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It is really rude and judgemental to call an American citizen "retarded" because he/she does not have a lot of savings. You (the OP) really do not deserve an answer with that attitude.
It is sad, not "retarded" and is something not to sneer at but to fix. Who wants his fellow man to be in dire straights when he reaches 60,70 years old?
And finally, I question your statistic. According to the Government Accounting Office, the average savings amount for Americans in the 55-65 age bracket was over $100,000.
It is really rude and judgemental to call an American citizen "retarded" because he/she does not have a lot of savings. You (the OP) really do not deserve an answer with that attitude.
It is sad, not "retarded" and is something not to sneer at but to fix. Who wants his fellow man to be in dire straights when he reaches 60,70 years old?
And finally, I question your statistic. According to the Government Accounting Office, the average savings amount for Americans in the 55-65 age bracket was over $100,000.
I believe the person quoting the $5K as average was quoting a study that specifically asked only about saving accounts. That's why that number is that low. However, the correct number is nowhere near $100K. According to the US census bureau the median net worth for someone in the 55-64 age group is only $45,447 (when you exclude equity of their home). That is still a very scary number and shows just how little thought people put into their retirement. Here a very informative article regarding the elderly and retirement from which I got the above number:
But schools do not teach basic economics. Anyway, teachers are not qualified to talk about such things.
It is not even necessary to use your own money to provide for retirement. In 1985 we built 2 town houses. The tenants paid for the 15 year notes on them, so we have no money of our own in the units. We will take something like $500,000 out of the units if we live to be 90. We're 71 now.
Cost in 1985 = $80,000
Income for 15 years = 0
Outgo for 15 years = 0
Income since 2000 = 12,000 per year.
We will live about another 20 years, or until 2036
36 years X 12K/Yr = 432,000. But we'll sell the units before then, and rents will rise so I use the figure $500,000.
We have become a society of takers whose aspirations are to live off of Someone Else. While we strongly prefer, when feasible, to live off of other individuals (e.g. rental income and wealth) it's impossible for everyone to do that because every landlord needs at least one - and usually more than one - rent slave in order to build real estate wealth. Since not everyone can live off other individuals, those who cannot do so have resorted to the inferior alternative of living off taxpayers collectively.
Maybe it's the kind of people I work with, but whenever any of my colleagues have a death in the family like a parent, they always move into a much nicer house within a year or two so of that death. That indicates to me that substantial inheritances are out there & some seniors did save their money.
I've read that about 50% of boomers have received or will receive a substantial (>$25K I think) inheritance and the other half will not.
Opportunity. The same thing she had when she was simply another waitress at Hooters.
The same thing Lyle Hiedemann had when he began as a janitor at Sears. CEO of True Value now.
The same thing Shawn Score had at Best Buy as a floor salesman. Senior VP, now.
Stuart Rose...pajama salesman to CEO at Marks and Spencer.
Fred Turner.... flipping burgers at McDonald's to CEO.
Opportunity, Harpaint. There is an opportunity behind every job.
Local restaurant joke:
Q: What's the difference between a restaurant owner and a sous chef?
A: Capital.
Opportunity without capital is not going to make that sous chef a restaurant owner.
The sad thing is besides the two bolded statements we do everything you listed above and still save 45% of our gross income. I shudder to think just how irresponsible you have to be to live paycheck to paycheck when saving is such a simple task.
How simple is saving when rent consumes half your minimum wage income?
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