As people age their lives become more difficult. Physically and mentally, they just aren’t where they previously were. Most effective altruists are younger people, and they may not take into consideration how risky it can be to not have any savings cushion in the case things change. We can’t necessarily count on pension plans to cover us in our old age. We can’t assume our health will always be what it is now. A lot of people will face harder times in the future, and being put in the mindset of assuming one won’t face personal hardship, so one need not save money, is reckless.
It’s one thing if someone aspires to be wealthy, retire at age 30 like Mr. Money Mustache, or live a luxurious retirement. But it’s dangerous to create a culture in EA where people might be accused of hypocrisy to even save enough for retirement to cover their own basic living expenses. It’s also dangerous for us to presume that each of our lives will go so easily we can work until we die, or we won’t get sick. While talking about these things in the abstract may be well and fine, I want to register my conviction using social influence, i.e., peer pressure, alone to normalize “don’t/no need to save for retirement” as practical advice among effective altruists is potentially dangerous.
As people age their lives become more difficult. Physically and mentally, they just aren’t where they previously were. Most effective altruists are younger people, and they may not take into consideration how risky it can be to not have any savings cushion in the case things change. We can’t necessarily count on pension plans to cover us in our old age. We can’t assume our health will always be what it is now. A lot of people will face harder times in the future, and being put in the mindset of assuming one won’t face personal hardship, so one need not save money, is reckless.
It’s one thing if someone aspires to be wealthy, retire at age 30 like Mr. Money Mustache, or live a luxurious retirement. But it’s dangerous to create a culture in EA where people might be accused of hypocrisy to even save enough for retirement to cover their own basic living expenses. It’s also dangerous for us to presume that each of our lives will go so easily we can work until we die, or we won’t get sick. While talking about these things in the abstract may be well and fine, I want to register my conviction using social influence, i.e., peer pressure, alone to normalize “don’t/no need to save for retirement” as practical advice among effective altruists is potentially dangerous.
Very much agreed. I was pretty worried to see the initial responses saying ‘saving for retirement isn’t EA’.