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Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Not having "savings" for retirement is not a big deal if you have a lot of equity in a home, a defined pension, and wait until full social security age to retire. The best plan is to have that and a 401K and other investments but in some areas here on the west coast people are going to retire with enough home equity to move to less expensive areas, pay cash for a smaller house and still have a few hundred thousand left over. The lifetime renters with no pension and only SS to retire on are the ones that need a lot of savings, but the least likely to have it. When this happened 10-20 years ago medicaid and subsidized housing would take care of them, but the numbers will far exceed the availability in the next few years.
Some people fall into the rent creep where rents just go up and up while their income doesn't.
I know a guy who runs what is basically a flophouse with 20 rooms rented by the week. Place is basically a dump. Says he struggles to keep the lights on but can't really increase the rent because nobody living there can afford it and it's better to have some money coming in than none at all. Sure, this might be an extreme example but landlords have bills too which keep increasing like everyone else's.
The state basically takes care of older folk who retire broke. Heck, not just retired people either. I know some people working at Walmart and other low wage jobs that get HUD, food stamps, medicaid, etc. It's really the middle class that gets the shaft in this country.
so maybe they have the right idea and we (general term) should spend down our assets to get the free stuff?
Last Saturday, my church gave out 2700 thanksgiving dinners at various low income centers in southern NJ. I volunteered with the distribution and saw the face of misery.
I'll take getting the "shaft" any day because sorry that is not how I want to live.
Some of the facts in this video were shocking... half of Americans have less than $10,000 saved, a third have no retirement at all
I believe many people fall into the lifestyle creep issue as they earn more income, buying bigger homes, cars etc. that really cut into their savings. And they do all this on credit with the thought that they will never lose their current income or they will easily be able to get another one - and when they don't they are in a bind.
Some people will not, and cannot, ever have retirement savings because they don't earn enough money after paying for necessities.
Half having less than $10k is meaningless, unless you know the ages. If a 28 year old has $10k saved for retirement, I'd say that kid is on his way to retiring as a millionaire! But if he's 48, he will be too dependent on his Social Security. But like I said, many people can't save anything, or much, for retirement, because they don't have expendable income.
I have no broad statistics and am personally well funded through investments for retirement but talk with a dozen or so seniors that have no real savings at the gyms I use. Their support come from limited SS, or a variety of modest retirement plans. They make use of Medicaid, Snap, and other support programs. They live in a assorted low cost housing often shared with family or others.
Surprisingly these citizens are able to qualify for elective medical procedures, participate in programs that provide clothing, food, and even some cosmetic dental work that those with just a small percentage more in income from savings cannot budget for.
There is more than one way to survive your senior years, some more comfortable than others, but clearly many things are better than many describe.
there were times in my life i struggled to save but i filled the gap by getting more jobs to enable the savings to continue .
it is not always just a question of not having enough income . it is a question of what do you do about not having enough income.
my buddies i grew up with in the projects are still poor . they did nothing about it all these decades . i begged them to go with me when i went to a trade school . they rather hang out , work menial jobs and just drift along as is . now they complain they have nothing .
so maybe they have the right idea and we (general term) should spend down our assets to get the free stuff?
Last Saturday, my church gave out 2700 thanksgiving dinners at various low income centers in southern NJ. I volunteered with the distribution and saw the face of misery.
I'll take getting the "shaft" any day because sorry that is not how I want to live.
Because you have more ambition than that. Some people have no aspirations in life other than to work at Walmart, play video and smoke weed in their HUD apartment. The flophouse my friend runs that I mentioned earlier is full of people like that.
In the US, we got rid of unions, so the middle class can't afford to pay the taxes that would have funded their own welfare over time. Only the wealthy can afford to pick up that tab, and of course, they don't want to and own enough politicians to make such an outcome quite unlikely. Welcome to the real world where the corporatocracy that panders to you is also picking your pocket daily.
Not having "savings" for retirement is not a big deal if you have a lot of equity in a home, a defined pension, and wait until full social security age to retire. The best plan is to have that and a 401K and other investments but in some areas here on the west coast people are going to retire with enough home equity to move to less expensive areas, pay cash for a smaller house and still have a few hundred thousand left over. The lifetime renters with no pension and only SS to retire on are the ones that need a lot of savings, but the least likely to have it. When this happened 10-20 years ago medicaid and subsidized housing would take care of them, but the numbers will far exceed the availability in the next few years.
A "defined pension" is retirement savings
Last edited by TampaBull13; 11-20-2017 at 08:39 AM..
Reason: formatting
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