Trump says stock market gains since election give him opportunity to wage a trade war: 'We're playin

[progree]

42. 32% of workers are saving in 401ks, 79% work for employers that offer them

Last edited Fri Jul 20, 2018, 08:00 PM - Edit history (1)

https://www.fool.com/retirement/2017/06/19/does-the-average-american-have-a-401k.aspx

According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, only 32% of Americans are saving for retirement in a 401(k). Granted, that owes partly to the fact that 401(k)s are employer-dependent, and not every company offers one.

Data from the Census Bureau suggests that as little as 14% of all employers offer a 401(k), yet Census researchers recently estimated that 79% of Americans work for an employer that sponsors a 401(k)-style retirement plan. How is that possible? Large companies that employ high numbers of workers are the most likely to sponsor retirement plans.

All that said, not everyone who's offered an employer-sponsored plan actually takes advantage of it. Of those 79% of Americans who get the choice to fund a 401(k), only 41% opt to participate. As such, just 32% of the total workforce is saving in a 401(k).

Add to that pension plans that most government and public sector workers are covered by. And still some private sector workers.

All that adds up to maybe 40% or so or workers with one or the other or both. When we include the families they support, that is roughly 130 million people.

I should have been more specific that the fluctuations of the daily markets do not affect poor and working people.

If were talking about a big trade war, we're not talking about daily fluctuations. We're talking about a big risk of a multi-year bear market. I can guarantee that's going to affect low- and average-income people in many ways which I covered in my previous post (#39). Add to that lower tax revenues, resulting in less spending on benefits and services...

Or as The Velveteen Ocelot put it in #34:

If a company's stock loses value it can't borrow money as easily, if at all, or attract new investors; the result might be layoffs of employees, the lack of new job creation, or other measures that affect wages and jobs. A bad market affects people who don't own stock. See "The Great Depression."

Anyway, it looks like we've come to an impasse.