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Qiaochu_Yuan comments on Why is it rational to invest in retirement? I don't get it. - Less Wrong Discussion
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Comments (113)
Robin Hanson thinks an optimal donation policy looks like saving up and investing as much money as you can and then making a large donation at the end of your life. So retirement accounts seem sensible from this point of view ("tax advantaged" seems like an important keyword here).
Another reason would be to save up money to pass on to your family after you die.
The mortality rate you cite doesn't control for demographics, which I think is important. Many people die early in ways that I think the LW demographic can avoid.
From a tax perspective, my understanding is that you can deduct up to 50% of your income from your taxes if you give it to charity. Are retirement account tax incentives that good? If not, you might want to put your money in a donor-advised fund instead of a retirement account. (See this comment for more relatively clueless speculation from me.)
In Canada, investments made in a retirement fund and donations made to charity both work identically - no taxes are charged on that dollar amount(there's some caps, but they rarely come up for most people). It will obviously depend on where you live, though.
Or simply insuring against being a burden (a cost) to your family in case your health declines.