Fire

itwasntme001

JoeEngland wrote: »

I can't imagine anything like that making me wish I hadn't given up work this week at 53 even if I could have carried on working full-time.

Retiring at 53 is very different to retiring at 30 or 40. You would presumably have saved up a lot more (given by the length of your employment and compounding of investments) and you will have less time to spend it.

Paul_Herring

These scenarios are getting more outlandish by the post.

Sea_Shell

By my reckoning any goods or services that become so critical that everybody needs them to function in modern life at that time, will by definition have become "cheap" or affordable to those on low wages.

Anything else is purely a choice of whether you need to buy it, or use it.

Like anyone, earning or retired, you make a judgement as to whether it's affordable / value for money to you or not.

itwasntme001

Sea_Shell wrote: »

By my reckoning any goods or services that become so critical that everybody needs them to function in modern life at that time, will by definition have become "cheap" or affordable in line with average wages.

Anything else is purely a choice of whether you need to buy it, or use it.

Like anyone, earning or retired, you make a judgement as to whether it's affordable / value for money to you or not.

You are missing the point. I am not talking about essentials. We have all that already. What i am talking about is new goods and services. Sure the retiree can decide not to buy these but they will feel more and more in the poor class as these goods and services get more in demand by those who can afford it (those who are working and see rising wages).

fred246

You've got me panicking now. I have retired and still have a child at school. Are they abolishing state education? May have to home school?

itwasntme001

Paul_Herring wrote: »

These scenarios are getting more outlandish by the post.

They are not. You are just deciding that it can not happen, when actually it very well can. Perhaps you are used to stagnant wages and cheap goods and services. This i can understand can distort your views. Try to be more open minded on what can happen. It is not difficult to see a shift from capital to labour in terms of demand.

JoeEngland

itwasntme001 wrote: »

Retiring at 53 is very different to retiring at 30 or 40. You would presumably have saved up a lot more (given by the length of your employment and compounding of investments) and you will have less time to spend it.

True, I will have less time to spend money but will only have a modest budget even though I've had longer to accumulate than someone finishing work at 30 or 40. I value time more than shiny new stuff anyway.

itwasntme001

fred246 wrote: »

You've got me panicking now. I have retired and still have a child at school. Are they abolishing state education? May have to home school?

You were already satisfied with your child entering state education. But others may not want to do the same as the available state schools are not good enough. There is a cost to being FIRE and not having enough (even though you may think it is enough). That is you may have to sacrifice a lot of standard of living for yourself and loved ones. More then you think.

itwasntme001

JoeEngland wrote: »

True, I will have less time to spend money but will only have a modest budget even though I've had longer to accumulate than someone finishing work at 30 or 40. I value time more than shiny new stuff anyway.

It is hard to see but give it decades for those who FIRE in their 30s and 40s. They would have missed out a lot by forgoing rising wages and therefore standard of living. They may think the difference in standard of living is not great now, but in the future it may very well be large enough to make them regret their decision of retiring early.

Sea_Shell

itwasntme001 wrote: »

You are missing the point. I am not talking about essentials. We have all that already. What i am talking about is new goods and services. Sure the retiree can decide not to buy these but they will feel more and more in the poor class as these goods and services get more in demand by those who can afford it (those who are working and see rising wages).

If the media are to be believed, a large swathe of the population are going to be poor in retirement, even if they work to SP age, as they've made very little provision.

It's all relative. Yes, I might not be able to have a self-driving Mercedes in 20 years time....but will everybody else???

I'm already poor compared to high earners NOW...if I'm not jealous now, why would I feel differently in the future.