Retirement in the USA meme:

[padfun]

22. Those of us who have good retirement plans

We now shut up and don't mention it to people. There are quite a few of us, but we will be a silent group since saying anything is normally not a good idea.

Why? Because many people my age who I talk to never really planned on being 70 and Social Security is all they have. Many never went to any college, technical nor training school. They haven't even paid off a house for any equity value. So all they have is Social Security. My cousin is that way and he lives in a mobile home with two other guys who are in the same boat and all they do is drink all day

Some of them thought high school wasn't important as construction will surely make them wealthy. And construction did give them a decent living for a while, but age and health intervene. Truck Driving can work since they can last longer but some who did never invested anything else. I do know a former truck driver who did invest, and his retirement is working just fine. if someone wants to work the labor jobs for a living, they still need to plan for their future.

It is sad and could be largely prevented if our government made social security a more worthwhile investment and if jobs paid what they're really worth instead of all the money going to the owner class. But in the meantime, it takes a bit of sacrifice to save, invest and buy a home long before retirement time. If you paid rent all of your life, that could have went into a mortgage.