"Money Lessons From Older Americans..."

[zolotiyeruki]

I wasn't sure whether to post this video in this subforum, or in the antimustachian wall of shame subforum.  There's some good stuff, and some truly facepunch-worthy stuff (in my opinion): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbMRv19SkXY

I find it interesting that the producers of the video didn't include anyone who successfully retired.  It seems all these retirees either made some serious missteps--some out of innocent ignorance, some out of apparent poor judgment--or retired with insufficient savings and had major medical issues.

Some good things: understand how to invest, save for retirement early, max out your 401(1) match, avoid debt, hold on to your portfolio, take care of family, put your own mask on first, don't cash out your entire 401(k) at once.

The bad advice: "don't retire early." "work as long as you can"  Certainly there is such a thing as "too early" to retire, if you haven't accumulated enough.  "you sit around and get bored.  Retirement's boring."

[LD_TAndK]

"After retirement, I cashed out my entire 401k, and deposited $110K for a down payment on the house, I also paid a 45% income tax bill for taking all the money at once"
The same person:
"When I was 58 I had more than $500,000 saved for retirement, I turned in my retirement paperwork, what a mistake that was"

Blaming retirement when the real problem is financial illiteracy

[GilesMM]

Most people should not retire.

[bacchi]

"After retirement, I cashed out my entire 401k, and deposited $110K for a down payment on the house, I also paid a 45% income tax bill for taking all the money at once"
The same person:
"When I was 58 I had more than $500,000 saved for retirement, I turned in my retirement paperwork, what a mistake that was"

Blaming retirement when the real problem is financial illiteracy

That was my take as well. None of these people learned about saving or investing.

There's a brief shot at the end where the truck driver is getting out of his pickup. As he walks towards his rig, there's another pickup and a boat. If those were his, he still hasn't learned anything.

[AuspiciousEight]

This whole video is just really sad. Not just from a financial perspective but just sad in general. It's like the whole video just has a sad tone to it.

Or maybe that's just me, idk.

[Monocle Money Mouth]

"After retirement, I cashed out my entire 401k, and deposited $110K for a down payment on the house, I also paid a 45% income tax bill for taking all the money at once"
The same person:
"When I was 58 I had more than $500,000 saved for retirement, I turned in my retirement paperwork, what a mistake that was"

Blaming retirement when the real problem is financial illiteracy

That was my take as well. None of these people learned about saving or investing.

There's a brief shot at the end where the truck driver is getting out of his pickup. As he walks towards his rig, there's another pickup and a boat. If those were his, he still hasn't learned anything.

I thought the same thing when I saw that part of the video. The truck wasn't brand new, but if he bought it new, I wouldn't be surprised if it cost over $50,000.

I'm sure he bought it with a loan and extended warranty too.

Most people are not good at critical thinking, managing money, and controlling their emotions. They will pay anything to avoid a little discomfort right now, feel some fleeting pleasure now, or get a hold of some empty status symbol that nobody actually cares about.

Most people aren't willing to feel a little discomfort voluntarily now to avoid a lot of involuntary discomfort later.

[Louise]

"After retirement, I cashed out my entire 401k, and deposited $110K for a down payment on the house, I also paid a 45% income tax bill for taking all the money at once"
The same person:
"When I was 58 I had more than $500,000 saved for retirement, I turned in my retirement paperwork, what a mistake that was"

Blaming retirement when the real problem is financial illiteracy

That was my take as well. None of these people learned about saving or investing.

There's a brief shot at the end where the truck driver is getting out of his pickup. As he walks towards his rig, there's another pickup and a boat. If those were his, he still hasn't learned anything.

I don't think those were his. It looked like a storage lot (the boats were different).

[Louise]

I think these people are pretty typical. They were relying on their incomes and jobs to last longer than they did in some cases.

I'm guessing the woman who had $500K in a 401K didn't know she could roll it over into an IRA.

[mistymoney]

I did think they did a great job with the video. I thought the end was more hopeful, but the middle was a bit jarring with how bad their financial situations were.

77 and no retirement money saved? And not that he spent it all, seemed it never existed....

Hopefully - a lot of people will learn from their stories.