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re: A quarter of Americans have no retirement savings. Zero.
Posted on 5/27/26 at 1:40 pm to Slippy
Posted on 5/27/26 at 1:40 pm to Slippy
I had an older coworker who always talked about how close he was to retirement. He was in his mid 60s.
One day he walks into my office and shows me his check stub and asks "What is this 3% they are taking out of my check?"
I told him that was the default % for his 401k and if he wanted to up his contribution, he just needed to go into his account.
He looked at me with blank eyes and said "What is a 401k? I can't afford for them to take 3% of my check. I need them to stop taking my money."
I was completely baffled. We had a long conversation and he admitted that he had never saved anything and was purely going to depend on SS. But this was also a man who lived a lifestyle that a senior level person in O&G could afford.
This was a fairly successful, and what I thought, intelligent person, and he had never once considered anything for retirement or how we was going to afford his lifestyle, he just assumed it would all work out.
It was a very eye opening conversation.
One day he walks into my office and shows me his check stub and asks "What is this 3% they are taking out of my check?"
I told him that was the default % for his 401k and if he wanted to up his contribution, he just needed to go into his account.
He looked at me with blank eyes and said "What is a 401k? I can't afford for them to take 3% of my check. I need them to stop taking my money."
I was completely baffled. We had a long conversation and he admitted that he had never saved anything and was purely going to depend on SS. But this was also a man who lived a lifestyle that a senior level person in O&G could afford.
This was a fairly successful, and what I thought, intelligent person, and he had never once considered anything for retirement or how we was going to afford his lifestyle, he just assumed it would all work out.
It was a very eye opening conversation.
3
Posted on 5/27/26 at 1:41 pm to Shexter
quote:
all I've done is auto deposited $40-50 per paycheck for the past 35 years. Company matched up to 5% of my contributions.
I've done this with a less than $100k salary. How do so many people screw this up?
We'll start as soon as we finish paying off Christmas. We'll start after we cut this check to the IRS. We'll start as soon as we save for the summer vacation. We'll start after the kids are into public school.
The cavalcade of excuses is endless.
Posted on 5/27/26 at 1:42 pm to BPTiger
quote:
I wonder how many own a house free and clear.
Over the age of 70, 50% own their home.
69-60, 47% own their home.
For the Boomers who are still paying off a mortgage, a significant majority—roughly 53%—locked in highly favorable interest rates below 4%. This has heavily incentivized them to stay put and age in place rather than selling and buying in today's housing market.
Posted on 5/27/26 at 1:43 pm to CleverUserName
quote:
They can't
I’ve heard coworkers on the phone pleading with creditors to give them better terms or forgive part of their balance hang up the phone and go spend $50 on lunch.
Posted on 5/27/26 at 1:43 pm to Salmon
quote:
It was a very eye opening conversation.
For which one of you?
Posted on 5/27/26 at 1:44 pm to F1y0n7h3W4LL
quote:
I've had inlaws who died penniless and struggled to just eat in old age.
Did you end up supporting them?
Posted on 5/27/26 at 1:44 pm to Major Dutch Schaefer
They are stupid in so many different ways if they are doing this.
Posted on 5/27/26 at 1:45 pm to TigerintheNO
quote:
For which one of you?
Definitely for me. Hopefully for him as well.
Posted on 5/27/26 at 1:46 pm to Salmon
There's a saying I've heard a dozen times: Retirement is not an age. It's a number.
Posted on 5/27/26 at 1:52 pm to LemmyLives
quote:
We'll start as soon as we finish paying off Christmas. We'll start after we cut this check to the IRS. We'll start as soon as we save for the summer vacation. We'll start after the kids are into public school.
The cavalcade of excuses is endless.
I remember working at a company where, when they first added 401k benefits and hosted a team call with the group managing it, tons of definitely inexperienced questions were fired off about it by people in their late 40s+. I was so surprised, and it dawned on me this might be the first ever time they contribute if they even DO opt in.
I was super young at the time and just set it at maximum company will match, but every annual raise as my pay went up, I adjusted the percentage to match the raise amount.
It's like, I get it is a bit scary. I get a little flutter every time I buy another share in my individual investment account since I have to physically go in and do that versus it coming out of pay. But you just gotta educate yourself and think about the future.
Posted on 5/27/26 at 1:54 pm to Slippy
quote:
The median for folks aged 65 to 74 is $200,000. Those are your boomers.
This might be a little misleading. Many Boomers had "real" retirement plans, i.e., defined benefit plans. These plans don't have a set amount of money that can be counted, but rather a monthly income amount until death.
Companies started getting rid of these in the late 70s and early 80s but many Boomers were grandfathered into these old plans until they retired.
This post was edited on 5/27/26 at 2:38 pm
Posted on 5/27/26 at 1:56 pm to LB84
quote:I have a separate brokerage outside of my 401k as a bridge account if I want to retire early, kinda worries me they’ll raid that first.
This. I'm under 40 and I know they're going to screw me with social security. I'm worried in my 50s they'll screw me on my 401k and Roth IRA.
Posted on 5/27/26 at 1:56 pm to Shexter
quote:
. Company matched up to 5% of my contributions.
i did not know how good i had when my old company matched up to 9% full and $.50 up to 14%. Luckily i took advantage of it
They were doing it because so many of the olds at the various companies they bought out over the years did not have anything in retirement
This post was edited on 5/27/26 at 1:57 pm
Posted on 5/27/26 at 1:57 pm to WG_Dawg
quote:
This is shocking to me. These people have been paying into retirement for 50 years and bought a house for a soda and a pack of envelopes and this is all they have to show for it?
A good chunk of that generation are entitled, lazy, losers. It’s not surprising most of them need government assistance to survive.
Posted on 5/27/26 at 1:58 pm to Salmon
quote:
It was a very eye opening conversation
Wow. I am in banking and rarely run across that among professional types. I forgot about the big spenders that think it will go on forever.
Posted on 5/27/26 at 1:58 pm to danilo
quote:
I've had inlaws who died penniless and struggled to just eat in old age. Did you end up supporting them?
My mother and father in law both passed away a couple years ago. Lovely people but didn’t have shite saved. I paid for both funerals.
Posted on 5/27/26 at 1:59 pm to LouisianaLady
This. You start investing ASAP in your 20”s or earlier. Sure, it’s difficult and there are times that extra 5-12% would look nice in the checking account, but unless you’re about to get your power turned off, invest all of the money that you can.
Posted on 5/27/26 at 1:59 pm to LouisianaLady
quote:
There's a saying I've heard a dozen times: Retirement is not an age. It's a number.
Yep. Exactly.
Posted on 5/27/26 at 2:00 pm to MMauler
quote:
This might be a little misleading. Many Boomers had "real" retirement plans, i.e., debined benefit plans. These plans don't have a set amount of money that can be counted, but rather a monthly income amount until death.
It also doesn't include the 20% of boomers that have no retirement savings. The real number for all boomers is much lower.
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