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The Baby Boom Will Never Retire - Half Have No Retirement Savings At All
Some of you might remember the glossy highly produced advertisements back in the early 1980s when Wall Street decided it was time to turn American retirement plans into casinos. The slow and agonizing death of the pension plan was supposed to be replaced by the beautiful and wonderful world of the 401(k) plan. Save for 30 years and in the end, you will be a millionaire just like your friends on Wall Street that sincerely care about your financial future. Of course since then, we have found out about junk bond scandals, mutual fund fees that make loan sharks look conservative, and of course the financial shenanigans of giving people toxic mortgages that were essentially ticking time bombs of destruction. This was the industry that was put in charge of helping you plan for your future. We are now a generation out from those slick ads and the results have been disastrous for most Americans. A recent analysis found that half of US households 55 and older have no money stashed away for retirement.
The new retirement is no retirement
Planning for retirement takes time. Saving money is a slow process. There was a time when simply stashing money into CDs and savings bonds was enough to have a nice nest egg if you were diligent enough. Yet for the last decade, most banks are paying close to zero percent on their savings accounts thanks to the Fed’s low rate policy to juice the markets. Since the true inflation rate is much higher, you are essentially letting your money rot away. So the only other option is for people to invest in the stock market or try to leverage into real estate.
The stock market is largely an arena for the wealthy. Half of Americans own no stocks at all. Now after a generation, we are finding out that most people did not follow in the footsteps of those glossy over produced retirement ads:
Source: GAO
“(Raw Story) Are we all in denial or is it simply impossible to save enough for retirement? Is it some kind of toxic combination of the two? Whatever the reason, yet another study – this one from no less an authority than the non-partisan US government accountability office (GAO) – is here to remind us that we’re woefully unprepared, financially speaking, for retirement. While we may all have dreams about how we’d like to spend our retirement years – fishing, golfing, writing that great American novel – the truth is that as many as half of all households with Americans 55 and older have no retirement savings at all . Nothing. Zip. Nada. Not a dime.
And the news gets worse, the GAO reports. Because households headed by older Americans that don’t have retirement savings like 401(k) plans or IRA accounts also are less likely to have other sources of income that they can rely on when they retire, such as pensions or even plain old savings accounts. About 29% have absolutely nothing : no pension plan, no savings, no 401(k), nothing.”
The idea that all older Americans own their home free and clear is simply not true. Only 35 percent own their home free and clear from debt (and this does not mean they don’t have expenses like taxes, insurance, and maintenance). 24 percent are still saddled with mortgage debt. And 41 percent do not own a home meaning they have to pay rents that continue tooutpace any wage gains.
The median net worth of those 55 and older is $34,760. This is basically one small illness from bankrupting this family. The median annual income of those 55 and older is $18,932 which makes them part of the new low wage America cohort.
On the retirement side 48 percent have some retirement savings (not much). 29 percent have no pension or retirement savings. And 23 percent have a pension but no retirement savings. In the end, it is a tough situation for many older Americans. And that is why older Americans rely heavily on Social Security as their primary source of income into old age:
If it were not for Social Security, half of retirees would be out in the street bringing back another Great Depression like atmosphere. This is in stark contrast to that 401(k) dreams pushed by Wall Street investment banks of endless Margaritas and walks on nameless sunny beaches.
The sad reality is that retirement is no longer what people think. And keep in mind this is happening to the baby boomer generation that lived through some mega US prosperity and stock market bull runs. What about young Americans today that are starting in an even more precarious position thanks to the insane cost of going to college and the mountain of student debt? Many people are realizing that retirement is a luxury only a few can afford.
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YOU LIE!!! THIS RECOVERY IS AWESOME AND IS ABOUT TO REACH LIFT OFF!
Looks like there will be some great realestate buys in the near future.
If you can do it without a bank involved. If you need a loan you ain't buying shit. Money talks and money moves way faster than someone trying to get approved on a loan with all that red tape....lol. That is another dream brought to you by tv and we all know how that turned out with NINJA loans.
No, the reverse mortgage scammers have already cornered that market.
Seriously what the fuck do you expect when you have criminal mobsters in charge of banking and government? Why would the criminals change?
All the people can do is identify the criminals and hang them. Anything else is bull shit.
1 BTC will buh you a hoarde of baby boomer slaves soon....
STFU
BTFO
No.
you say you're pro bitcoin, but if anything, your posting style basically pushes people away from bitcoin....
People here have made up their minds. Judging by 90% of BTC-related comments we'd say they haven't even bothered looking into it....
Yes ZIRP is evil theft from savers- retired or saving for retirement. But most broke boomers planned it that way. Their plan was live for today, fuck the future.
People in some countries live on $500/year. To them Americans complaining about poverty must sound like disgusting whiners. They must wonder why Americans can't do more for themselves and figure out how to make do on $18000 or whatever.
As for people still working with higher incomes- boo-hoo for you. How do you spend it all and still complain? Think. Make do. Recycle. Anybody can save if you make some choices.
As an accountant I told plenty of people they had painted themselves into a corner and should declare bankrupcy, get a new start and use their brains this time. They hardly ever did.
Here's a great example of what you speak. A house came up for sale in our area listed at a ridiculously high price. I looked up the info on the house and they owed over $700k on the home and had purchased it in the early 90's for around 225k. They had put an addition on the house around 15 years ago, but also lived high on the hog i.e. fancy cars, plus several kids who all drove decent cars. This isn't uncommon. These people live it up and want the house buyer to pay for it all. Some sellers have more paid off on the house but still ask a mint because they want you to fund their nest egg. No thanks.
I hear you....but I know people, as I'm sure you do, who will retire (or at least hit retirement age) with zero net worth.....who have also spent $250,000 over their lifetime buying new cars every 3 to 5 years. This just isn't something I blame the bankers for. Oh sure, it is the counterfeiting bankers who invented the debt these people are using to enslave themselves to the debt + auto trap....but the bankers aren't forcing it. It's the American obsession with some form of auto narsicism that keeps them going.
That old saying use someone elses money to make money is for a certain club. It is true that they use our money to make money. The club keeps the profits from our money and puts the losses on the people.
This article can't be right. Everyone's telling me the economy is getting better, unemployment is low and the record number of older generation still on the job market is an artifact of bad data. Also the teenage unemployment rate is irrelevant and wrong.
These are young workers, they just have progeria. We're living in Logan's Run just without the good looking people.
"...without the good looking people."
They might be ugly but they won't be fat because they wont have enough food.
Had a discussion about this with my teen and tween the other day. I was talking to them about working to save for a car, etc. telling them about my jobs as a teenager, lawn guy, McDonald's (burgers, fries, front counter), Kroger (sacker, checker, stocker), etc. and my kids said "Dad, how did you work there? The only place we see teenagers working is Chik-Fil-A and Baskin Robbins. Everybody else iin fast food is old". I look at that as a proxy for the economy as a whole. Tons of people still working jobs that they don't really want to do, but have to do.
Starter jobs that teach you how to show up on time, listen, do what needs to be done and move on to something better are now career jobs.
On the radio they were running an add saying that people dont put enough money aside for retirement. LOL. You gotta be kidding me. What money?
You're supposed to be trading the EBT cards for cash.
Bingo tonight @ FEMA CAMP tent # 7....Kool Aid will be provided.
I like the red flavor. So tasty!!!!
Soylent Green..
is people......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IKVj4l5GU4
Make mine Guyana Grape please.
You'll only need one cup.
Queen Hillary calls them Adult Fun Camps, or something equally inane. Face it guys, the way the USSA is going those camps may be the best option available in 10 or 20 years. Obama's plan to (dictatorially) bring about fundamental change to the USSA is progressing all too well, and I doubt that this place will even be recognizable.
It is unrecognizable now: 9-11 was the breaking point.
Just needs a little rebranding. Instead FEMA camp, say, active adult community?
its why BOTH Parties MUST GO: The Speeding CLIFF Model: http://wp.me/p2kmGE-2up
Rad username bruh. Good thing we are fully "recovered" from all of the "crisisees"
Oh YES! Things are so peachy dandy all over. So dandy in fact that my husband who recently made a trip back to NJ and NYC said that half the restaurants we used to go to are closed and many of those places are empty. GREAT RECOVERY!
Neither will the Millenials...
Well, I'm glad that at least the X-Gen-ers will do fine... /s
Many generations will not be able to.
"Savings?", seriously?
Save in what? The traditional vehicles (savings accounts, CD's, money market accounts) don't pay squat thanks to Fedcoat ZIRP! The Casino's will fleece even a modestly savvy investor, it will devour the average person. There is no traditional low-risk investment vehicle in existence and the retention of value in anything real (Ag,Au) has never been promoted by the entrenched PTBs.
When they are broke, homeless, starving and pissed off...I hope they know who to thank.
Invest in community, self (skills,) food.
(PMs and Cu-coated Lb has been noted adequately in the past, tyvm)
are you a boomer? I bet you are just with that comment.
illuminati confirmed
And if not for the advent of easy credit and 'financing' as a viable option to 'saving first and spending later', where would these people be today (self-discipline notwithstanding...)?
They spent it all.. Oh well..
The other good news is that the US Federal government is $210 trillion in debt and will never pay up on its promises of Social Security or Medicare in just a few years.
The government is 58% underfinanced . . . . Social Security is 33% underfinanced . . . . So, the entire government enterprise is in worse fiscal shape than Social Security is, but they are both in terrible shape.” So, how much is America on the hook for in the future? Kotlikoff contends, “If you take all the expenditures that the government is expected to make, as projected by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), all the spending on defense, repairing the roads, paying for the Supreme Court Justices’ salaries, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, welfare, everything and take all those expenditures into the future . . . and compare that to all the taxes that are projected to come in, and the difference is $210 trillion. That’s the fiscal gap. That’s our true debt.”
http://usawatchdog.com/financial-system-will-collapse-just-a-matter-of-w...
The country is careening; the divisions are going to crack into each other.
Not 1 in 100 realize what Congress just did to what's left of the Social Security Trust Fund when they merged it with Disability. Disability was within one year of going bust.
I'm 25, i know i'm fucked and i make money. People my age making 15 bucks an hour with a company 401K think they will be able to retire. The brainwashing of public education works well.
oh to be 25 again... Bang only the rich girls (daddy has money)...make them see god.. Problem solved
If you can't fuck real well. Make sure you can eat pussy really well...
I'm 24 contributing 7% in 401K with company match 3% and their version of a pension contributing another 6%.
I work in manufacturing, producing PQ titanium. Working DuPont schedule company allows any off day to be worked at time and a half.
I gross seven - eight thousand monthly.
All my extra money I try to tie up in stocks and PM's.
Just so I have some hope of a future.
You are the minority, the rest of America is working at Shopko and call centers..If they are lucky.
I think a lot of our generation is just lazy with a sense of entitlement.
I bust my ass for a pay check. My companies turnover rate is high. I've seen a lot of people my age not even hack the probationary period.
Manufacturing ain't for everyone, titanium is a easier process to manufacture compared to magnesium. I work next to USMag that place is a shit hole. http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57578504-78/magnesium-salt-lake-plant....
http://www.fws.gov/uploadedFiles/Depression%20Era%20Programs%20-%20Regio...
...if you are lucky.
You said Shopko without saying "eh". It's "Shopko, eh".
I canned the idea of retirement 5 years ago. Not going to happen and I don't really care.
don't get married: I saved you 50% of your savings and babybady and vagimony payments that will cripple you for the rest of your life
you are on Zh so do you think stocks will allow you to retire one day?
If no, why waste the money buying stock when it could of went towards more pm's, land,etc.
Not attacking you just curious.
I've been on ZH a long time and have been very cynical towards stocks. Yes I do believe it's all manipulated. But I also believe their is also money to be made on it. Whether it's artificially manipulated or true market value.
Hedgewisely, I'd love to invest all my money into something tangible but even I know diversification is wise.
As long as you can make money and use the profits to invest wisely, I am on board with ya. I do the same thing. I just was wondering if you were planning to hold the same stocks until retirement. I know guys who are operators and invest there money into more stock of the company they work for yet bitch how shitty things are. Need I explain more lol.
Ha I invest my 401K 100% in my company stock.
It's at 52 week lows with the titanium, steel, nickle market crashing.
I'll roll the dice on them for a while and see where it goes.
Ticker ATI
If I may give you one tidbit of advice:
Never follow the herd.
I think you're throwing your money away. Sooner or later, the huge pile of money in 401k programs will be too irresistable and they'll take it away from you.
First they'll say you're not competent to manage your 401k so they'll have to take over management of it for your protection. It will still be yours, but you'll only be allowed to get a little bit of it at a time. It's for your own good you know.
When they can't steal enough of it that way, they'll say it's not fair for mean and greedy "rich" people like you to get away with whatever evil thing you did to accumulate that wealth.
Dude I would not put a dime into any 401K. That money becomes a "trapped asset" that you really do not control. And that money can have quite a bit of risk of loss attached to it. Far better to create an "income stream" that goes right into your pocket and that you directly control.
IMHO 401K's were created by .gov and finance to be fat pools of money they can skim fee's and taxes off of. Used to be somewhat valid as a tool for saving when interested rates were better.
Grimaldus
^ This
stawks will leave you desolate.
instead
you should be pocketing a couple ounces of titanium on your way out the door everyday,
that would be one hell of a retirement plan.
That is not true. If they put away 10% every check for 40 years they will certianly be able to retire. The problem is that most pople cannot affiord that 10%.
This article wants to blame the change from pensions to 401ks for the problem which is completely wrong. You wuill be better off in a 401k when the pensions stop paying.
I didn't junk you. Below is my math for your comment.
$15 per hour is 2400 a month, after 25% gets stolen in taxes you have 1800$ per month.
10% of that is $180 per month.
180 x 12 = $2160 per year.
$86,400 for 40 years...This is like 2 years of retirement isn't it?
And that's assuming you don't get wiped out every 7 years in a financial crisis and have to start all over....
And assuming $80k will buy more than a week's worth of groceries in 40 years.
You're forgetting something.
How much is $84,400 worth 40 years ago?
Flash forward 40 years? You're 2 year retirement could be 2 weeks.
>> $86,400 for 40 years...This is like 2 years of retirement isn't it?
Depends on how you work it. I decided to retire early at 55. $86,400 will last me five years and I'm thoroughly enjoying myself.
and assuming you'll never need small surgical procedures when you're elderly, that just costs a mere $20,000.
LOL... 10% x 40 yr = 4 years annual salary saved. Ok. with a great capitalistic return of 2% lets round that up to a saving of 5 years. And we won't even adjust for inflation (which would take you back to 1 or 2 years worth)!! And you think that means you can retire? Well it certainly does if you want to live in a paper shack and beg for your dog food scraps. The real problem is that QE~ and ZIRP have destroyed the future value of money. There is only now.
Cue the M*A*S*H theme song.
@slightlyskeptical not entirely sure about that... I know baby boomers who have cash for booze, blow and hookers... but i suppose those are essentials *sarc
www.teamramgold.com/about-us
They won't need much for long. Self destruction shortens the need for retirement savings.
That's my retirement plan. I plan to be dead long before money becomes a factor. If I don't plan it right, i'll use my last $200 for a hot shot.
They won't need much for long. Self destruction shortens the need for retirement savings.
They won't need much for long. Self destruction shortens the need for retirement savings.
They won't need much for long. Self destruction shortens the need for retirement savings.
Great idea for getting up arrow points! I up-arrowed you four times thus giving you an up-arrow score of 8. That's leverage!
Yea you are totally fucked, at least the boomers had a nice comfy life, you retarded millennials, who voted for obama, are goign to have a very tough horrible life. Sorry, you get what you deserve?
Ah, the millennials, the most satanic worshipping generation since, ever?
I think the satan worshipping populace goes further back than even the boomers. It is just more in the open now.
the millennials in satanic worship action
http://www.naturalnews.com/050858_transhumanism_RFID_chip_implants_body_modification.html
you know what. When the shit gets real in our country there is a simple solution to the problem above.
http://xm42.com/
Thanks Obama!
public education= fascist indoctrination centers
The era of traditional pensions for employees is over; unless you work for the government. And, now, with private sector companies having supplanted generous company pensions with meagre 401(k) programs,how can future private sector retirees ever expect to compete side-by-side economically with government retirees?
Jane White wrote in 2011:
If you think that newer high-tech companies are more generous, think again. When I contacted Apple and Google, which have been known to lure programmers with generous paychecks, media representatives at Apple didn't return my calls and a Google spokesperson said it was "unable to participate." So I found out Google's benefits myself by -- surprise, surprise -- googling "Google" and "benefits" and finding out that their 401(k) plan features the typical measly 50% matching contribution up to 6% of compensation (a similar search for Apple's plan didn't turn up anything.)
Google CEO Sergey Brin should realize if he wants to attract more future Sergeys he ought to offer them the deferred compensation they deserve, not just gyms, laundry rooms and massage parlors. If Google and other frugal companies aren't willing to offer adequate retirement plans, they ought to be required to make their stinginess public so that prospective and current employees can look elsewhere.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-white/so-much-for-a-best-401k-p_b_866077.html
On July 21, 2014, there's this from Glassdoor:
Google offers a 401(k) plan that matches 50 percent of the employee's contribution, up to $8,250.
This information about the 401K Plan benefit at Google is the result of research by Glassdoor editorial staff, and was not provided directly by a representative of Google. The description here may not reflect the current Google 401K Plan benefit.
This benefit is offered to US-based employees.
http://www.glassdoor.com/Benefits/Google-401K-Plan-US-BNFT13_E9079_N1.htm
and this in 2013:
FutureAdvisor's Analysis of the Google Inc. 401(k) Savings Plan (May 31, 2013)
The Google 401k Plan is a defined contribution plan sponsored by Google Inc. and held at Vanguard - Investments. FutureAdvisor rates this plan 5 out of 5 stars, based on its 28 plan options with an average expense ratio of 0.21%. This plan is among the top 6% of all reviewed plans in terms of cost, and is one of the better plans in the Other Information Services (including news syndicates, libraries, internet publishing & broadcasting) industry. With $1,290,075,671 in assets and serving 18,510 participants, the Google 401k Plan is among the top 10% largest plans reviewed by participant count, and top 10% largest plans reviewed by assets, with an average participant balance of $69,696.
https://www.futureadvisor.com/401k/google-inc
And for a comparison with some public employee pensions, there's this:
“The 2012 TRS (the Illinois Teacher Retirement System) report shows that the average teacher who retired in the previous fiscal year after 35 to 39 years of service collects a pension benefit of nearly $75,000 per year.” -- -Jason Richwine is the senior policy analyst in empirical studies at the Heritage Foundation.
http://www.heritage.org/research/commentary/2013/2/teacher-pensions-sweeter-than-they-would-like-you-to
In California. “a teacher who served forty or more years receives a monthly pension of $8,924 ($107,088 annually).”
http://www.teacherpensions.org/blog/what-%E2%80%9Caverage%E2%80%9D-teacher-pension-example-california
But just think of the free healthcare!!!
American healthcare: the number 3 cause of death; and to think it's (almost, kinda) free!
no one gets out of here alive. and you can't take any money with you.
why not just say "fuck it all" and have a good time while you're here.
Rodger, Rodger.
If I were a rich man, da da dee dee da da, da da dee dee da da daaaaa.
If you were a Blankfein or a Greenspan da da dee dee da da daaaaaa
but wait !! they are raising interest rates... right ??
[so the sovereigns will be able to pay moar money in interest]....
retirement accounts will be.... er... monetized ??
no doubt a brilliant and new economic policy from the wizards ... pHd's in eko-no-mics....
-lol
The median net worth of those 55 and older is $34,760. This is basically one small illness from bankrupting this family.
My medical insurance plan is over $10,000/year with a $10,000 deductable.
If I had a median net worth of $34,760, I'd be wiped out financially in 3 years without a small illness.
What! Your not getting that 'affordable' Obama care that the majority of millennials voted for.
Notice how quiet they are on that, while harassing boomers about SS?
When your 401k, IRA is all gone after the next crash it will make no difference if you have retirement savings or nor. Better invest those contributions in skills, education and healthy lifestyle. That is something nobody can take away.
Ughhh.....you have heard of Fukushima, EMF, GMOs, Big Pharma, HR 1599, ad.inf., yes?
Have we reached esecape velocity yet miss yellen? lol
long Alpo
Brand name? What are you, some kind of moneybags?
Ol'Roy
Long Big Pharma.
At least the Boomers can get a chemical lobotomy under Medicare, that way they forget about not having any retirement savings.
But they vote..and they will vote in poeple who will give them free stuff....
Did you think they are going to vote in people who take stuff away from them?
"They" don't vote in anybody. Corporate money picks the candidates that match their criteria. "They" get to vote for whatever bought and paid for corporate shill looks best on TV.
Nothing is carved in stone. There's always that winning lottery ticket.
Lets see how flippant you are when you and your family is hungry. Okay, so you do not give a shit - well we know how society is sinking and who is responsible.
Now go on blaming the 35% who have no mortgages and the 50% that have some savings - keep shouting "take from the rich". You have the fun and had the toys so now I hope you bare the pain. Credit assholes.
The only hope they have is that old peoples body parts are needed for research....and they can sell some
research into what - why things don't work? maybe for the laugh you could give your best estimate of the value per old part. Yes, start with that one
LOL Retirement Schmirement! Tell a young person to save 10% a year and all will be peaches and cream and a rosy rosy future... So save 10% a year for 30 years at a fabuous capitalistic return of 2% is about 4 years of income. Beach homes, boats, golf and rum toddies are for someone else buddy!
If this is not a wake up call to the masses nothing is.. sadly the only ones that will take the time to read this and comprehend it are ZH'ers.
For what its worth this is why I got involved in Karatbars in the first place. For every person I get saving a gram or 2 of gold every week; I have used my talent/knowledge to good effect. 401k etc and the equivalent Retirement Annuity Contacts this side of the pond are in my opinion utterly worthless now and in the future. While there are no guarantees, one would imagine that having a quantity of Physical Gold Bullion stashed away for 30 odd years should give some relief to an otherwise bankrupt house hold.
Problem is of course coverage, I can only spread myself so far, I give seminars, webinars, and one on one consultations and it does go in.. But we need to spread the word further. if your on Zh your smart and enlightened. We need that...
www.teamramgold.com/about-us if you interested in joining me in karatbars
This is just another 19th Century idea which was flawed and doomed to failure from the outset. Like another failed 19th Century idea, communism/socialism, this will be the cause of much pain and suffering.
so blame both Capitalism and communism/socialism on the 19th century and we go back to the 15 th with neo-feudalism...Some progress.
Next stop stone age?
We are already living neo-feudalism, dude.
Serfs up?
They better start practicing their EBT swipe!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzspsovNvII
Saw a 20 something girl with a tottler at Kroger today, she swiped her EBT to pay for some fresh fish only, grandma paid for the rest of the bulk shopping. The EBT card had a great picture of the Star Spangled Banner on it. THE REPUBLIC!
How far we have fallen.
At least she wasn't using it to buy MD 20/20
Well, thank goodness that social security is on sound footing.
Bottom line: Learn how to catch small mammals and make a fire...its all up hill from there...scalable survival skills no matter what happens...
They collectively made a deal with the devil. They sold their descendents into debt slavery in return for the easy life provided by state spoils. This story is what happens when you make a deal with the devil.
The age of financialized pension funds; when California's government sector pensioners formed CALPERS and it hit the Euro markets stock exchanges like a sledge hammer buying up "undervalued" stock in the wake of Supply side Reaganomics...We can't LOSE!
Well sometimes too much of a good thing looks very bad when FIRE starts burning in all asset classes.
Where's Greenspan now : irrational exuberance is now coming back for the THIRD time and not just in bonds!
"Invisible" hand? "Guiding hand?" or fat fingered, panicky hand?
I shall retire in 2 1/2 years. I won't be rich, but I'll be fine.
I have been on the front lines with the Boomers for the last 6 years....running retirement seminars for when 401k plans switch providors and the two brokers involved ( one going out and one coming in) can't open their mouths because its a safe harbor "transition" period.
The biggest joke ever dreamed up by Wall St. has been the pie in the sky assumption THEY built that says every decent hard working American needs an astonishing 80% replacement ratio. Funny because when I talk to the Boomers they don't care about this and they all have been slowly lowering their lifestyle of consumption expecting never to reach 80%. I've me men in VT who paint the lines on the road who are living at like a 30% ratio. I've met well off Boomers in Boston with a pension (from their wife who teaches) who are well on their way to owing their home, travel only once a year and only eat out 1-2x per month.
That being said, I've met tons and tons of people who on the outside seem fine but inside their homes they live like peasants. They don't even water their lawn because its not in the budget. So there are tons of extremes here but I think the biggest issue is that Wall Street is crying in its soup because their advisors with $300M AUM simply can't live like they do unless they can terrify workers into thinking their retirement will suck. My experience is they know it will suck but htey have no choice and they will make it work.
My company just switched from a 401(k) plan that was managed by Transamerica to one managed by Mass Mutual.
Get this: All of the mutual funds that were managed by Transamerica were simply transferred and all the exact same ones are now managed by Mass Mutual.
The DIFFERENCE?
With Transamerica, you could allocate and de-allocate 100% of the money in the plan... every day, day in and day out.
With Mass Mutual, if you de-allocate ONE FUCKING PENNY out of ANY FUND, THEY SAY YOU ARE ENGAGING IN EXCESSIVE TRADING, and won't let you allocate any money into that fund for 60 business days!
EXCESSIVE TRADING POLICY... MY ASS.
Frankly, I think a lot of companies are starting to do this, and a lot of people of like me have rolled our plans over to a self-directed plan because of it.... and thats why you see these stupid reports every day claiming that 401k balances are a total of 500 bucks.
LOL
It's like when you get that item in the mail that says you've been 'upgraded'. You get a sudden pain in the rectum and deer in the headlights expression.
You must contribute as much money to your 401k as possible! The financial managers can't become rich if you don't do your share by fattening that account. Nickel and diming your account to death only works if it's a fat one to begin with!
i want to get into the reverse mortgage market.
I looked into it and it's a rip off. I've piled up rental homes in my travels as an IT worker, and my plan is to sell them off one by one to fund retirement. So, I hear "reverse mortgage" and think, okay, reverse mortgage the one I'm in, get some interest payments while I draw down the value, then move to the next and do the same.
Nope. They charge YOU interest on the home you own! Then throw in a bunch of fees, and the next thing you know you're approaching fifty cents on the dollar.
The reverse mortgage is clearly aimed at the financially illiterate. People who are habituated to "just pay the bill" or "just cash the check" and never mind getting reemed in the process.
At one time I was seriously thinking about getting a reverse mortgage. As you know, you don't get a reverse mortgages unless you are pretty much making a final decision. Since I live only 26 miles from the coast at around 55 feet above sea level, I decided it might not be such a good idea with all these nutbag scientists claiming the damn ice caps are melting.
I dunno, on the off hand chance they are right, it might be better to sell and move to someplace like Denver.
Colorado is California with no beach. Avoid.
Do you mean expensive?
I know the housing is crazy high. Lots of people in Denver Area. Lots of Companies. Taxes must be high. I think the State Pension is under funded, so the budget is being manipulated.
You know what would be nice? If you had to retire in the state you worked in and lived in, or face a 75% reduction in pension and federal safety net outlays, and 401k disbursements. Californians and North-easterners ruin everywhere they move to.
There are only two things that strike fear in the hearts of a Coloradan.
1. A car with TX plates and a ski rack
2. A car wiith CA plates towing a U-Haul
Those aren't the only things that are high. I know 3 couples that sold out and retired to CO for the reefer, and I haven't been on the reefer circuit since they used to call it reefer. Lotsa baby boomers looking to relive Woodstock as they ride off into the sunset.
Maybe lotsa baby boomers took care of their parents for ten years in their old age, and then their parents passed away. And now they are taking care of their Generation X'ers and their millenial grandchildren living in their basements, who are waiting for them to die.
I wouldn't blame them for saying fuck it and running off to smoke some dope.
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Maybe they should...borrow....the equity....from their homes.......
Oh wait.
State Financial Security Scorecards
NIRS' new State Financial Security Scorecards summarize the economic outlook for retirement security in every state. The two-page downloadable State Scorecards are designed to serve as a tool for policymakers to help identify potential areas of focus for state-based policy interventions to improve Americans’ retirement prospects.
Each State Scorecard gauges the relative performance of the fifty states and the District of Columbia in three key areas: anticipated retirement income; major retirement costs like housing and healthcare; and labor market conditions for older workers.
I live in Texas, which is doing pretty well economically...
This thing says Less than 4 in 10 Texas workers participate in a retirement plan at work. Those who have saved for retirement in defined contribution (DC) account have an average balance of $32,028; this means that workers have saved just half of the $63,278 average annual earnings of working Texans in 2012.
What is your state's score? Click on a state to download a fact sheet with the details.
http://www.nirsonline.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=683&...
The average employed Texan made $63,000 a year? On which planet?
Thats the average. Obviously the median will be considerably lower.
The average unemployed Texan oil worker made $63,000 last year.
FTFY
That's right 1/2 have no retirement and the other half have FRAUDulent pensions. We all have to get together and arrest the banksters or we are all doomed. Arrest Lloyd Blankfein, Rockefellers and the Rothschilds and anyone that bribes governments to commit treason against their own citizens.
Those people with "nothing saved" have been paying 6.2 percent into SS forever. Their employers have also been paining in an additional 6.2 percent. 12.4 percent of someone's income over a lifetime should do the trick, no? I am recently retired with a good SS as well as a 401K and an IRA and a pension. My wife has similar absent the pension. We are doing OK but watch every penny. Without Medicare we would be in serious jeopardy even though we both are very healthy now. The SS is at least indexed somewhat. The country is enjoying record tax receipts every month but still manages to pee it away on F-35 airplanes that will never work, and financing educations that are utterly worthless in the workplace, and endless "security" organizations whose members need a name tag so they won't spy on each other.
What costs $1.5 trillion, doesn’t fly very well, has no guns, and has the military industrial complex grinning from ear to ear?
The F-35 project, which the Marines have declared ready for flight. Today on the Liberty Report – military Keynesianism and the F-35
Marines Declare F-35 operational
... And ALL WE EVER HEAR are these right winger war hawk motherfuckers constantly bitching about WELFARE???
Ron Paul (and all libertarians) have no credibility on foreign policy, geopolitics, immigration, etc.
Isolationism (which they euphemize as "non-interference") simply will not work in the modern world. Everything is too connected.
It's easy to pick on the F-35. Meanwhile, as Chomsky and others have pointed out, without our ridiculous levels of defense spending, the American economy would be much, much smaller. The F-35 is a boondoggle that employs tens of thousands of highly paid people, and will do so for years to come. You can spend your money on that, or you can have welfare programs or try to create jobs some other way... but in the end, without massive centralized spending, you don't have a robust economy. This is true everywhere on the planet. Libertarians hate the idea, but they've never shown it to be wrong or suggested an alternate model of how things might work, except for their simplistic "just leave us alone!" pipe-dream.
Thats not the point. The point is we could be employing people doing something constructive with all that money instead of just pissing it away and blowing up shit.
The IRS sent back my tax return saying I still owed $800.
I said, "If you'll remember, I fastened my return with a paper clip... which, according to your own very latest government Pentagon spending figures, will more than make up the difference."
Your argument is the typical broken window argument and examples a wooden recitation of economic propaganda. Its also tacitly suggest that jobs creation would not occur without government intervention, which is ridiculous. Take your federal tax return, the taxes you pay on your cell phone, your gasoline, and any of the thousands of direct and indirect taxes you pay to the federal government and put them back in your pocket. Would the majority of taxpayers spend that money? You bet they would.
Dolt.
without massive centralized spending, you don't have a robust economy...
Without massive centralized spending there is less corruption, graft, cronyism, etc. There, fixed it for you.
True!
The boomers have paid more into SS than all the other generations combined since SS conception, yet are accused of stealing said funds. The government went in and took the cash replacing it with IOU's.
According to many,,, I have been stealing these funds and robbing future generations. I have looked as far back to my first job 50 years ago and cannot locate any of these stolen funds. All I can find is the FICA deductions on those hundreds of checks.
Would those that accuse me and my generation of theft point out exactly where that money is so I can access some of it.
Dont worry, .gov will start a 'cash-for-clunkers' program where you hand in your retirees for a working wetback.
Reitirement is an illusion that we were sold on to accept the debt servitude for the first 40 years of our productive lives. Real wealth is not digits in a bank's data base or gold coins (althouhg I own both gold and silver) but real productive land, water sources, energy production and shelter. Once you have those systems in place, currency becomes optional. Forget "retirement" you can't afford it. Think long term living systems. Think real skills that can be sold or traded for (farming, machining, mechanic, electrician, medicine, etc). Everything is an illusion.