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I know several people who, even though have saved plenty, do not have debt, and are continuing to work. Why? Most of them will "never" have enough money. I call them my Midas friends, because one day they will be sitting counting their money and missed life.
Do you have a complete picture of their liabilities and responsibilities? Also, some people like to work, or want to support expensive hobbies. I am in all three categories.
Well some of us figured we were not going to live forever.think: Took nice vacations & helped kids . Can't afford to retire in style so work out of boredom.
A lot of people picked on the OP's numbers. I saw his point being that a lot of the people who say they can't afford to retire -- should have been able to retire. But clearly, for whatever reason, they didn't save enough to to that. But on the other hand, regardless of what they SAY -- some of them might be able to stop working. I've found that some people say they can't afford to retire. But then you ask them have they done the numbers on that and they say no. We'll if they haven't done the numbers how do you KNOW.
I had that very conversation with a co-worker, who said he couldn't afford to retire. Yet said he had not run the math on it.
Many people are just woefully ignorant of even their own financial situation. I continue to be amazed by that.
Of the four siblings in my family….
2 of us (the girls) will likely be able to retire (at 65, none of us early) -- one, me SINK, never unemployed; the other in a long term military marriage, dual income 2 kids (husband already getting his military pension and still works full time.)
the brothers -- one had TEN kids (same wife though) -- turbulent marriage and has never managed his money well, so even though he's a disabled vet AND government employee still may not be able to retire; the other brother got divorced, has three kids, sent 2 through 12 years of private school, was laid off in his late 40s and was unemployed for about 5 years.
So you never know a person's situation……If I had saved more I could have retired earlier than 65…but I like eating out and traveling, and didn't make enough money to do that at the lifestyle level I want AND max 401ks AND IRAs, etc
We had a savings plan where the company matched 1/2 up to 7%. Three years later we got the money. Many were upset when 401(k) plans started because they quit sending the check and it stayed in your account.
For awhile we had an ESOP plan. We got so much stock for every thousand we made that year.
We had a stock bonus plan. If you bought savings bonds through payroll deduction, the company held the bonds for a few years and you got free stock. My mom really made out on that when she worked for that company in the 1940's.
Over time they started their own family of funds, asset and debenture accounts, and a few other things like long term care insurance which I still get a good price on. All through payroll deduction.
Also a decent pension plan. Many people who did not even finish high school had a nice retirement, some were millionaires. It all depends on where and when you worked.
This sounds very much like Philip Morris. I Knew many machine operators and shift workers when I contracted there for a few years, that were on track to retire early and easily as millionaires. It was also a mindset there. Almost everyone compared how they were doing (mostly in PM stock) with each other and when they were going to retire. Most of them had no college degrees. But they self taught themselves and each other on what it would take. It was quite impressive. There were constant retirement parties for employees leaving in their early 50s. The engineers I knew, unless they were on a track for upper management, and even more incentive, left in their 50s as well.
Do you have a complete picture of their liabilities and responsibilities? Also, some people like to work, or want to support expensive hobbies. I am in all three categories.
A friend of mine has a husband who is an engineer in a lucrative field. He still works at age 70, because he has a very expensive hobby - gambling.
I cut the 2.6 Million figure in half to account for lower raises and periods of unemployment and other issues. It still gives them lots of money to retire.
The biggest thing I see in a lot of people my mother's age (81) is that they thought they could live on Social Security and in my mom's case, her husband's pension along with their SS. Unfortunately these days you can't survive on SS alone unless maybe your home is paid off and you have little bills or expenses. My mom and step-dad opted for him receiving his entire pension instead of the option of him receiving a little less when he retired from his government job so that when he died my mother would still be receiving some money. She always thought she would die first.
Well, as you can guess, he died 6 1/2 years ago leaving my mother to live on $1213 a month. Some people are not planners and if they didn't start planning and saving for their retirement they might not be able to quit working.
The biggest thing I see in a lot of people my mother's age (81) is that they thought they could live on Social Security and in my mom's case, her husband's pension along with their SS. Unfortunately these days you can't survive on SS alone unless maybe your home is paid off and you have little bills or expenses. My mom and step-dad opted for him receiving his entire pension instead of the option of him receiving a little less when he retired from his government job so that when he died my mother would still be receiving some money. She always thought she would die first.
Well, as you can guess, he died 6 1/2 years ago leaving my mother to live on $1213 a month. Some people are not planners and if they didn't start planning and saving for their retirement they might not be able to quit working.
........." unless your home is paid off "...
That ( paying off ones home ) should become a goal during your working years.
be plenty of time to pay off a home and enter retirement without a mortgage payment.
I have been talking to lots of my friends and family who are in their 50s and 60s about two of my favorite topics- money and retirement. Many of them are still working and claim they will keep working FULL TIME until the day they die. I tried to tell them that there are few full time workers in their 70s, 80s and 90s, but they did not believe me.
They said it was impossible for someone who was a middle class person all their life to get enough money together to retire.
This got me thinking. What if someone had started working full time in 1972 at age 22 and turned 66 this year. 44 years of full time work. They started their first job at age 22 at $18,000 a year and made a conservative three percent increase a year. After 44 years of working, their salary is now $67,000 a year. (Which is a three percent increase a year.)
From age 22 they put in 6% of their income into a 401K and increased that amount to link with their 3% salary increase each year. The company matched an additional 3% for a total of 9%. (The average company match)
What would they have if the person would have invested in a fund that matched the S&P 500:
$2,635,483.00 (Over 2 1/2 Million Dollars)
(OK, you say, no one works non stop for that many years, they may have faced layoffs and emergencies. Then lets cut that amount in half to 1.3 million. They can still afford to retire! And that amount does not even consider Social Security and any other savings.)
through out my 20's i worked 3 jobs . i was a full time hvac tech . i had my own service company in the eve doing my own side work andi was a drummer on weekends .
i made sure my goals were always met as far as having money to save . if one job did not allow it , i made sure the others did .
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think: Took nice vacations & helped kids 
. Can't afford to retire in style so work out of boredom. 
