Finally! Someone has said what I have been feeling in my gut. I have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to planning for my retirement.
I’m not saying the government should do the investing for me. I think that was what Social Security was supposed to do, in theory, but seems to be failing miserably at it. What I would rather do is have something available to me like a CalPers. I would pay into it, but someone with more knowledge than me would be responsible for making sure I’m not on a $3 a day food budget when I’m 70!
Seriously though, are there people who honestly think that Social Security is going to get them through their golden years? I fear for their future. I fear for my future and I’ve been trying to save up money for 7 years. That sounds awful. I should have been doing that for much longer, but I was young and dumb.
I have no where near 20 times my annual salary in my retirement accounts. In fact, if I continue to contribute at the rate I am now, I will only be about 1/3 of the way there. So, while it would seem prudent to increase my contributions, I am hesitant. I don’t want to wake up one day to find out that Wall Street has been fucking around again and I have lost almost all that money.
What I really should do is take the time to educate myself on the stock market and put my money in that instead of wishing things would change. The problem is that I think the stock market is BORING. I don’t want to learn about all the shorts or derivatives or traunches or whatever the hell crazy ass jargon those stiff shirts say to each other to make their dicks hard. I’d rather go play video poker in Vegas. I think the odds might be better and I sort of know what I’m doing.