Here's an purported end-run on worrying about saving for retirement: spend some of those golden years in prison.
The argument goes like this: Are you staring down the loaded barrel of ten or twenty years of old age on two months' worth of living expenses? No family to take care of you? Well hey: If you plan carefully and do the right white-collar crime, you might land yourself in the minimum security pen for ten to twenty, which might be arguably better than living by yourself, or in a low-end nursing home. Why would a judge give this kind of sentence to someone with no criminal record, and heave the cost of supporting this fledgling criminal onto the taxpayers? He may have no choice, thanks to mandatory sentences for particular crimes.
Neat, huh? Smells like the motherlode of retirement community bargains?!
Three squares a day, courtesy of the federal prison system?
The page where I heard of this article doesn't have it locked down whether retiring to prison is a “brilliant lifestyle hack or a raging bummer about the state of society.” The i09 article does cover the bases pretty well and addresses the big risks. Such as: do the wrong crime as opposed to the right crime (ha!) then your outlook might be pretty awful once you become a member of a less desirable prison population and less accommodating, er, accommodations.
So, at least this scheme isn't billed as a cure-all for getting out of an underfunded retirement.
Back to the future
The website that published this article is future-oriented, and that underscores both the problem and the solution: Presuming on the future is risky. Presuming that “someone will take care of things” later is risky. Oh, they'll be taken care of one way or another, but there are more options if one plans for it. Even for the entrepreneurial (?) people who look to the prison retirement plan as a real option might be caught unaware when the loopholes that exist now are closed up. A few might hop on the gravy train, but once enough people see the line forming for the next train, something will be done about it. Laws giveth, and laws taketh away.
Plan for the golden years
If it looks like that there won't be enough money to last through the number of years you're expected to live, then build up something now that you'll be able to retire into. Produce something that people will buy, whether it's goods, information, or services. If this retirement career is chosen correctly, it will provide income for you.
Perhaps more importantly, though, it will keep you out of trouble. Most importantly, you'll be remembered for more than playing the system.
When I was in the army, I was stationed at Ft. Leavenworth (USDB). For those of you who don’t know the USDB is the Army, Navy, Marine, Air Force prison. If you are convicted with a General Court Marshall, you will likely be there. Although it is not as bad as the Federal system, it is serious. Prison is hardly a place I would want to spend my retirement even if it was Club Fed!
My husband is a sheriff’s deputy, and has worked countless shifts in the county jail – lockup is no joke! That said, these prisoners do get access to top notch medical care on the county’s dime. My husband has seen many, MANY repeat offenders who come in simply because they can’t afford to live anywhere else, so they commit a petty crime instead.
Wow. I have heard of some people doing this, but how desperate do you have to be? I can’t imagine this as a viable option.
I’ve heard about homeless people committing petty crimes in exchange for 3 square meals per day, but planning to retire on a white collar crime?! Ridiculous! So many things could go wrong in that plan. I agree with you that saving as much as possible and working longer are definitely safer bets.
I joke with a friend of mine all the time that life would be great away from the wife and kids for some long extended time. we would save thousands of dollars a year and we could workout day and night so that when we came out we were in great shape. 🙂
When in 15 years a choice have to made where to spend the last available government dollar, prisons will be more likely be the beneficiary than any other spending on retirees.