what you do with your property.

  • @[email protected]
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    126 months ago

    Save up a million in 401k, investments and equity just to spend it all in a couple of years for senior care.