I agree, hence the "It's also a cultural problem".
There is also the fact that we know the French health care system, the social aids you get if you loose your job, and your family will all come into play for some category of problems.
And there is the gamble for more comfort vs responsibility. My generation really don't want to take any kind of responsibility for anything, including society, the planet and their own life.
But even if you consider that:
- saving 10% of my income will not, in any way, let me live through my retirements. Not at half of my current life style anyway. And I do earn more money that most people.
- those are people in a very comfortable situation. Now take people with children, a loan and a standard job, and you have a much less simple picture.
- most people have been told the story that the retirement system will work, or that we will make it work. Beside, they don't thing 30 years ahead for anything.
- a lot of people won't make rational choices in their life. Taking a loan they should not, making a child they can't afford, getting married with the wrong person... Expecting people to save is already at another level of planning. We failed at educating people, but we also told them it was ok to do what they were doing.
- we have a huge value scale issue here. frugality, quality, solidarity... Those are not the thing that society promotes. Solving the retirement problem is not just an economical issue. When banks are bailed out, medias scream "money and consumption" and Trump rules the most powerful country in the world, convincing somebody to not go for take out is quite hard.
- fixing and cookie are getting a lost art.
- things do cost way more. 10% is a lot for some people.
If you can manage to save enough to live on for 6 months at your present level of expenditure you have some kind of insurance against the idiocies of life and employers.
Although I find it very peculiar that my parents could live the life my friend live, but afford children, have saving and yet now have a retirement.
A 30 years old single person with no children an a job that doesn't have a loan or crazy spending habits should not have to choose between savings and pleasures.
Yup the biggest social change in my generation (I'm 60 soon) was women going out to work. Mysteriously, having two wage earners per family has not actually increased apparent wealth. In fact it has decreased.
In UK housing has become much more expensive as a proportion of earnings, and wage rates seem to have declined in real terms.
> saving 10% of my income will not, in any way, let me live through my retirements. Not at half of my current life style anyway. And I do earn more money that most people.
sounds like you need to learn to live more frugal, then.
learning to not consume blindly but instead responsibly is just as important as saving money.
Although I'm not living the grand life. I don't own a car, I don't have children or crazy expensive hobbies. I cook every day, buy vegetables at the farmer market. I don't drink at all, or consume drugs, or smoke. I don't go out a lot. Once a week maybe.
Beside I find it very peculiar that my parents could live the life my friends live, yet could afford children, have saving and now have a retirement.
A 30 years old single person with no children an a job that doesn't have a loan or mad spending habits should not have to choose between savings and pleasures.
But yes, I don't deny I could definitely tune down my spending.
I'm not in a difficult situation myself. I don't have saving, but I have a nice life. I'm one of the person who can give away the 500 €. I'm more concerned that so many people around me can't.
While there is definitely an attitude issue here, it can't be the only one. I can believe there is a difference in the education my parents had. I can't, however, they were so much better planners than my friends are.
Please note that salaries are horribly depressed in France - in areas like Paris, the cost of living is comparable to places like San Francisco at easily 1/3 of the salary.
The price are not in the same league as SF, let's not exaggerate. But yeah, the salaries are low compared to the US. I had several proposal to make 5 times what I currently make.
However, money is not everything. Living is France is very sweet, and the US lifetyle is peculiar. Also, I'm currently an independent dev, and the salary implied I signed a 5 years contract. That's a lot of constraints for me.
But yeah, compared to the US, dev are not well valued here. And you should see in Spain...
> Beside I find it very peculiar that my parents could live the life my friends live, yet could afford children, have saving and now have a retirement.
I understand you know that yourself, but the past is the past - my grand parents were suffering through wars.
Sure, and it's good to be realistic, and take responsibility for your life.
But it would be unfair to blame entirely the current generation for their situation. I don't think another one would have ended up in such an entire different situation. Life does cost more. Society does push to consume.
I think it's just that given that the economy is probably going to be shittier and shittier, we should take the opportunity of our current still nice lives to prepare.
Well, what you are expressing is actually something particularly typical for this generation - which is demanding something of your fate.
The truth is - you are born - now play the cards you are dealt. If you complain about the cards - then you are already about to lose before the game even started. Maybe next card dealt to you is Leukemia - now you will complain to yourself "why me of all the people - what have I done to deserve this?" while you wish your only problems still were being in a financially worse position than your parents. I think that's what you are doing.
Congratulations, but that rate of savings is not even close to achievable by the vast, vast majority of workers in the world. Looking around my peers, it's hard to imagine that more than a handful can manage to even save 10%.
There is also the fact that we know the French health care system, the social aids you get if you loose your job, and your family will all come into play for some category of problems.
And there is the gamble for more comfort vs responsibility. My generation really don't want to take any kind of responsibility for anything, including society, the planet and their own life.
But even if you consider that:
- saving 10% of my income will not, in any way, let me live through my retirements. Not at half of my current life style anyway. And I do earn more money that most people.
- those are people in a very comfortable situation. Now take people with children, a loan and a standard job, and you have a much less simple picture.
- most people have been told the story that the retirement system will work, or that we will make it work. Beside, they don't thing 30 years ahead for anything.
- a lot of people won't make rational choices in their life. Taking a loan they should not, making a child they can't afford, getting married with the wrong person... Expecting people to save is already at another level of planning. We failed at educating people, but we also told them it was ok to do what they were doing.
- we have a huge value scale issue here. frugality, quality, solidarity... Those are not the thing that society promotes. Solving the retirement problem is not just an economical issue. When banks are bailed out, medias scream "money and consumption" and Trump rules the most powerful country in the world, convincing somebody to not go for take out is quite hard.
- fixing and cookie are getting a lost art.
- things do cost way more. 10% is a lot for some people.