Yeah, right. Take on the risks of a startup as you approach retirement.
Startups are high-risk, high-reward ventures which make less sense to attempt as you age. It's normally a good idea to start moving your assets into fixed income and other low risk investments as you approach retirement, the same risk aversion applies to your income source(s).
Making the shift to consulting, if done properly, actually lowers your income risk because you can't lose your entire income in one go. If you have 3-4 regular clients, the most any one of them can do is force you to take a partial pay hit.
That's why it's a good idea to consider this path and start laying foundations that could make it possible long before you turn 50. Even though many HN users seem to misunderstand it, this isn't a novel idea by any means.
Personally I find the classical “retirement” you see in TV ads to be a sham sold by baby boomers.
There's nothing funny about it.
It's a great concept invented by a civilization better than ours in labor concerns, that we have failed to maintain because we allowed greed to overturn everything after the 70s.
Retirement is as great an a civilized invention as universal healthcare, schools, legal system, etc.
It's just that our societies are not worthy of it. Compared to a society that can, we're like primitives that throw disabled kids or elderly to the wolves.
>but we act like everyone is supposed to just sit on a golf course once they turn a magic age and live happily ever after without needing to earn a dime for the rest of their lives
Doesn't have to involve a golf course, but yeah, what's so strange about the situation you describe? For one, people pay all kinds of taxes throughout their lives for that. Second, it's not a "magic age" but a median age (which can change over time) when people no longer cannot realistically work (strength, health problems, etc).
I'd like to see you at 65+ with no retirement money and no job prospects, how that would change your tune...
Now, hoewever, most people work sedentary jobs with plenty of opportunity to aim for a life of retirement if they do please. Most do not. Is this society’s fault that employees don’t contribute to their 401(k)s until they are in their thirties?
To counter your point, a truly civilized society leads to greater individual responsibility for the self and for others. That doesn’t happen when things like healthcare and social security are planned for you using 80-year old blueprints.
I didn't have the opportunity or even know what a 401k was except at a high level until I was 26 in my first 'big job'. I'm 28 and still haven't put any money into it because I cannot afford to in a corporate IT position. I'm still trying to pay down my health insurance deductible so I can get my medications. How can I ever retire? At this point, I'm going to work until I die.
Not sure how this is my fault when I'm educated and work 45 hours per week and am away from home for 60 when adding in my commute.
Obviously yes.