You neglect to consider people in the following situations:
1. People laid off multiple times who have used up their savings while looking for work.
2. People whose pensions (which they counted on) have been stripped by their former employers.
3. People who have been devastated by illness or natural disaster.
4. People whose savings have been pirated by unscrupulous investment manipulators (Enron, Indianapolis Power and Light).
5. People who have toiled at jobs which never paid enough for them to save very much (the working poor).
It is all well and good to make the statements about how everyone should save, and it's their fault if they don't have enough to retire. Are you going to reimburse your parents for the money they spent on your education?
Are you going to reimburse your parents for the money they spent on your education?
I paid every penny - for my undergrad and masters. Paid off my student loans early so I could get saving. But, yes, this is unrealistic and can't possibly be done. OK, off to the car dealership to see about a new car!!!
What's mind boggling is that people call this arrogant. When in reality what this is is a person who didn't want to get caught not having enough money for retirement so I saved and invested, working two jobs to be sure that i will have enough. I'm sorry if that upsets you.
And, who knows - some day I may loose it all. But I'm not going to go about whining about it (certainly the man in the article wasn't). I'd do what I always do - get back up and keep going at it. I've had tenants who don't bother paying the rent because their cell phone bill is hundreds of dollars a month when I didn't even own a cell phone. Yes, plenty of people would rather live like Kings and Queens and not put some money away. And, yes, there are a very few tragedy cases where there are exceptions.
Become a lawyer is my best advice. It seems to work.