Careers
Labor Lawyer Says He Can’t Save, Sees Retirement as ‘Scant Possibility’
Posted Jan 5, 2009, 09:59 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A blogging employment and labor lawyer from Chicago doesn’t think he’ll ever have enough money to retire. And he’s OK with that.
Tim Eavenson, who co-authors the blog Current Employment, says in a commentary for American Public Media that “retirement is a scant possibility for me.” Eavenson has no savings and $200,000 in student loans. He doesn’t think Social Security will still be around when he’s 75 or even 85.
“At age 28, I am fully prepared to work until my dying day,” Eavenson says. “I can't afford to contribute to a 401(k) because I don't have any income left over at the end of the month.”
His “best-case scenario” is to make more money in the future, pay off his loans, finance his kids’ college education and save enough money so he can work part-time as a lawyer when he is older. He would also prefer that government fold Social Security into health-care funding so that doctor visits don’t end up leading to possible bankruptcy.
“I'm not bitter,” Eavenson says. “Honestly, the concept of retirement seems a little selfish to me. I mean, expecting to retire is a luxury just a few generations old—it's not exactly the entitlement people like to call it.”
Comments not appearing after a few seconds? Try emptying your cache ("Temporary Internet files"), making sure Javascript is activated, and refresh this page.