this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2023
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[–] alienanimals@lemmy.world 102 points 2 years ago (6 children)

If you come from the future and the best investment vehicle you can think of is a 401k, you don't deserve to be a time traveler.

[–] misterundercoat@lemmy.world 21 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Maybe there's a framework of rules that the time traveler must adhere to (or risk being disintegrated by the time police).

For example, specific knowledge of the future is off-limits, but it's OK to give basic advice as long as it's already general knowledge for the time period you're traveling to. Make sound investments, eat right, exercise, don't smoke, etc.

[–] Bo7a@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 years ago

Wear sunscreen

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[–] otter@lemmy.ca 12 points 2 years ago

Maybe it's not the best, but it's the correct one. Clearly future self knows something we don't

In before future self just forgot to check and is just trying to make the best use of it

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[–] photonic_sorcerer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 67 points 2 years ago (5 children)

If you have perfect knowledge of the future and know which stocks will do well, why bother with trying to diversify your portfolio to try to mirror the market?

[–] insomniac_lemon@kbin.social 122 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

So, as it turns out there are a few big reasons.

  • it's a cosmic felony

  • causing improbable events creates a new timeline which increases entropy in all probable realities, which can have some drastic (and usually negative) effects.

  • most time travel agencies (which is what most people can afford) use technology that doesn't actually allow for free will, that's why it's mostly sold for vacations.

    • you can alter/push some decisions, but for most people it's not gonna be successful stocks.
    • older technology was advanced calculation in a realistic simulation. Most people just wanted an old memory or to get closure. Some people just try a different meal or movie choice, the experience is all that matters.
  • time mercenaries. We're actually not sure who these guys are, but we also don't wanna know either. Some say they're who cause spontaneous combustion and embarrassing deaths.

  • most forms of actual time travel leave the user stranded, with chronic or terminal illness (and sometimes amnesia), and in some cases fading/poofing out of existence when certain thresholds are crossed.

    • On top of that, new timelines of you typically aren't experienced by you. It's a different you. So that was nice of you.
  • time spiders. You don't want to know.

[–] WetBeardHairs@lemmy.ml 21 points 2 years ago (2 children)

time spiders. You don’t want to know.

They're really more crab-like than spider-like. If you bring a net back home from vacation, you can snag a few. They're delicious steamed with butter.

[–] droans@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

Don't eat too many; their chroniton level is through the roof.

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[–] Oszilloraptor@feddit.de 18 points 2 years ago

Who knows if you really want to have much much wealth in the future.

Maybe he would have made the deal of his life the next week if his future me wouldn't have intervened; but 30 years later everybody that ever had more than a million gets killed by the revolutionary movement that swapped across the world after society almost collapsed due to greed.

But he managed to reach a time machine, and now he calculated that if he saves a maximum of 15% he will only ever reach 975000 bucks and therefore survive the revolution

[–] Dasnap@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

Maybe they're really risk-adverse and don't trust they haven't fucked everything with the butterfly effect just by being there.

[–] magic_lobster_party@kbin.social 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Maybe the butterfly effect is greater than we possibly can imagine?

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[–] hark@lemmy.world 38 points 2 years ago (6 children)

Old self is greedy and wants young self to reduce the fun of their prime years by locking away money so they can sit on a big ol' retirement fund in their older years. Of course, that's assuming that past performance guarantees future results and that the conditions of the 401k will remain the same. What's to say politicians don't start applying extra taxes on 401k withdrawals? What's to say they won't increase the retirement age?

A lot of people can't spare 10-15% of their income and I'm not so sure the advice is not just a ploy by 401k fund managers to squeeze out extra fees. Maybe it's just a silly little comic and I'm taking it too seriously.

[–] killeronthecorner@lemmy.world 16 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Young Johnny should ask old Johnny why they don't simply buy a sports almanac

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

Because Marty will just steal it. Duh.

[–] theragu40@lemmy.world 12 points 2 years ago

Well. I assume this guy is actually from the future. So in theory wouldn't he know that in the future 401k's have not been taxed into irrelevance? I feel like if he's coming from the future with this advice it's because he feels it's still good advice in his future.

[–] oatscoop@midwest.social 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

And then one day you wake up and you are that "old" person. Then you realize you're screwed: the health problems that aren't a big deal if they're treated are debilitating because you can't afford treatment. Those issues you assumed are going to kill you don't, and instead you linger for decades with a garbage quality of life.

The worst part is you aren't even that old: mentally you're still pretty much the same person you were in your 30s, just trapped in a body that's slowly falling apart and needs constant maintenance.

Yes, you need to strike a balance -- but not doing what you can to financially plan for old age is fucking stupid.

[–] hark@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

and then those health problems turn out to be so expensive that the cost far exceeds what you can afford through your 401k anyway. I'm not saying no planning should be done, I'm saying that your planning should lean more favorably toward the present than the far future. For many, 10-15% of income is so much of a sacrifice that I'm willing to bet the payoff wouldn't be worth it in most cases.

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[–] Anamnesis@lemmy.world 21 points 2 years ago (17 children)

Must be nice to have a job that does 401k matching. I had one for about a year, then boom, laid off. Back to part time work that doesn't match. 🤷‍♂️

[–] Very_Bad_Janet@kbin.social 7 points 2 years ago

I don't have a match but I still save in my pretax retirement account. If you don't have any available to you through your employer, please look into a Traditional or Roth IRA.

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[–] Vex_Detrause@lemmy.ca 10 points 2 years ago (4 children)
[–] GoneWrong@lemmynsfw.com 31 points 2 years ago (1 children)

As a Warhammer fan, I’m telling you it is wild.

[–] Kyoyeou@slrpnk.net 7 points 2 years ago (2 children)

It's even further than 40k when the T'AU empire have saved the world obviously

[–] massive_bereavement@kbin.social 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

blasphemy, though the mechs are cool.

[–] drathvedro@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

when the T’AU empire have ~~saved~~ brainwashed and enslaved the world obviously

FTFY

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[–] blackbelt352@lemmy.world 15 points 2 years ago (3 children)

So if you have a 401(k) you agree to have part of your paycheck go to a fund and your employer matches however much you put in up to a certain percent. It helps get around some taxes when you eventually pull the money out for retirement.

Originally it was supposed to be a supplement for pensions but pensions meant less profits because they need to be fully funded, so over the years big corporations pushed 401(k)s as an alternative to pensions because they can just push that responsibility onto us.

[–] xylogx@lemmy.world 15 points 2 years ago

A defined benefit pension puts market risks on the company. A 401k puts the market risk on the individual.

[–] altima_neo@lemmy.zip 9 points 2 years ago

The employer matching is definitely not always a thing

[–] solstice@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

Personally I'm way happier with a 401(k) than a pension. Risk is more distributed with a pension, yes, and many people don't have the knowledge or resolve to properly manage their own retirement funds. But pensions are a royal PITA, way more complicated (and expensive) to manage than a 401k. So if I had to choose between money coming out of my paycheck to go into a complicated expensive pension fund that may or may not be around in a few decades, OR a 401k that I have complete control over and can take with me when I leave the company, I'll take the 401k every day of the week.

[–] hark@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

It's like an RRSP.

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[–] pinkdrunkenelephants@sopuli.xyz 9 points 2 years ago (3 children)

He should have come back with winning lottery ticket numbers and sports outcomes

[–] ILurkAndIKnowThings@lemmy.ml 15 points 2 years ago (1 children)

That happened in the previous loop. This time-traveller ruined his life with hookers and blow, so instead of giving his younger self quick riches, he gave solid financial advice instead.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 years ago

Yeah, future him is a fucking moron.

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[–] TheBest@midwest.social 9 points 2 years ago

this thread calls out to all the real adults on Lemmy lol. actually learning so much.

[–] mrcleanup@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

It turns out if you save that 10% instead of giving it to the church you might not be destitute when you retire. Or you can buy the church for assistance and see how that goes.

[–] jawa21@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 2 years ago (6 children)

What company let's you put a full 15% into a 401k? I mean... sign me up.

[–] psivchaz@reddthat.com 25 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Generally you can put in as much as you want but they only provide matching for some percentage. Usually like 1-5%. There is a total contribution limit but that won't affect most people.

[–] Trollception@lemmy.world 14 points 2 years ago

You can put in a max of 22,500 per year. The employer contribution can be higher.

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[–] Astroturfed@lemmy.world 22 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

You can put however much you want in. Max is like 22k a year. You're probably thinking match, ya basically no company will match 15%.

That'd be too close to a pension fund or something reasonable. We can't have that. The boomers said those were bad, raegonomics are good. Fuck pensions and unions.

[–] oatscoop@midwest.social 22 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Unions, blegh.

I was forced into a union at my job, and it's horrible. We get tons of time off, full benefits, protection from our employers when they try to violate the contract or do something illegal, and great pay. I'm currently set to retire at 55 years old, with over $10,000 a month income between my pension and 457b.

I mean, what the hell is my $100 a month in union dues doing for me!?

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[–] JJROKCZ@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

You can put in however much you want, the company only matches up to a certain low percent though. Typically less than 5%. I personally put 17% of my income into my 401k since I didn’t do anything for about a decade that I should’ve been doing 10% and now I’m trying to catch up, company only matches 3%

[–] ALoafOfBread@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

The limits on 401k contributions are federally regulated and are set as a nominal amount.

Employers often have employees select a percentage of their income to contribute, and for very high income earners, 15% might be over the federal limit. Also, employers can match employee 401k contributions. That is usually a percentage match of annual salary up to a given limit (e.g. 2% of salary up to $3000).

[–] raptir@lemdro.id 4 points 2 years ago

Any company that pays you less than $150,000.

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[–] samus12345@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

"Come on, you couldn't have brought a Grays Sports Almanac from the future or something?"

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