Retirement savings ....Yikes !

[300UGUY]

There is a word in Japanese for working yourself to death. Kar

Whatever letter our current generation is, perhaps their biggest worry is carpal tunnel
and eye strain. Not back strain...

My great grandfather was a farmer in Eastern Europe. I think my grandfather wanted no part of that subsistence life, and
really believed what was written on the Statue of Liberty. So he came over in 1901, through Ellis Island, and
immediately went to work in a relative's butter and egg business in Newark, NJ.
And sent my Dad to Brown and Harvard Law School. Really an amazing accomplishment. And it took driving fifteen year old
Chevies to do it. Not a material family at all. My Dad's all time favorite thing was to come home, get in his blue jeans, light up a cigar, and
work in the garden. There is something in our family where we all want to get out hands in the dirt. Good genes I guess.

My mom died of cancer at 53 and my father of cancer at 65. Yes the cigars did him in. So in some ways they died before retirement. For seriously hard working folk, that
was pretty unfair. But unless one has a crystal ball, and not sure I want to know my last day on earth, we have to plan for the long, long term.
We are told to finance our retirements into our nineties.
Not sure I'm going to, plus I don't have kids, but we all watch our balances and at some point, naturally we ratchet back our normal expenses. Because medical expenses
take over.

Sounds kind of gloomy. Which is why I didn't wait any longer to get my new tractor. Every day is a great opportunity. Don't want to miss anything.

I retired as soon as I could. I've seen too many guys make grand plans - or no plans, and die young. I watched my best friend carefully plan on working to 65. At 62, he got cancer. Beat it. At 63, it came back, he was dead before he was 64. His widow now has a house too large, a pain she can never lose, and is alone in her last years. Btw, this guy never smoked, drank, was careful in what he ate, and exercised. I talk occasionally to some ex coworkers that are still working. They are struggling, work is harder than it used to be, and they seem miserable. Life is good for me, I bought my bota a couple years ago, you gotta do things, planning is overrated.

 

[schoolsout]

Japanese exports are hurting due to the currency wars. Japan has been mired in deflationary scenario for over 2 decades...they are not what they once were. Sure, they still produce, but they are trying every trick in the book to make it better without regarding the future.

 

[MacLawn]

Japanese exports are hurting due to the currency wars. Japan has been mired in deflationary scenario for over 2 decades...they are not what they once were. Sure, they still produce, but they are trying every trick in the book to make it better without regarding the future.

schools, et. al, I lived in Japan about 30 years, fluent in Japanese, blah, blah, blah, and know a tad about bidness there. On the karoushi, 過労死, working oneself to death, yes, some Japanese have done that, but like most media stuff, not as bad as media made it to be. Dollar started dying at the very first G7 (I think it was 7 at that time) meeting in 1985. Dollar went from average over many years of ¥245 per $ down to ¥150 per $, and now about ¥80 per $. I think that was the beginning of the $'s death, and one reason ALL vehicles are now so expensive.

Housing crisis? Started in Japan in 1990-91. Eg., one house I lived in cost $620,000 when built in 1990, house was torn down last year so just the land could be sold for $115,000! I just hope America doesn't go that far!

Even with all this, Japan's economy is trudging along - Japanese absolutely plan for the long haul! But like us, can't control things. I love health care system there! You pay based on family size and salary. Eg., my salary there, three of us, monthly health insurance was about $200. I took ambulance ride, spent 10 days in hospital, including intensive care, 5 stomach camera looks (forgot what that's called in English), and my cost was about $15.00 which included medicines. Excellent care!

Oh well, I can blab on all day about my life there since we lived there most of it! Anyway, back to good old USA, hey, let's hang in here boys with this retirement mess - we are going to make it! Old Ken has about talked me into going ahead and jumping off the old work cliff into the nice warm waters of DOING ONLY WHAT I WANT TO! I reckon.

 

[Redneck in training]

Both Germany and Japan have governments intimately involved in the manufacturing business. That's unlikely to ever happen in the USA. They also have tax rates of about 65% for mid range wage earners. That's with the USA picking up the tab for Germany's national defense, and spending $billions a year on military bases there.

There is a word in Japanese for working yourself to death. Kar Japan also has a horrifying public debt to deal with.

I just happen to work for a Japanese company as contractor. They would would want you to work 12 hour but pay you only 9. They put you in prison style accommodation, make you eat the same food every day etc. They try to hide problems instead fixing them, ask you to lie to the end user and this sort of things. They try to squeeze blood from a rock. They deliver project on time but there is a cost somebody else pays.

 

[riptides]

I just happen to work for a Japanese company as contractor. They would would want you to work 12 hour but pay you only 9. They put you in prison style accommodation, make you eat the same food every day etc. They try to hide problems instead fixing them, ask you to lie to the end user and this sort of things. They try to squeeze blood from a rock. They deliver project on time but there is a cost somebody else pays.

And this model is different from large tracks of corporate America, how?

 

[Travelover]

And this model is different from large tracks of corporate America, how?

We get different food every day. :laughing:

 

[Redneck in training]

And this model is different from large tracks of corporate America, how?

There is a difference. I work on many different sites and those run by USA engineering companies treat you much better. I get paid for my work. There is certain sense of fairness that is lacking when working for Japanese or Korean companies.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

To each of your points Larry ....they're all policies we are often told kill jobs.

Please provide us with some examples of the intimacy between business and these government that you apparently find objectionable.

I didn't say I found them objectionable, just that Germany and Japan are not the utopias they are often sold as. German unemployment is currently 6.9%. Japanese unemployment about 4.2%, but real wages have dropped 4% in the last decade and Japanese women do not work outside the home.

As for government involvement in business, I just said that it was unlikely to happen in the USA like it does in Japan or Germany. Both countries fund R&D and product development. Japan's regulatory environment makes it very difficult for foreign countries to sell anything in Japan, a tactic adopted by the Chinese as they insist goods be made in China, importing the manufacturing technology rather than the goods. You can imagine what Wall Street would do if someone required companies to actually make things in the USA. Apple and Nike would go out of business.

As for Germany, there is German Trade and Invest, which funds export development with 229 trade offices around the world, and Invest in Germany, the government trade intelligence agency that provides advanced intelligence on trade opportunities and secures financing for new industries.

Whole sectors of the US economy have been shipped offshore. There is no longer a US clothing industry, textile industry, or consumer electronics made in the USA. That's all government policy, aimed at maximizing investor profits rather than nurturing domestic industries and employment.

 

[mjarrels]

I was listening to Clark Howard last year. He was speaking to groups of NFL players who earn millions during their short careers and retire broke.

mark

 

[newbury]

<snip>
Whole sectors of the US economy have been shipped offshore. There is no longer a US clothing industry, textile industry, or consumer electronics made in the USA. That's all government policy, aimed at maximizing investor profits rather than nurturing domestic industries and employment.

Is that so much "government policy" as leaving the markets alone, business maximize profit - consumer minimize expense?