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  • Birdy [they/them]
    ·
    4 years ago

    I don’t really know what a 401k is, but for my context I’ll say this: The financialisation and privatisation of everyones pensions gives us all a personal material reliance on the success of capitalism. There’s a decent chance that the state pension won’t exist by the time I retire (or the qualifying age will be pushed well into the 80s), so we have save the money ourselves - and as I’m not paid enough to ever afford retirement, I have to put the money into investments to cover the shortfall, actively propping up & growing the capitalist system.

    Basically it’s a project to link our lives to the eternal expansion of the market

    • anthm17 [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      401k is just a program that locks your retirement money into the stock market in exchange for some tax breaks. You can contribute up to 18k/yr into an account. Since this is ore-tax you lower your tax burden. Then you get taxed on the money when you take it out in retirement, but with more tax breaks again. It’s a rich persons retirement plan.

      That’s what we get instead of pensions. A really shitty savings program that most people can’t afford to use. They use this farce to justify equating the stock market with the economy.

      • Birdy [they/them]
        ·
        4 years ago

        Ah, ok sounds like the same thing as a personal pension. It’s basically the only type that exists here anymore - The old style has been mostly replaced. It’s going to be such a disaster when my generation reaches retirement age

        • anthm17 [he/him]
          ·
          4 years ago

          Oh yeah, it's just going great. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/17/ideal-retirement-age-for-millennials.html

    • quartz242 [she/her]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Yea it's honestly fucked up how swaths of people's "jobs" are to pick and choose what gambles to take with the money set aside to care for a person so they can enjoy life rather than work. It's too communist to just ensure that people can stop working and live