76% of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck (drugs, high school, elect, world)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Where have you been the last 10 years?
Employers have been doing away with contributing to retirement accounts.
It's our two-tier society in action. What's happening is that workers with the best jobs are the ones still enjoying employer retirement matches, while everyone else either has no retirement plan at work or has no employer match.
More and more people will be relying on SS as their primary retirement income. Long gone are the days of the 30 year single company career and defined pension plan. 401k's aren't enough by itself. I think the main problem is that people are living longer. Long ago most never made it to retirement or died a few years after.
How much do you expect minimum wage workers to save for retirement?
Well hopefully one won't be making minimum wage their entire career. Minimum wage jobs generally have a "rotating door" policy where you will be fired before long.
I'd like to see our income levels broken down by population percentage. I'd be willing to bet we're trending down towards an increasingly high portion of the population on the lower end of the income spectrum.
That's bad because those entering into the workforce are making the least regardless of education.
It's our two-tier society in action. What's happening is that workers with the best jobs are the ones still enjoying employer retirement matches, while everyone else either has no retirement plan at work or has no employer match.
The 2nd tier are MCJob's. Advance past working those. Having a 401k is hardly an exclusive club.
What about all the folks that invested their 401k's in the stock marker and were devastated in the 2007 collapse? Did you have 30 years of investment just dissappear? Are you trying to increase your savings at 0.5% interest? Have you see your career job replaced with a robot or moved over to China? Or are you one of the know it all executive theives with more money than they need?
FWIW - We have a small house we have been in for 35 years, a 10 year old Buick sedan, a 42 in TV and more books than we can count. The mortgage is paid off, we paid cash for the car and the TV is 11 years old. We always knew the difference between what we needed and what the advertizers told us to want. I can afford to retire.
What about all the folks that invested their 401k's in the stock marker and were devastated in the 2007 collapse? Did you have 30 years of investment just dissappear?.
By 2013, the stock market was higher than before the crash. If I took my 2007 401K, adjusted for new money put in, adjusted for 5% growth annually..it would be less than my 401K now.
Prove it.
I thought it was supposed to be retirement income?
What's the point of them taking money out of my paycheck for something that's supposed to be supplemental?
Something isn't making sense....my employer doesn't offer a retirement plan.
Between you and your employer, roughly 12.4% of your salary gets paid into S.S every working year.
Is that enough for you to retire on? According to SSI, if you averaged 50,000 a year during your career, you'll get 1,250 a month from social security to retire on.
Is 15,000 enough?
Most experts recommend you save at least 15% of your income. If you haven't already, you can set up your own 401k or Roth IRA, and start putting pre-tax income into it.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.