What the hell is this shit? Instead of pushing for the return to traditional pensions, capitalism is celebrating the idea that Millennials and Gen Z may simply never be able to stop working.

Maybe, just maybe, Gen-Z is not saving as much for the future because (1) they have less money to save due to inflation, and (2) they don’t foresee a viable future. These reasons can also explain the parenthood rate dropping lately.

Main reason I never had kids was I was screwed over by just about everything financially. Student loans, housing/“financial crisis”, medical system, deck stacked against self-employment, predatory credit cards. Great job, USA. Then the same cunts who did that bemoan low birth rates and cry about immigrants.
- There are TOO MANY procedures/fees/tax/unsafe ways to lose everything you have or be in a position where you will never be able to live without constantly being demanded to provide more work/cash/time.
- Despite all that, things are overall better than previous generations. There is and always has been bad news. Life has always been a constant string of disasters, yet when you pause for a moment to reflect you realize that despite the bad news, overall it wasn't that bad.
I saw a report that someone my age will need $3m to retire at 65. The average total income from 22-65 for people my age is around $1.4m. So I guess we never get to retire.
- I saw a report that someone my age will need $3m to retire at 65. The average total income from 22-65 for people my age is around $1.4m. So I guess we never get to retire.
  
  Compound interest might get you to that goal, maybe, if you start saving now.
  
  The "start saving now" part is the bit that fucks most people.
- There is no magic number you need. $3m will get you some lifestyle. You could retire at 40 with only $300k if you want to live the lifestyle that means (move to very low cost of living area where you walk to groceries). And there is a good chance social security will continue to provide a minimal income once you reach whatever age.
Historically no young generation has saved a lot. It is when you get older you realize how much it matters.
- People who grew up in the Great Depression did. Silent generation remembers that...

are currently between 27 and 42 years old — are significantly more likely to want to do some form of paid work during retirement.

Want is not the right word there, and it completely changes the message. This is a fucking hit job, trying to convince people that company executives stealing pension plans, and a failed society that abandons its elderly, is something young people desire.

As a person over 40 years old, let me be clear: I never want to work.
- I would have retired 20 years ago if I could. I will never understand people that say they don't know what they'd do with themselves in retirement. What unimaginative and boring people they must be. I have a thousand interests I can't fully pursue because of work obligations.
- As someone between 27 and 42, I love getting shit accomplished but I have never in my life wanted to work
Want is not the right word there, and it completely changes the message.

Or perhaps it's the right word, because it completely changes the message in precisely the way they intend.
- It's certainly the intended word. But it's not "right" by any reasonable metric of correctness.
In older vocabulary, "want" was actually the stronger form of "need".

Perhaps we're returning to tradition in more ways than one?

what the fuck is up with all these pansy-ass terms suits keep coming up with? "quiet quitting" and now "soft saving"?

fuck this marshmallow flavoured cyanide bullshit

It's a way to turn people off of what they really mean.

"Quiet quitting" is just doing your job. Trying to make it seem like breaking your back to help someone profit is the minimum to do unless you want to be branded a quitter.

"Soft saving" is apparently the requirement of working til your dead because no one gets paid enough to...hard save...I guess.
- No no, they don't die, they "soft live".
- yes i definitely didn't know that
  
  now go find literally anyone else to explain the obvious to
Neither of those terms were developed by suits. They both were popularized in the Gen Z social sphere, namely TikTok, and then well after they went viral and had plenty of adherents, started being picked up in the normal media cycle of regurgitating whatever is happening on social media and seeing what sticks.

They're both just a rejection of "old" cultural norms, in this case specifically a rejection of "hustle culture" and to a lesser extent the FIRE (i.e. early retirement) movement, both of which had their heyday on the internet many years ago.

And like...this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Gen Z is typically much more concerned about mental health (focus on now) than prior generations, has a very doom and gloom outlook for the future (focus on now), and is the first generation to be raised by people who didn't tell them "just work hard and you'll be fine eventually" (focus on now). Is it any surprise that they're less forward looking? What do they have to look forward to? Call it cyanide if you want, but while I don't necessarily agree with it, it certainly feels like a natural development to me.
what the fuck is up with all these pansy-ass terms suits keep coming up with? “quiet quitting” and now “soft saving”?

It's their attempt at managing the narrative in their favor.

did some idiot confuse "worried we will have to work until death" with "wanting to work until death"?

get fucked capitalist class. the minute I can afford not to work I will stop. the problem is you guys fucked the system so hard that it seems that point is so far away, or not attainable at all.

I feel so sorry for the retired boomers on good pensions in their big houses with nothing better to do than wish they were working again

end rant

did some idiot confuse “worried we will have to work until death” with “wanting to work until death”?

Yes, the OP and everyone else slurping up this rage bait. The article does not say they "want to work until death". It also doesn't say shit about "capitalism celebrating" anything. This is presenting survey results and generational trends. Guess what, Gen Z is a little different than millennials, and different still from Boomers (though they appear to have some in common with the consumptive, "me generation" that Gen X was broadly painted as). This shouldn't be revolutionary. They don't save as much as millennials because millennials lived through multiple rough markets, and entered the workforce during a historic downturn. They care (even) less about work because they are much more focused on mental health. These are super, SUPER broad strokes, but we're talking about national level surveys. Why everyone is getting their undies in a bunch over this is absurd. No one is saying anything is good or bad. It just is.

This honestly sounds like propaganda trying to convince people this is a thing.

Like “quiet quitting”, which is, in reality, just doing your job and not going above and beyond because it doesn’t benefit you…
news is profit driven, so it literally always has someone's agenda behind it... (e.g. always propaganda) this appears to be corporate flavored
- You definitely have a point which is why I try to avoid it most days.
This honestly sounds like propaganda trying to convince people this is a thing.

IMO it's exactly that. They hardly bring up any other external influences on people's income in the article, just a paragraph or two very deep in the article.

It insinuates really hard that people have the money to spend but just don't want to spend, a subtle "killing the messenger" of people being lazy and greedy.
This is some straight up Manufacturing Consent shit that's designed to make you think being poor and working until you fucking die on the assembly line and have to have your corpse dragged into the dogfood machine by the other wage slaves was your idea.
- This is some straight up Manufacturing Consent shit
  
  This message is being projected to the leaders of Capitalism, not the workers. It's being said to the wrong audience.
  
  If so, it seems like it's a wasted effort.
It is, and what's unfortunate is that on a long enough timeline, it works.

open mouth
insert rich people
chew vigorously
swallow

Forgot the guillotines silly!
- They didn't need guillotines in Holland.

One thing worth noting that's tangentially related: the reason Social Security faces solvency concerns is not that they couldn't anticipate the Boomers' retirement, but because under Boomer management, wages (which are the basis for Social Security's funding) have been suppressed, particularly on the low end of the wage scale.

They saw the Boomers coming a mile away. What they didn't see coming was that they'd flatline the minimum wage and kill off unions

That and the Boomers modified social security to cap contributions for high income earners. If we removed that cap the issues with solvency get mostly solved.
Omg, I hadn't thought of that. Social security is taxed from income, American wages have been stagnant since the 70s.
Generation Ladder Pull

I have no idea where they pull these statistics from. It's increasingly sad that we should get more time off as labour gets automated and cheaper, not less.

I do the manual labour while machines paint and write poetry, this is not the future I expected.
- My retirement plan is a cave in the hills, growing my own food on guerilla gardens until I'm eaten by wolves.
Here's a study of work hours from medieval times until now, by my favourite YouTube channel, Historian Civilis: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hvk_XylEmLo
- Had to bail at the first YT ad, so I’ll finish on Piped. My first take is that even though I get paid for eight hours, I work very similarly as the Stone Age worker in bursts. Some days I’m not working very hard and some days I am. I usually try to ensure I get something done over the course of the week, but it doesn’t always work out. Shrug. I don’t lose any sleep over it.
Most people are using that extra productivity to have more toys. Houses are much larger than 70 years ago. People now commonly have AC in the house. Most people have a phone/computer in their pocket (the video phone of 1950s science fiction not only exists, and it isn't a room sized machine but something even kids have in their pocket). You don't have to - get rid of the phone and you save a lot of money per month - but most people have chosen not to. Maybe they just feel forced to, but it is still a choice and there are a few people who by not having them prove it isn't forced.
- What world do you live in where you can get by living like a hermit in the woods?
  
  You may be okay with having a shitty existence but I certainly am not. Shaming people for having AIR CONDITIONING in a time where we are encountering record high temperatures, the likes of which are killing people? Fuck you pal, all the “advice” or “wisdom” you think you’re spewing here is nothing but garbage.
  
  GUYS GET IN HERE. THE SECRET TO SUCCESS IN AMERICA NOW IS TO STOP PARTICIPATING IN SOCIETY.
  
  Come on man…
- get rid of the phone and you save a lot of money per month
  
  ?
  
  Have you tried living without a phone? This is very hard to pull off in America. You need an email address. Ok, fine, you say, but that doesn't mean you need a phone. Okay, so you need to pay for home internet and have a PC? Still a cost here.
  
  No, you say, walk/drive to the library every time you need to check your email. Every time you need to use a website to make an appointment or fill a form out. Every time you need to check google for information (by the way, I have saved thousands of dollars by googling things, I am sure you have, too).
  
  There's still a cost here - time. Many people who have smartphones in America don't have home internet.
  
  You still need a phone number if you're employed. I'm sure there are jobs that will put up with not being able to contact you, but good luck with that, I'm sure they pay well. You're paying for a dumb phone or a land line either way.
  
  And you're right, it is a choice. I choose to participate in society, and that pretty much requires the internet. I choose not to live naked in the woods, surviving on what I forage like a bear.

A soft lifestyle? And to think this whole time I thought it was just called "being poor and underpaid"

Generally the people being discussed in this article are not poor and underpaid, but rather prefer work-life balance to be heavily slanted toward "life" and "experiences" rather than "work as much as possible to make as much as possible."
- Generally the people being discussed in this article are not poor and underpaid
  
  From the article, buried inside of it...
  
  Additionally, inflation makes it harder for people to cover their expenses or save, Koehler said.
  
  A report by Blackrock shows that in 2023, only 53% of workers believe they are on track to retire with the lifestyle they want. A lack of retirement income, worries over market volatility and high inflation were some of the reasons cited for a lack of confidence about retirement among workers.
  
  I know the article insinuates it, but I don't think we can assume that people can afford more but just don't want to spend more, to protect their lifestyle.
  
  I believe it's more of people want a better lifestyle and they're not getting paid enough for it, that they're expecting the same lifestyle that the previous generations had, and are not being selfish and asking for more than others had.
- Yeah! They should be raising themselves up by pulling up those bootstraps. That's the way anyone can reach a higher socio-economic status. America!! /s

I don't get the privilege of owning a home, why should I get to retire? 🤷‍♀️

I don't get the privilege of having a life, why shouldn't we get to work till death?
- Who need a life if you're working all the time? If you were serious about retiring you'd work yourself to death to get there!

From the article...

According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Americans are saving less in 2023. The personal saving rate — the portion of disposable income one sets aside for savings — was significantly lower at 3.9% in August, compared to the 8.51% average in the past decade, according to data from Trading Economics which goes as far back as 1959.

Additionally, inflation makes it harder for people to cover their expenses or save, Koehler said.

A report by Blackrock shows that in 2023, only 53% of workers believe they are on track to retire with the lifestyle they want. A lack of retirement income, worries over market volatility and high inflation were some of the reasons cited for a lack of confidence about retirement among workers.

It really just is time for companies to pay more money to their employees, to share the wealth better, back like how we used to.

It's wild to think that in the past only one person would have to work and a couple would be able to afford a house and raise a family. I can't see how that can be done in today's world.

Someone dig up FDR and ask him the redo the 'New Deal'.

Additionally, inflation makes it harder for people to cover their expenses or save, Koehler said.

I feel like this is the most significant piece of information in the entire article and it just skims over it. People aren't failing to save because of lifestyle choices. They're failing to save because groceries for 1 person costs like 200 bucks a week in some cities. Shit is more expensive than ever before, and things like home ownership, which is historically THE default hedge against inflation, is outside the grasp of pretty much anyone below 40 who isn't a doctor or working in a similarly lucrative field.
- Man, I remember when I was a kid groceries cost $100~$200 for a family of 4 for a week, and some of that food (like bags of chips) would get spread out over multiple weeks. 11-year-old me couldn't believe that my parents spent that much on food but wouldn't get me a $40 lego set.
I think the formula for minimum wage should be as follows

Minimum wage adds up to enough per month that the average number of hours worked times the minimum wage are large enough for the national average for rent to make up at most 40% of a minimum wage worker's budget.

If a county (or equivalent subdivision) has a higher average rent than that average, the minimum wage there is the same formula but for that higher average rent instead of the national average.

If there's a discrepancy between where someone lives and where they work, their minimum wage is the higher between the two.

The only modification I think it'd need is maybe finding a scientific way to replace monthly rent with "average monthly expenditure" so that folks getting billed for medicine aren't being screwed over, but frankly a country that can get the above proposition done is probably one that made UHC happen too anyways.

Also just to keep those landlords from thinking they can get wise, rent can only be raised on lease renewal, and only by as much as the reported inflation rate at the time of lease renewal. Also, constructive eviction to try and get around this is a felony and you lose all rights to own housing property other than your own home ever again.
- Also, constructive eviction
  
  Constructive? Elaborate?
  
  this is a felony and you lose all rights to own housing property other than your own home ever again.
  
  I think that's a step too far, and wouldn't(?) pass muster, legally.
  
  A felony would come with high penalty fees to pay, and could be enough of a deterrent.

Wow what a boomer article. Most young people just don't expect the current systems and institutions to last that long. Millenials have lived through several financial crises and economic downturns with no chance for improvement in sight. It just gets worse until the generation responsible for it dies out.

So I'd much rather live in the now making memories of adventures and good times with friends & family as long as i'm able to, than have a bit more money in the bank that won't be worth shit when i'm old. Peace of mind is great and all but the future is an illusion you can never fully prepare for.

Wow what a boomer article.

No, that's a capitalist "greed is good" article in disguise.

Some of us Boomers actually wonder WTF the 'New Deal' went, and lament it's loss for our grand/children.

Seriously, stop buying into and dividing up one side that would stand together against that kind of thing.

Why should people push for traditional pensions? I don't want to be stuck at a crappy job just because leaving would reset my retirement clock. It's the same reason healthcare shouldn't be attached to the employer either.

Yes, a universal pension system is the solution.
The problem is the alternative has become 401(k)s, which can be wiped out of the market does badly. This requires government intervention to be fixed, but the will is not there.

If my calculations are correct, my cheeseburger and pizza diet will kill me around the time I want to stop working. That's my retirement.

Na, medical care and medicine are better than they've ever been. They'll save you from your heart attack and you'll spend the next 3 decades paying for heart medication.
- If they save you with meds, why not just try and overdose on those if you really wanna die at that point?
If my calculations are correct, my cheeseburger and pizza diet will kill me around the time I want to stop working. That’s my retirement.

A better retirement plan would be Costco hot dogs.
- Who am I skimping out on cheeseburger money for?
It's like a version of The Whale where he doesn't have a daughter and isn't depressed from his gay lover dying, but just depressed because of general socioeconomic conditions and the overall shitty state of the world.

This increasing preference for a lifelong income

These crazy kids with their preferences for avocado toast and Tik Tok and never being able to stop working!

You know, I am Gen X and honestly have never thought I'd be able to retire. I worked when pregnant until the day I had the baby, every time.

I now just try to keep work sustainable, take my PTO, don't give them everything now for some potential future return.

No, I don't need paid employment to have a full and happy life. There is plenty to do. But it's not the worst life either.

I'm gen X, and I don't care if I have to retire eating Dog food, I'm not working until I drop. The capitalists can bash that idea straight up their date.

If it's good enough for the boomers, it's good enough for me.
Same, except I'm a Gen X/Xennial man who never got anyone pregnant, so I didn't have to deal with that problem. From the age of 12 when I entered the workforce part time to earn "spending money" by stripping tobacco, until 16 when I entered "the kitchen" with a food handlers licence the first time, until I was 39 and threw my back out I didn't believe that I would ever be able to retire.

Since then my "luckiest bastard to ever exist" trait has kicked in. I've managed to accidentally start two "businesses" that will allow me to retire by the year 2026. I'll be 45.

Don't give up. Believe in your talents and stop falling prey to imposter syndrome. You have far more ability than you know. I know this to be true, because I am not special, and I found out the hard way that I have more abilities than I knew.

There’s about a 0.1% chance Social Security will be around when I retire, and the increasing costs of living have almost certainly cut into my ability to retire at a reasonable age.

I’m probably going to work till the day I die, it’ll just be contingent on if I work for myself or not.

lolz gen X forgotten again.

Sorry lads, you know how it is, no catchy name, no political representation.

I'm 40 and I've always "known" that there would be no retirement for "us".

Consequentially, as the eternally wise Homer Simpson once stated; "my lifestyle is my retirement plan".

I genuinely hope never to reach age 70 or over. I've known lots of old people in my life and the ONLY TWO who were somewhat happy were my maternal grandparents. And even they will soon have to deal with losing one another since they're so old.

I don't intend to go through all that. I'll live what I can, as long as I can, and as soon as I can't anymore, it's exit left.

I doubt I'll be the only one.

83 bro here. I've got a pension and a bit in my 401k. I still plan on going out with a bang on my own terms. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe 15y from now.
I stand with ye
- What did Kanye do this time?

A belief in the future is actually a foundational requirement of capitalism.

What we have here is neo-fudalism, where the points are made up and the people believe in nothing.

Want? No. Need.

It always got me how much it costs to be able to work.

I just dropped $150 on clothes for my new job, which isn't the same color palate as the clothes from my old job.

Barely mentioned: wage stagnation and inflation.

I feel like my impression of CNBC from a while back was that it just covered stocks and business mergers and stuff like that, but between this, COVID, and the UAW strike it's really been demonstrating its position as a newspaper for business rather than simply about it.

Same as WSJ. They exist to manipulate people with pro-.1% propaganda.
- There was a post earlier from wsj about how it makes more sense to rent because mortgage rates are high right now. Because, you know, refinancing doesn't exist and landlords never arbitrarily raise rent

I disagree with the editorialising from the title comment. To me it doesn't seem to celebrate or even opine anything, and that's actually kind of frustrating, because it's obviously bad that people are intending to work longer, regardless of their actual preferences.

Having read the article, to me it's not entirely obvious whether people feel that (A) they don't have enough to save regardless of their intentions (B) they feel saving for retirement is futile for whatever reason, or (C) even if they had extra money, they would prefer to spend the extra on here and now.

The article kind of hints that it's more B or C than A, but it isn't really explicit, and I think that would be the really interesting part of this story to report.

You're right. I was angry when I posted this, and couldn't help but read glee in the repeated ways they described generations of people who are on track to simply never be able to save up for a comfortable retirement.

It does feel hopeless, though. I love my job and earn a decent wage, but if I had the money to retire, I'd do it today. I definitely don't want to work until I drop.
I think there is also inflation fear and a understandably low desire to try and save/invest. I know a few people that just had to start working again because the money they had coming in for retirement was not enough for what they thought was their lowest acceptable standard of living.

Its not hard to see with inflation above return on most safe investment vehicles (GICs paying 4.5% max with inflation at 5%) that people don't see the point.
- it's mathematically impossible for any long term investment vehicle to payout more than inflation, unless you get lucky and happen to hit the Apple stock.
I don't know, this article seems horribly out of touch. I mean you have the opinions of Intuit, who feed on your tax return, and Blackrock, the company often cited as the reason Millennials and Gen Z will never own a house. They have a vested interest in keeping people paying income tax and taking out loans.
- I agree the article seems very out of touch, and the reason I think is because it reports this in a very neutral way. If it made clear that the author thought this was a bad thing that was happening, would you still think it was out of touch?
So glad someone else read the article. I really thought we'd escape clickbait like this post on Lemmy, but there's so much rage people are up voting this stuff and commenting how horrible it is based on the false title, not the actual article which is freaking survey results.

Like yes things are bad, but these results could have printed about any generation at any time post 1940s (advent of the concept of young adulthood) as long as they were all under 25.

Three in four Gen Z would rather have a better quality of life than extra money in their banks, the Intuit report shows.

This just in - young people thinking on shorter time horizons, bad at planning for future. More in tomorrow's newspaper dated any time in the last hundred years or so.

{SIGHS} Don't eat the rich. That's how you get easily communicable diseases. Instead you should compost them and use them to grow a nice, non edible garden. Preferably one that's good at sequestering carbon!
- Prion diseases are pretty terrifying.

greedy people have all the money, you just have to take it from them.. they're not going to give up their wealth and power because it's the right thing to do..

Would be a shame if some internet pals showed up with cyber punk guillotines and a fanny pack full of Mollys and said "pick one."
- well, let's just agree that a bunch of rich assholes have a whole lot of learning to do, one way or another

The only solution is to eat the rich.

Industrial society and it's consequences have been a disaster for the human race

Yet it’s also the best thing that has ever happened to us lol

I don’t mind working to old age, as long as I can have 6 hour workdays. But let’s be reasonable, no 80 year old grandpa is going to be productive at work.

As a worker I don't like the idea of a pension. It's too easy for some future regime to just get rid of my retirement fund. As long as wage slavery exist I would rather own my own retirement plan.

It's just as easy for a market crash to get rid of your private retirement fund.
- you don't even need a market crash, just a corrupt investor managing the fund
- Diversify homie.
- It’s just as easy for a market crash to get rid of your private retirement fund.
  
  You don't lose it all though, at least eventually it'll recover, to the range of somewhat to total amount of the loss.
  
  If it crashes five minutes before you want to retire, then yeah you're screwed. That's why you try to have a balanced retirement plan.
- If that occurs, hiwever, its not just you it's the whole economy, which in my experience leads to more neighbors acting neighborly, while when its just you and your fellow Workers, you are fucked. ymmv

As a millennial, I probably would also want to work a bit in retirement for fun, but not like the job I work now, something more chill or maybe freelance projects.

Obviously that'd require having lots of retirement savings so that working isn't a requirement

Lots of people start their working careers with the mindset of continuing to do some form of work in retirement. As you get closer, that opinion often changes.
- Fair, guess we'll have to see :p

It's interesting that we have a generation of politicians who refuse to retire, meanwhile the generations behind them see the option to retire going away. Maybe there is a connection?

hmm. like ... maybe they're immortal?
- For that they would need youthful energy... From children's blood or something... Yeah that must be it 😂

That makes no sense.

Speaking for myself, I plan to remain active for as long as I can manage because I've seen what retirement causes to people. Vegetating on a sofa in front of a TV is not a good way to spend your last stretch on this planet. But neither is working.

And even when I no longer have interest in working for a salary, I want to remain active. Hopefully I'll have grandchildren to help with, my dogs to train and a garden to tend. But I do want to retire and expect everyone to do the same.

The way the system is being "overhauled" is bonkers. I was listening to a podcast the other day where it was calculated that for the EU, by 2050, pensions would be around 45% of the final salary earned, with some exceptions reaching 95%.

I don't expect for my (hopefully) pension to cover for luxuries but I do expect it to aid me maintaining a decent, even if frugal, standard of living. I do not want a millionaire pension, like many paid today, over tens of thousands of Euros.

Be brave and set maximum values for pensions. I've known people with pensions over €5000; minimum wage in my country is €765x14: that's €10.710, yearly, before taxes. Do rest of the math in your head. A few years back, it was outed the highest pension paid in the country was around €120.000, per month. That is insane. Meanwhile, many receive pensions below €200.

Vegetating on a sofa in front of a TV is not a good way to spend your last stretch on this planet. But neither is working.

Just as an FYI, older people do such things not because want to, but because their bodies' current condition won't let them do otherwise.

You really do start going downhill quickly in your late 50s, healthwise.
- Regardless every person being different from the next, spending days on end watching brainrot television is not a good way to spend your life.
  
  Even with reduced mobility, a person can enjoy other things. Reading, writing, listen to music, solve puzzles, etc. There are numerous activities to persue.

HA, I hope people realize how a large amount of Gen X also are not able to retire. This is just accepted that now for people under a certain threshold of wealth retirement is but a fantasy.

They're almost asking us to become Lenin at this point

There must be an advocation for a universal monthly social security payment (and expanded universal medicaid) from birth. Fund them in the short term by eliminating the taxable income cap for OASDI.

If we were in a functioning society that responded to actual issues... Gotta finish the civil war first tho.

Taxable income cap for what?
- OASDI is the program name for social security. It stands for Old Age, Survivors Disability Insurance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_(United_States)

Preface: I'm not intending to come off as bragging, but providing some justification

I make plenty enough to retire by 45. Does that mean I'll stop working by 45? No, that sounds ridiculously boring. I'd rather work part time or do contract work until I'm physically and mentally unable because otherwise I'll become a vegetable. I enjoy my work and at the moment have no intentions of stopping at any point

No, that sounds ridiculously boring.

I feel bad for anyone who's identity and self worth is so tied to their job that they'd feel this way.

If I woke up tomorrow and was told I could keep receiving my current income for the rest of my life, but I just wouldn't have to actually put in the time and do the work?

I would never touch that work again.

There's so many things I could do, activities to try, things to learn, and skills to develop that I could never imagine getting so damn bored with my life without work that I'd ever remotely consider getting back into the work force.

Work is what I do in order to afford the life I want. It's not the life I want.
- I've not worked for ten years, and I've never been happier. Not a moment of boredom and I get to throw myself into whatever hobby I want.
  
  I feel real sad for people who can't comprehend enjoying free time.
  
  What do they do, stare at walls and watch paint dry?
  
  I feel more in touch with myself and other people than ever before
- I love my job, but doing whatever the fuck I want kind of beats it. I have many project ideas and also some skills I want to learn, would finally have time to go all in.
- Have you considered that some people might actually enjoy their jobs?
  
  I'm not saying you do but that's fine, but you're pretty much saying that working has to be boring and undesirable, which it absolutely doesn't have to be.
- What I do for work is also my hobby outside of work! I enjoy work due to the new challenges that come and require solving. If I'm working on my own stuff I end up side-tracked and never actually finish things which gets demoralizing quickly. Work helps keep me on task so I can actually get to have the satisfaction of a job well done
So that's the thing. People say that they'll never retire and that it sounds boring, but the reality is much different. You just find other things to do. What you'll find is that when you stop working for someone else, you start working for yourself... and if you're a determined individual you'll be busier than you've ever been in your life. Just something to consider.
- I barely lasted six months or a year without a job last time it happened, and before that I was bored out of my mind for four years
Okay but like, why don't you do something for yourself instead of working for someone else.

I'm convinced people with this attitude can't think for themselves and must be directed by a superior or they're useless.

Focus on yourself instead.
- I do do things for myself. What I do for work is also my hobby, but I have zero self control. I would happily dive into my side projects for weeks on end just to have them crash and burn from burnout or from my getting side-tracked.
  
  Last time I wasn't working I lasted about six months before I had to get back to some sort of work simply because my own personal projects became extremely boring. Even things I have put years into at this point, I ended up getting bored quickly even though I hadn't increased my workload
  
  To be clear, I wouldn't be working full-time, but I enjoy the unique challenges that work brings me. It gives me things to think about and solve that I wouldn't have considered, and that helps keep the burnout at bay
I've been out of a job and going to school through the VA for 4 years. I love it. I do projects to improve my home,I visit family without limits, and go to different states on a whim just to see them. If I want to go to see or do anything in the middle of the day I just leave. Working until your too old to do anything isn't sounding great.
- I still do quite a bit. I'm a remote worker so I travel relatively frequently, and my work is generous with vacation time. I don't feel over-worked and simply just enjoy some of the challenge that work brings me. It helps that I genuinely enjoy my work because what I do for work is also my hobby that I already do outside of work, it just ensures I don't stay fixated on a single project which helps prevent burnout.
  
  There's very few things I've found so far that are genuinely entertaining to participate in, and splitting up my time helps me in keeping those few things entertaining in perpituity instead of burning myself out

Retirement sounds like hell to me and has long seemed merely like a way to convince massive amounts of the population to delay taking earnings (pensions) or indirectly give their money to hedge fund managers to operate against their interests.

There are barely no conceptual issues with retirement in countries with public pension systems. Whatever the hell you guys have got going on in the US is a problem with the US implementation.

If you personally want to keep working at an old age, that's ok, but you should still respect other people's right to be sustained by society when they're too weak or feeble to properly gain their own bread.
- In rich countries with public pension systems. Of course you would have no problem to retire if public pension is good enough for decent living
- How did I not respect others?
  
  I'm American, so I legitimately forgot other nations refer to social security retirement plans as pensions when I wrote that.

"traditional pensions" is a misleading lie. The idea of ceasing to work after reaching a certain age, has been around since around the 18th century, quite new stuff considering how long homo sapiens is around.

And don't get angry at me, I personally think it's a great thing, I'm not an entrepeneur, I'm salaried and I'm hoping to retire eventually, but how the world economics is going, I'm not holding my breath.

Retirement plans worked great during the wars, lots of fine men never reclaiming their retirement money after years of paying for it because they're all KIA. More money to share with fewer people.

Then, after the war, we got the baby boom, lots of fresh meat eager to work to support the retirement of the previous workforce, or what remains of that, after all the PTSD and diseases.

Now? Since you are reading this here on Lemmy, I'm supposing you're tech savy, educated and curious. So you already know population is shrinking around the (first) world. Retirement plans as we know are not sustainable.

What I suggest, is talk to your bank, your consultant, your insurance. Figure out what kind of products they offer as "private retirement plans" and what's their suggestion. Don't expect the government to do something for you (especially in the US).

Do it yesterday, if not possible, then as soon as you can. The earlier you start planning your future, the better.

And if you change your mind, you could always withdraw that money and buy a house, which is something almost impossible until you escape the "living paycheck to paycheck" mentality.

“private retirement plans”

Were you speaking towards a SEP/IRA?

Don’t expect the government to do something for you (especially in the US).

When everything is said and done, I can't see them ever ever letting Social Security fail, at all. That would truly be the spark of a revolution if so.

Older voters are the best voters, so at the end of the day they'll make sure that stuff stays intact, one way or the other. Even if it means they have to build less battleships, etc.
- Older voters are the best voters, so at the end of the day they’ll make sure that stuff stays intact, one way or the other.
  
  you know? that's actually a valid point.
Living paycheck to paycheck isn't a mentality... But pushing personal responsibility for what is a societal issue certainly is.
- I can agree with you. Thankfully I live in Europe where it's good ethics for politicians thinking about societal issues, but in the "land of the free" that's a luxury most people don't expect. So help yourself.

It's better for a few to break up pension investment and have a generation die at a desk, perhaps

Hell of a fake news editorialize. Where is the "celebration" in this article? You could equally spin this article as "Gen Z and Millennials refuse to contribute to generational wealth and prioritize making capital enrich their lives instead."

"However, this fear may not be that much of a concern for the younger generation, as most are actually looking to retire early — or to retire at all, the report by Intuit showed.

Traditionally, retiring entails leaving the workforce permanently. However, experts found that the very definition of retirement is also changing between generations."

I am seeing that with my parents. My dad has had offers to make some pretty good cash as a consultant for a few hours a week here or there. In some industries, like law, a retired judge can make bank working in arbitration where they can pick up just a little work for a good pay check to keep them busy and have more fun money. And then there's the God's work that is unpaid, child care for grandchildren. For a generation that has lower birth rates as a personal choice, I can see those folks looking to do part time work if it's enjoyable and supports their other endeavors.

capitalism is celebrating

capitalism is not a person

You're right, it is an ideology.

Aside from that being an opinion of a software company, as stupid as millennials and especially gen Z can be, their logic isn't totally flawed either.

I don't think this is necessarily negative. I'm a millennial in that 44% and I'm in no hurry to retire because my profession is my identity. I hope I live a long time, but I also hope that I can work until I die. What would I even do if I didn't work? I tried taking a year off once but I lasted a month before I was bored and looking for job.

(I don't mean to sound smug - I get that I'm lucky. But I'm also not that unusual.)

In a way i can see why you think you're lucky as you will suffer less in these terrible times, but damn, there are so many things I want to do in life that I'll run out of time before I run out of things.

I am also a millenial and have a decent non-shitty job, but I'd drop that in a second if I didn't need it. It takes such a chunk of my life.
my profession is my identity

How very sad for you.
- Eh, no one says "how sad" when a person's Identity is creating art. I'm an engineer so I create practical things, but that doesn't mean I have less passion for what I do.