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I find it hard to believe 49.5% have saved zero for retirement. If so, yikes!
I dont find it hard to believe at all. There a lot of lower income people where I live that just live paycheck to paycheck with nothing left over to save. IMO the situation is going to come to a head in about 30 years and we will see thousands of retirees living in government housing. That or lots and lots of multi generational households.
I dont find it hard to believe at all. There a lot of lower income people where I live that just live paycheck to paycheck with nothing left over to save. IMO the situation is going to come to a head in about 30 years and we will see thousands of retirees living in government housing. That or lots and lots of multi generational households.
I think you are right about expansion of government housing, not just for retirees, and not just for people in generational poverty. Starting with the Millenial generation, it appears that vast masses of people in the US simply can't fathom how to live without somebody else taking care of them. In the past, the expectation was that you leave mom and dad, and then fend for yourself; now, you either never leave mom and dad, or after you leave them, you expect the government to assume the role of mom and dad.
Probably a lot of them have decent sized pension and SS checks. We did a round about with this on another thread where it was debated whether or not a guaranteed future monthly pension could be considered an asset or not.
Not likely - the average pension is about $22K/year (Pension center data) and the average SS check is about $22K/year (SS data) - barely above poverty and certainly not decent sized.
A pension is certainly an asset, but not really something to include in a net worth calculation.
In the pattern for these articles, the WSJ features vignettes for a selection of people that fit the focus criteria. It begins with a graphic that was somewhat revealing to me (mainly as I don't look at these stats often) - only about 3.2% have retirement savings of 1M and more and only 0.1% have retirement savings of 5M or more.
The vignettes feature:
65 YEARS OLD - PAUL SHEMWELL - Single. Annual spending $144K. 6.1M, recently retired. "...hasn’t mapped out a flight plan for what comes next.
61 AND 60 YEARS OLD - JAY AND ANITA MYER. ANNUAL SPENDING - $130K. 4.2M. "...decision to retire early was partly inspired by his stepfather, a small-business owner who enjoyed traveling and spending time with grandchildren.
72 YEARS OLD - HENRY HWU - ANNUAL SPENDING - $250K - Still works. "...Hwu travels up to three months a year, visiting his 98-year-old mother in Taiwan or exploring Scotland, France, Germany, Japan and Switzerland.
80 AND 75 YEARS OLD - BOB AND PAT FREY - ANNUAL SPENDING - $220. “We have more money than we can spend in our lifetimes.”
One of the takeaways for me is that people who accumulate substantial retirement savings the old fashioned way do so by living modest lifestyles in their pre-retirement years. And, their spending habits do not change dramatically when they retire. Some of them still work for satisfaction. We are well above in retirement savings than this cohort, still wor
k and our plans in retirement are not a big departure from what we do now.
I made it as far as the former pilot goes. Not included in the numbers are military retirement (very likely officer), retiree benefits such as Tricare/Tricare for life for him/spouse, airline retirement including free flight for him/immediate family. Is he a designated examiner or FAA instructor on the side? He could easily have lived on his retirement and saved/invested the airline check.
Three perfect click bait examples.
49% have no retirement savings?
Actually the item that is missing that really should be included is investments / savings outside of retirement accounts.
Yeah, there is a lot missing from that number. I have seen retirees living on modest pensions, in paid off homes and doing work on the side like dog sitting.
If/when they go to sell their home, their home would sell for 700K+.
People like that almost always have money in CDs or T-bills or even squirreled away in a cookie jar someplace.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
I find it hard to believe 49.5% have saved zero for retirement. If so, yikes!
Quote:
Originally Posted by CCS414
I dont find it hard to believe at all. ... IMO the situation is going to come to a head in about 30 years and we will see thousands of retirees living in government housing. That or lots and lots of multi generational households.
Add to the 49.5%, those with savings under $100k (somewhat immaterial to a 30 yr retirement plan) and you're up to over 80% retiring with under $100k in retirement 'savings'.
Not that the $5m examples are very common (or very wise / relevant) examples of spending in retirement.
WSJ is obviously very short on 'news'. (What was the value of this article to their readership, except "Hey, I'm not so bad" back-patting )
Within the 8 retired, of 10 rural neighbors... we are all as different as can be in our careers, family, glide-path, and retirement spending.
So many options and lifestyles.
That's good.
Ironically, over 1/2 of us have been traveling overseas (more than once) already this yr. As there are plenty of reasons to stay home! (nice view, quiet, plenty to do, very CHEAP (except for property taxes).)
Wonder how many of the $5m retirees are cutting firewood, picking their own produce and drying / canning
and storing food for the winter.
Hope they're really happy! Life is drawing very short.
You may get your final call yet today.
If $4.99m left in retirement spending acct AFTER I'm gone? Someone (else) will have a wonderful time. My last rites will be well under $1000, and Poof, I'm GONE! Yippee!
If $499,000 remaining... Yippee!
If $0.05 remaining... Yippee, I made it to the end (debt / burden free).
I dont find it hard to believe at all. There a lot of lower income people where I live that just live paycheck to paycheck with nothing left over to save. IMO the situation is going to come to a head in about 30 years and we will see thousands of retirees living in government housing. That or lots and lots of multi generational households.
They'll be living in your backyard in "Effing Crappy California".
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back-patting )
