$955 saved for retirement? Millions are in that boat.

[Zorro]

How's this for a somber retirement forecast: The typical American worker has less than $1,000 saved for retirement, according to a new report from the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS).

"The data are clear: Outside of high earners, Americans are choosing survival over savings and hoping to catch up later," NIRS executive director Dan Doonan told Yahoo Finance. "Even for those approaching retirement age — 55-to-64-year-olds — the median amount saved for retirement is only $30,000. We're looking at a looming crisis. These aren't just statistics — they represent millions of families who are doing everything right but still can't get ahead."

The report analyzes workers with 401(k) and other retirement plan savings, as well as the millions of US workers who lack access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan.

The median savings — half have saved more and half have saved less — for all employed adults ages 21 to 64 tallied $955, per the nonpartisan group, which analyzed data from the US Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Participation.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/955-saved-for-retirement-millions-are-in-that-boat-150003868.html

[OrlandoDem2]

1. I saw this coming 4o years ago when the defined benefit plan went away.

Pensions helped with retirement. I knew at that time people wouldn’t save (couldn’t save) and here we are.

[Raftergirl]

3. My H has a six figure pension. We are very fortunate. He also maxed out his 403B contribution every year

for 30 years.

We had to scrimp on spending in our early years, which I think most of us now in our retirement years had to do.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. You do have options with $955

Spend very carefully, or invest it weekly and scalp perfectly.

Risk of running out of money, but at least you didn't lose much.

[Norrrm]

4. WSJ article from years back said actuaries were laughing at transferring the risk to the workers.

Then again, poor returns are better than no pension if your company goes bankrupt.

Now the gov't partially backs up dead pensions.

Does that sound a bit like socialism?

[Dave says]

14. Corporate socialism with table scraps for the unwashed multitudes

[Greg_In_SF]

5. Save and invest

15% of every paycheck starting with your very first job and you'll end up a millionaire.

This needs to be taught in school.

[diane in sf]

7. Hard to do when you're not making enough to meet your current living expenses.

[Greg_In_SF]

9. Well, when starting out,

some make the choice to have no cable TV, Starbucks, eating out, fancy clothes, etc. in favor saving for retirement from a young age.

If you take just the Starbucks alone...take that $100.00 a month and invest it, and you'll have over $200,000 in forty years.

Worked for me. I am amazed that personal finance is not taught in schools. Understanding compound interest will make you rich.

[leftstreet]

12. The price of a coffee stays the same in 40 yrs?

That $100 a month on a drink 40 years ago, would be close to $300 a month today

Yes, schools need to teach people about purchasing power and cumulative inflation rates

[Greg_In_SF]

18. I certainly

wish I was paying 1986 coffee prices, but you got the point. I was very fortunate to have a Father that taught me about finance. Otherwise, I likely never would have known since they didn't teach this in Home Economics back in the 80's.

[gulliver]

6. But, but Epstein! ICE!

This is why I'm incredibly frustrated by not just letting the legal system and elections take care of these emotionally charged, coverage hogging storylines. We're ignoring issues that affect literally tens of millions of people. Near term.

The Social Security trust fund dries up in 2032. At that time, large automatic cuts to benefits will kick in. But do you hear about this every single day? Why not?

We're going to have people with little savings and reduced Social Security. I think of that as important.

The young will lose faith in Social Security. And they'll be affected by the cuts too, since their folks won't be able to help them. And they'll be forced to help their folks.

Wish we would wake up.

[sweetapogee]

8. My partner and I.....

My partner and I did several things different than our friends and co-workers and because of that we have considerably more than $995 saved for our impending retirement. First we live below our means and put money to the point of pain into our 401K and 403B. What that looked like is we drove older cars, didn't go on expensive vacations, we have reasonable pet options (one cat and one dog) and we rarely eat out. Second, no matter what happened to our employment situation, we didn't view unemployment as an unexpected vacation, got right back to it. Never collected workman's comp even though we had 3 instances where we would have collected. Worked jobs we didn't like just for the health insurance and avoided recreational drugs and alcohol. Third, we put off retirement which is planned for age 70 (2 years from now) to increase our SS and more important we put that time to our advantage, saving and investing at a high percentage of our income. I don't know why I have to defend my decision to work past 62 to age 70 to my friends who retired at 62 with little or nothing saved and a small SS benefit and constantly complaining about the cost of living. Fourth, we avoid debt and save for big ticket items. Paid off our mortgage early, did not buy the most expensive place we qualified for. Fifth and most important, we always maintained a detailed written budget and have sinking funds for emergencies and planned maintenance.

We are in a good place, but we are not high earners. We are rather disciplined. Taught ourselves that discipline, We actually set a plan out and worked to meet our goals over years. We got off to a bad financial start and accumulated a lot of debt. Finally the day came when we realized we are headed off the cliff and did a financial 180. Very very difficult, exhausting and humbling. We have since avoided putting ourselves into situations that could cost us time and money. True, there is an element of luck here but we do our best to eliminate "bad luck" situations.

We always do for ourselves as much as possible instead of paying someone to do it for us. I literally just came in after spending 5 hours outside taking parts off an old snowblower that was gifted to me and put them on my broken machine as we are expecting a blizzard tonight. I am not a mechanic, far from it, but I didn't want to pay someone to clear our snow as we did on the last storm and my snowblower blew up right in the middle of the digging out. When something is broken we figure it out and as such it is rare for us to pay a plumber, electrician or auto mechanic for repairs. We never pay to have the oil changed in our car although it is a pain in the rear last weekend we toughed it out in the cold and ice, the week before that we drained the water out of our baseboard heating system and replaced a stuck eight dollar purge valve that was leaking all over the floor, probably would have been 4 or 5 hundred dollars for an emergency plumber service call. Again we are not mechanics but we figure it out.

[Deuxcents]

10. Most importantly, after reading your post, you have a partner who is 100% on the same page..

One is not a spender while the other saves and vice versa. Your plan and execution of it should serve you well and I hope your sacrifices make for a healthy and happy retirement 🌺

[sweetapogee]

15. not for one....

Not for one second do I fail to appreciate that my partner is on the same page as I am. It is true that I'm the more motivated as I'm more take charge as I came from a more humble early homelife but both of us being in agreement on the basic plan makes things much easier when we have to make a tough decision regarding finances. We drove a total ramshackle car for the last 4 years, it was not easy on the eyes, but we took care of it like it was brand new. Our work commute is 100 miles per day, we commute together although we work for different employers, but that car ran and ran finally we saved up enough to replace it which we did last May.

[haele]

11. I appreciate you had the means and luck to be able to save more,

At 65+, I've got just above average invested retirement myself (over six figures, but not much over) even though I had to dip into it several times over the years for medical reasons - even with insurance - and a disabled spouse who can't work. I still have to work until 71 or 72 just to have enough saved that I could get around $12k a year 5% investment return; on top of two moderate pensions and two SSI payments, my spouse and I should be able to survive old age reasonably well

I was lucky in my jobs; learned how to make due from growing up in a family that didn't have a lot of stability job wise, and I've had access to resources that allowed me to be able to do vehicle and home repairs, access to quality thrift and used items, able to cook healthy, and live below my income.

All that being said, I'm very cognisant, having grown up poor, how difficult it is to save if there are limited resources available to deal with issues like a family health crisis, job prospects -especially those that didn't come with benefits, divorce/child support, affordable housing availability or reliable transportation - and all of those conditions are a matter of luck rather than hard work or smarts.

I have seen too many people my age and older who picked up as many skills as they could, worked hard, tried to make all the smart moves - and they still ended up with little more than Social Security to live on.

[valleyrogue]

17. It is all the luck of the draw.

You can plan and plan and plan, but a job loss in midlife or a health crisis, and it can all be gone.

[Skittles]

19. yes

it can all be so easily derailed.........and I think these days it's even harder to bounce back

[MichMan]

13. Kind of surprised to see that it is that low.

Fortunately, we have been able to save considerably more than that without a life of austerity or too many sacrifices.

I've been retired for four years while my spouse is still working for a few more. We never had taxable incomes above 6 figures, but lived rather modestly in an affordable area, in the same house we started out with 32 years ago, refinanced from 30 to 15 years, and paid it off. We both worked, had no children (but 3 dogs), and contributed approx. 6% or so to a 401k with a company match (some, but not all of the time). Bought one new car every 6 years for my spouse while I would drive the old one for another 6 years, so only one car payment at a time, plus I do all my own repairs. Vacations were driving to Florida with the dogs to stay with my mother for a couple weeks every year. My post retirement activities cost me nothing and actually produce some income, so that is a plus.

Consolidated all the various 401k from different jobs into one IRA. Fortunately, we never had to touch the IRA even during times of unemployment, didn't panic when there were losses or try and time the market, and was able to just let it continue to rise over time. I've had to make some withdrawals of course, but so far it's continued to gain more than I have taken out.

[valleyrogue]

16. A lot of us are working long past when we wanted to quit.

That is the only way I can get ahead. Work full time, nine months, for a school district. I am playing catchup.