USS Monitor wrote:It's one thing if you have to live on a limited budget because there just isn't enough money. It's something else when a man asks you to live in poverty and squalor while thousands of dollars of your own money just sits in the bank unused. This is something that many men do as a result of toxic gender roles, and it makes it difficult to have a worthwhile relationship with them.
That is usually how money works. Unless someone is already rich or has a high income, the only way to be able to retire early or get to a comfortable retirement or lifestyle is to live far below your means. You have to live in squalor today to be able to live in comfort tomorrow. Of course, if someone is too low income, there is no point to what they do because they'll spend every dime they get anyways, just trying to survive. The key to any economic mobility/progress is to invest the difference in assets that appreciate or consistently earn more than you can use up.
If you earned your portion of the money however, I'd say you have a right to use it as you see fit, even if over the long term- you're not as rich because you spent too much or didn't make the right investments. Or if you were a low earner for too long.
Chances are, Social Security and Medicare will be worthless far before year 2100. So pay as little into both or either as is possible. The future trend for retirement will be for people to work in some form until they die.