Millions of Older Americans Are Unprepared For Retirement

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077(C){Me}[NE]Millions of Older Americans Are Unprepared For Retirement

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# 077 (C) Millions of Older Americans Are Unprepared For Retirement

[tatianastarcic]

The concept of mini-retirement changed my life. I'm no longer waiting for some retirement paradise when I'm 65. It helps to know how to fund the lifestyle. You know, making money while you sip that piña colada by the beach does help. I wouldn't have been able to do it otherwise.

[daves-selfie-wilderness-raves]

I'm nearing 56 and pay rent for my home. I have been following a rule to save the same amount as my rental payment for my retirement fund, and live on what is left.

[glennet]

The things you mentioned you can do when you are young, surfing, mountain biking aren’t expensive or at least don’t have to be. That is basically what we did, our sports were SCUBA, hiking, skiing and cycling, staying in cheap places or camping, using basic gear, eating out rarely and only in cheap places, driving old cars. It was great.

Now I am 79 we like our comforts, skiing in the top resorts, eating in quality restaurants and staying in nice places. I drive a new car now because I don’t want to crawl underneath them any more or deal with repairs.

The big advantage of doing those cheap things when you are young is that they keep you fit so you can, given luck, enjoy a long and active retirement. My take is enjoy the cheap things when you are young and the expensive things when you are too old to do the cheap things.

[paulmarshall]

You said median net worth was 400k, not median balance in retirement investments. That's basically the median US home value. So assuming these people have their homes paid off, they've got nothing saved or invested. Or they have a bunch of debt. But 4% of zero is zero.

[jrobbins]

Most people do not have a earning problem they have a spending problem.

[markdavis]

Most people were woefully unprepared for parenthood too. But this doesn’t stop them. You can live in fear or you can live. Financial “experts” are always going to want you to save more and delay withdrawals. Who does that benefit? Yeah, the guy “managing the money. I retired at 58 and started living my best life.

[cueoneful]

House Card That's Very Sad. Poor Decisions.... Choices.

[craigheitman]

Hey Azul, good info as always… saving for the future is a hard sell to a thirty-something.

Another hard-sell, at least from my perspective, is learning how to enjoy a hard earned nest egg.

Have you published any videos on turning the corner from saving to spending?

[mrallan]

This video is so much nicer without all those pop up texts, images that are worthless, and distracting music. Please never bring those back.

[Tonymanero]

Well, ....I guess I am in a great position in retirement, ...as I am more concerned with how to spend all the money I have worrying about needing more.

[sbkpilot]

They are woefully unprepared for retirement yet they are spending like it's 1999, buying expensive cars, and eating out at fancy restaurants, going on exotic vacations... who's fault is that?

[andrewrivera]

I saved for 30 years, the most productive time of my life in the 401k max every week, bought and sold and ran multi family real estate, worked 50+ hours a week at my job working less in the winter due to work flow, ran out of heating oil at my house more than once (lived in the northeast brutal winters) cuz I was cash poor all to be able to retire at 50 (ended up retiring at 53). Most of the guys I worked with we are all blue collar workers didn’t do what I did and as the years went by it showed. Nothing in, nothing out…

[njlifeandhealth]

The cost of living is high across pretty much every sector. Many retired individuals also have high healthcare costs. It is a tough time to be retired unless you're well off.

[TheBudgetWarrior]

I wonder what percentage of the net worth is actually home (real estate). Taking this part of the equation into consideration could shift things. Also, some percentage of people do no have “retirement” savings but still have savings in other instruments such as annuities or life insurance or just opted out of the pre-tax savings thinking the tax rate might go up in the future (and it very well might). These people might own brokerage accounts or treasuries or other bonds or bond funds.

[TheRealEdStoner]

People pick different points in their financial lives to enjoy their money. If you love cars vacations, , and partying a lot when you’re young, you choose to do that at the sacrifice of your older years

[charleslash]

As you mentioned not knowing what those net worth statistics are in retirement accounts vs locked up in their house is frustrating . The older I get the less I even care about what they have in networth and more about how much cash flow retired people are living off of. Thanks for pointing out that your numbers used are household networth . For single people I don’t know how they survive.

[hanwagu]

Everything is a balance, but people have difficulty seeing the forest for the trees. Sleeping in dorm rooms hosteling in my 20s was enjoyable, but not appealing now. e-bikes make mountain, gravel, and road biking more accessible when you are older.

[MarjorieRyanJoy]

I was on the brink of burnout for years, juggling job and family, which eventually led to health issues. Turning to investing became my lifeline. Now, I'm 57, retired with over $6m. It's been a journey from uncertainty to security and peace.

[tcbellsz]

I’m so torn..we have about $275k in retirement and about $150k equity in our home. I’m 64 but have MBC…and going on SSDI soon but am so worried I’m putting us at financial risk !

[roburb]

I focus on investable assets, not net worth. Like you said, most of that is tied to their personal residence. Sadly, they probably listened to Dave Ramsey and focused on paying it off vs investing!

We're also fortunate with having a military pension/VA compensation and a Federal Employee pension, all inflation protected. We'll have (3% average inflation) ~$15k monthly and that's before SS or portfolio withdrawal.