https://finance.yahoo.com/news/almost-half-older-americans-zero-210656147.html

I'm finally ahead of someone!

Imagine being a boomer and completely fucking up in life like this. The younger generation will never have it as good as they did in the 60s-90s.

Muh Millenials never plan for the future

My birth mother and her husband have basically no retirement.  Even though they both had decent corporate jobs most of their lives.

Her husband got laid off 10 years ago and had 60k in CC debt.  What'd he do?  Cash out his 401k at 55 years old.  He had about 40k leftover after taxes.  Put a little towards the CC debt and then bought a Harley.  Didn't work for a few years.

It's insanity.  What's crazier is that even at 55 years of age, he barely had anything in 401k

Am I inb4 the "git tuh werk y'all, need muh soshul suhkurty" guys?

Pretty sure we already have a thread on this today.

You cant fix stupid.

My Roth and 401k beg to differ and even LittlePony had started a 401 on his previous slave wages. Guess they can just find a nice cardboard box to live in for retirement

Hysterical dupe is annoying.

Go cry here

I am 43 and have absolutely no retirement savings.  I dont plan on living that long.

Laughs in Millennial

Yup I don’t have much-but I work with two 50+ year old guys with 0-our company does100% match to 5%-one has been here 15 years and never put a dime in!

For the most part - boomers are already recently retired.  These poor fuckers are the idiots that came right behind the boomers that believed Uncle Sam when he told them he'd handle their retirement for them.

Oh yeah. People make dumb choices. Let me tell you about one.
My dad works at a machine shop. Some of the people who work there aren't real bright. They were changing benefits plans, and one man of about 55 decided that instead of rolling over his 401k, he was just going to cash it out. He told my dad he didn't need to save for retirement, because he'd also have social security.
He spent ~$40,000 on a beautiful custom Harley, which was the vast majority of the money he got after taxes and 10% penalty. But he wasn't much of a motorcycle rider, I just think he was obsessed with Orange County choppers show on TV.

3 Months later he wrecked his brand new bike, badly. Completely destroyed it. Hurt himself pretty bad. Was out of work for 3 months. Then got on disability. He has a hard time walking now. No retirement savings, can't do his old job anymore.

How is this even possible?

I know a few baby boomer couples in this same boat. They are hard working conservatives. Their motto is "I will work until the day I die". They account for about 5% in their age range that I know. The rest I know around that age are already on disability. Disgusting. America is swirling further down the toilet bowl.

You're welcome for my tax dollars that are going to keep you alive after your money runs out.

There's no cure for being a retard.

My pension, 401k and savings prove that theory wrong. By the looks of things, I'll have more money in retirement than I do now.

I have actually heard this before too. I still don't understand it.

It's like at one point they know they're fucked so what's the point of even trying.

Personally I'm looking to be done with working ASAP.

Well, it just says that they don't have IRAs or 401Ks.  Nothing says that some can't just have savings or other investments.
But yeah, most are probably screwed.

I'm in my early 40s and have a very healthy 401k and a vested pension.
Which means that I'm probably going to have a heart attack and die at 53.  
Or I'll remarry, and she'll divorce me and take it all.

The majority of people I know around that age have dick. They all say they'll work until they die as they continue to buy shit on credit.

Fuck that.

Edit - most are banking on some kind of inheritance when their parents kick it

Half of the people over 55 wouldn't have had much exposure to 401K's, makes sense that nearly half don't have one. Break that down to under 70/over 70 and the percentage gap would be huge.

Maybe. I do have more money in regular savings/investment accounts than IRA/401k accounts. But I'd be willing to bet if someone isn't taking advantage of free money from their employer to save, they're not using their own money to save...

I have $0 in a 401k or IRA. I do have a bunch of rentals that will be paid for before I'm 55
and that income will do just fine

Lots of downsizing out of a job, midlife layoffs, late life divorces. I can see it.

But there’s a lot of “hey, we had to have that pool” and “we had to take the kids to Disney every year or they would feel left out”. And, there are a lot of Suburbans in suburbia.

TC

Spoken in ignorance.   Boomer here.  When I started working the company had all sorts of info on how great their pension plan was and that after 5 years we could contribute to an SIP plan.  No matching because they had a pension they were supposedly contributing to in our name.

Well, 42 years later the SIP (now called 401(k)) is essentially me retirement income along with social security.  My pension is 5% of what it should have been.  What happened?   Super generous early retirement programs that allowed people to retire in their 40's and get full pension benefits with social security payments bridged until they were 62.  All of a sudden the pension system started shrinking.   The smart people in charge thought that maybe 3,000 people would participate.  More than 9,000 did and they did not even try to cap the number.

The retirement fund started shrinking and for those of us who remained, we saw our promised retirement benefits shrinking and even disappearing.  This was okay because the CEO when this happened was able to get hundreds of millions in compensation while all of this was going on.

I never considered social security the basis of my retirement planning.  My pension and 401(k) were supposed to carry me an my wife.  SS was going to be icing on the cake.  Things that I, and many baby boomers, had no control over changed.   Now, all of a sudden, social security is a major part of my retirement income.

You are not the first generation that thought that social security was a flawed program.  40 years ago I didn't think it would last this long.  Two things are the main force killing it.  Only some people contribute but everyone gets to take money out and Aid to Families With Dependent Children.

A book published by the Cato Institute in the late 1970's actually nailed the problems on the head.  Everything predicted in the book has come true.  It was the basis of the decisions that guided my retirement planning.   The financial hit that I could not totally absorb was the loss of most of my pension.  No politician is going to commit political suicide by trying the fix the system.  As long as they can patch up the system.  The book is called Social Security, The Inherent Contradiction".   Still worth a read today.

Plan today and trust nothing told you by any corporate executive or HR department.

yea, because baby boomers placed their futures in the hands of the Govt.

Govt took the money and ran.

That's why you don't put your fate in the hands of govt

If I don't fuck up and burn through my reserves on medical bills or something, I should be able to retire at 55 with ~5M. When my father-in-law passes, he is supposedly leaving us a few million also. Hopefully, the wifey and I are set. Shit happens though so I'm not blowing it on bullshit. Going to get a nice place on the coast with a boat and live easy until I die. That said, I'll always work in some way to stay sharp mentally. Physically, I stay in shape through exercise.

Going to have to work for ever.

How?

Why do you have to save when boomers are guarenteed a pension from their employer and SS?

Investing is like voting.  Do it early and often.

At this very moment in time the original is right above your dupe.
https://www.ar15.com/forums/General/What-will-be-the-political-solution-to-retirees-having-no-money-/5-2206093/

I'm cutting myself in half and getting rid of the part of me that didn't save for retirement.

"Older Americans" are often fond of government handouts and expect good old Uncle Sam to take care of them. I don't see why this is news.

What did they do with all those taxes they didn’t pay and the benefits we taxpayers gave them? Didn't they save it because they are “vunnables”?

WTF is a pension?

Yep, but we can't pass up a chance to bash boomers

I am working on getting both.

I have no sympathy for fools that live beyond their means and refuse to save for the future.

Same. I've got more than zero!

Their parents raised them with the same ethic as the parents. Therefore, the kids ain't gettin' dick because their parents are eating popcorn for dinner, too.

What do you mean how? This thread is about people who have nothing.

If that money doesn't do anything else for him and he lives another 40 years that's $125,000/year. Which is not too smart but works.

Or if he's smart he could put $5,000,000 in a 2% MM account and live off the $100,000/year interest without even touching the 5 million.

Dude was saying no to free money!

I wish I started earlier! I would have an extra 100k or more right now I’m guessing.

I'm a  60 year old boomer.  Wife and I have no debt.  We own our house, cars, everything.  If I retire this year, I'll have $950,000-1,000,000 in cash/investments, and  a $4100 per month pension.  At 62 years of age, I'll take SS for another $1,800 a month.
I've been saving since I was 14 years old.

I retired at 46 paid off and sold my rental house. I bought a new home with cash and my mortgage with T/I is just over $1k. How do you get $60k on a CC? who would even give someone a $60k CC??