re: Retirement account millionaires rise at Fidelity

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wow. that is really sad.

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keep in mind that is the average balance for their retirement accounts

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60-69: $195,500

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Now realize that 38% of those in that age bracket don't have a saving account and aren't even factored into the average balance. That's that average balance of the 62% that opened retirement accounts.

Bull

The easiest way to have a lot of money is to make a lot of money

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Folks need to realize this board is kind of a bubble. For the most part the posters on here are knowledgeable.

I can u

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absofrickinglutely! this baord is an ANOMALY! we are all here in the 1 to 10 percent. most people do not have jack shite and live paycheck to paycheck and struggle.

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can understand folks struggling to save. Especially if you have kids, school, etc. Life is expensive as frick.

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damn right. you just do not work from 25 to 65 at some great job with zero bumps in the road. many go into debt due to job loss and medical bills repeatedly! i have had to dig out of debt a few times myself years ago and it was not because of my bad spending. job losses and medical debts. it is part of why i became so driven now for business, investments and passive income streams. not to mention reducing non cash flowing debts/assets.

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damn right. you just do not work from 25 to 65 at some great job with zero bumps in the road.

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Exactly. I get tired of listening to people who,have been very fortunate—dare I say lucky—talk about why poor people are poor. Sure, some people overspend, but others are limited in their earning capacity due to physical limitations like major illness or intellectual capacity. We are not all geniuses, or in perfect health 100% of the time. Businesses fail, and otherwise good workers are tossed out onto the street during recessions. Kids get sick, and require parents to skip overtime or reduce hours in order to properly care for them. Parents get old, and need more help. Life happens, and it often has a negative impact on the hourly wage earners ability to be at maximum economic productivity.

A person without PTO is at a serious disadvantage if caring for family.

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~80% of those are self-made, 1st gen wealth. More often than not, they live well within their means.

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i'd bet of that 80%, an extremely large majority came from a stable home, went to good schools, had help paying for college (or at least support pushing them to get in). sure it takes work, but you can't ignore that most "successful" people benefited from their circumstances

I ran across this the other day on CNBC and thought of this thread.

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Below, CNBC calculated the amount you’d need to earn annually in order to save $1 million by 65 by putting 10% of your earnings into investments.
If you start at age 25:

With a 4% rate of return, you need to earn $101,189 per year and save $843.23 per month.
With a 6% rate of return, you need to earn $59,957 per year and save $499.64 per month.
With an 8% rate of return, you need to earn $34,146 per year and save $284.55 per month.


If you start at age 30:

With a 4% rate of return, you need to earn $130,893 per year and save $1,090.78 per month.
With a 6% rate of return, you need to earn $83,809 per year and save $698.41 per month.
With an 8% rate of return, you need to earn $51,967 per year and save $433.06 per month.


If you start at age 40:

With a 4% rate of return, you need to earn $232,629 per year and save $1,938.57 per month. (exceeds the $19,000 annual limit on 401(k) contributions)
With a 6% rate of return, you need to earn $172,300 per year and save $1,435.83 per month.
With an 8% rate of return, you need to earn $125,344 per year and save $1,044.53 per month.

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I'm not attempting to pin reasons for why people do or don't, can or can't achieve those savings goals at various ages. And most studies don't include other income or investment vehicles, like real estate (particularly income producing), pensions, annuities, etc. They also tend to ignore the fact that what you want in retirement is income, not (just) a particular account value.

The old song, "Every Picture Tells a Story", rings true on this topic. And we could all fill up this space with various anecdotal examples to make our points. If we want to make people blameless, we could mention their mental or physical disabilities, their bad childhoods, their substandard schools or whatever. And to put the onus on the individual, we could mention people who make it despite those challenges, as well as married people who make comfortable six figure incomes, but who still only have $75K combined in their 401Ks at age 40 (a friend of mine and her husband - they spend more time on the NCAA Final 4 brackets every year than understanding how much they need to be saving and where it should be allocated).

Myself included, we all like to believe that we're doing the best that we can. But if we're honest with ourselves, that's seldom the case. Right? It certainly is in my case. Rather than making up stats about how many people are held back by social injustices or life circumstances vs. those who have a leg up because of privilege or life circumstances, as individuals, IMO, we all have to realize that whether we have a good reason/excuse or not, we're all responsible for ourselves at the end of the day. Even if life hasn't been fair to you, finding a comfy "safe space" and engaging in a pity party with others of the same mindset, will not help you. It might ease your mind, but it won't really help you. Control what you can control, make the best and most informed life decisions that you can make... and take advantage of whatever opportunities are before you. But yeah, it still may not work out. Unfortunately, that's life. I can only guarantee that it won't work out if you give up and stop trying to make the best nest egg that you can for yourself. Maybe you end up with $100K in your account at 65 instead of $1 million. But my view is, you're still better off than the person who saved NOTHING.

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50-59: $174,100
60-69: $195,500

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A few weeks ago i met with a couple. 3 kids, both teachers, in their late fifties and 1.1M saved. Definitely and outlier but its very much possible

Does the article reference any inclusion of inherited IRA or 401(k) balances?

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That's got to be per individual right? No way that's taking a combined husband and wife

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Has to be individual and wonder if accounts are not combined