Yeah, I have a hard time seeing how the answer could be anything other than Option A. It would have to take something utterly enormous, like billions and billions of dollars, to make me swap to age 65, and even then it would be tough.
Do I get to go back to 20 years old knowing what I do now? Sign me up.
I’d be worth billions if I knew that. I’d invest in microsoft, apple, bitcoin, berkshire, google and amazon when they were low and then sell high. Fuck a million dollars.
I think I’d take being a billionaire are 65 over broke at 20. At 65 I could support charities, research and other agendas I believe in.
To fight such tactics, I think it is common in many such hypothetical threads to say, “Going back with all the wisdom you have now, but the world turns out differently” - so it wouldn’t be Amazon, Microsoft, etc. booming, but some other companies in some other trend. But your non-historical knowledge, such as how people behave, how you should act or talk differently, is retained.
Skip those years?
Skip the time I met and won my life partner? Skip the time I learned about history? Skip my daughters? Skip my neck injury or those kidney stones?
No. No amount of money can make up.fir the experiences which brought me to where I am now.
I was twenty without a pot to piss in. I am approaching sixty with a lifetime of wonderful memories (and despite having no business sense a bit more than a million set aside for retirement.)
Ok… what do these statistics have to do with anything? It’s not a race or comparison, I don’t care if your performance was average (mean or median) - the average American fails miserably with money.
In fact, the mentality that you’re fine as long as you’re “keeping up” is probably half the reason people fail so miserably.
Now, I’m not shaming those people or attacking them, but I am being uncompromising about a harsh reality. Most people don’t know what an investment is beyond a vague idea of “stonks gon go up!” Few people exercise discipline in any form, let alone discipline in spending and investing. People are actually taught anti-financial wisdom in schools, taught hyper consumerism in every aspect of culture…
So yes, the median is 250k? So what? The majority fail, will have nothing in retirement after a few short years, and will wind up no better off than an 18 year old working right alongside them at walmart.
I’m at option 2 now, but with more than $1 million (which indeed is pushing it) but I’d go with option 1 since the ride was fun. I was there also - in college with pretty close to no money.
However I’d want to have option 1 have me go back to 1971. I’m kind of glad I’m not going to be around to see what a mess the world will be 45 years from now.
If I had to be 20 again the way I was 20 the first time, I think I’ll take 60 and the million. (Hey, I get to be nearly a decade younger! And being 20 was physically pretty good, but mentally not much fun.)
If I can be physically 20 again but with the general mental state that I’ve got now, I’ll take 20 and broke – I think. If I were suddenly 20 physically but had no place to live, no car, no food, no other goods, no family supporting me, no money at all – do I at least know somebody who’ll take me in while I find a job? Because otherwise, that’s a pretty terrible starting point, even in the USA; and I don’t know whether I’d manage to pull out of it. A lot of people who start off even somewhat better than that don’t pull out of it.
I like your way of thinking.
In this specific scenario that I am creating, no.
You go back to 20 years old, which also means having your 20 year old brain as well unfortunately.
excellent response, I agree.
brilliant. I agree. Shades of Robert Kiyosaki.
Amazing. I’ve always been interested to learn and hear about the life experiences of older people. I’m fascinated by your stories and how you see the world today as compared to yesterday.
Yes, even at 40 (me), I would love to go back to the 80s and 90s and live in those “innocent/simpler” times LOL. Of course they were not innocent and simpler times but in retrospect knowing what I know now and what I knew back then, it sure did seem like simpler and innocent times in the 80s and early 90s. I also do not look forward to what this world is becoming and I have to live longer to see it. I would happily trade in my smartphones, internet and social media for just good ol books, magazines, and cable tv with 20 channels lol. God those were days! It was so simple to have fun and find the wonder and joy in all the small things in life. Now today, you can’t impress anyone even if you can walk on water.
Although, I think in terms of medicine/health care, it’s so much better to live now or in the next 40 years than it was to be old and sick in the 80s or 90s.
As can be seen in the thread, people from the United States, if they have a fair amount of social capital, are going to pick young and $0. But the answer for a high school dropout with a rap sheet, and a Brown University sophomore, will probably not be the same.
There are tens – probably hundreds – of millions of people who would have changed their answer from A to B in the last six weeks. It’s not a matter of enjoyment of money, but that they no longer can support their family. Think of all the people who work terrible jobs so they can send home remittances.
As for the amount, I thought of it as whatever a person would think is enough to be quite comfortable. For people living my neighborhood, a million is low, especially if that is family net worth including pension plan. In most of the world, including less prosperous U.S. neighborhoods, the equivalent of US$1 million still is a dream.
I’ve already been 20 years old and I don’t ever want to go through that again. I’m 61 now and I could do some decently cool things if I gained a million in the next four years.
The problem is if everyone saves and invests 20-50% of their net income, the economy as a whole will take a major hit. I’m not sure if there are models for how to build an economy with such large savings rates. Consumption is a big part of how the economy works.
And yeah you are shaming and attacking people. Not sure why you’re in denial about that. If thats what you want to do have at it, but you obviously believe 90% of people are idiots and you’ve figured it all out.
Plus there is the issue of what do you do if you die rich? Not everyone shares that goal. Its laudable to leave money to kids and grandkids, but if they squander it in 6 months (which a lot of people do), it loses its appeal in a lot of ways. I’ve known multiple people who are on track to retire with 7+ figure nest eggs. What then? Maybe if they build a trust to fund medical expenses, education costs, etc of children and grandchildren but a lot of inheritances are wasted. Living on a fraction of your income because you have a goal (retire early, travel the world, work part time, etc) is one thing. Living on part of your income and investing the rest so you can leave an inheritance that is squandered is another. but again, trusts can be set up to help avoid things being squandered.
Also I’ve met retired people who can live fairly comfortably on low incomes. Not everyone blows through 250k in a few years, that can provide 10k a year in interest income when combined with SS is enough to live on if you’re reasonably frugal and own your own home. Its more of a personal decision, but there is an issue with underfunding of 401ks. I think making 401k savings mandatory (opt out instead of opt in) combined with tax credit matching funds would be a good idea to look at.
I started collecting sf books in 1967, and I kept steno notebooks of when and where I bought my books, and when I finished reading them. In '68 and later I was reading 2 or 3 books/magazines a day. I can’t do that today, and I’m retired. How the hell did I do it? Then I remembered that back then there was no internet to get lost in (and no Dope to post to or YouTube to watch) and if you missed something on the few channels we had, even in NY, you missed it, not watched it the next day. So I had a lot more time, even in high school or when I was doing things over the summer.
Yes, I’ve had cause to be very grateful for our medical advances, and was clever enough to avoid getting sick until they were available. I’d never go back in time to even the early 20th century.
Hell, even if it was become 20 right now, knowing what I know right now, I’d take it.
I mean, I have all the knowledge of a 47 year old in terms of navigating the system, what to do, what not to do, etc… and 27 more years to deal with it in.
Plus, I’d be younger, less gimpy and all that.
Maybe I’m fighting the hypothetical here, but going back to when I was 20 means my kids cease to exist, and won’t exist again. At best, some other kids may be born in their place. I’m not sure I’d do that for any amount of money or youth.
I’d take 20 and broke over 25 and a million.