this post was submitted on 26 Apr 2024
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About one-quarter of U.S. adults age 50 and older who are not yet retired say they expect to never retire and 70% are concerned about prices rising faster than their income, an AARP survey finds.

About 1 in 4 have no retirement savings, according to research released Wednesday by the organization that shows how a graying America is worrying more and more about how to make ends meet even as economists and policymakers say the U.S. economy has all but achieved a soft landing after two years of record inflation. 

Everyday expenses and housing costs, including rent and mortgage payments, are the biggest reasons why people are unable to save for retirement.

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[–] rhacer@lemmy.world 52 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I won't be retiring. Not particularly good with money, plus a divorce, I'm 60, and have about 200K in retirement. It's my own fault, I could have been far smarter. Now was always far more important than then.

[–] prole@sh.itjust.works 40 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (4 children)

I'm 60, and have about 200K in retirement

Sadly, I think that puts you way ahead of most Americans.

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[–] Asifall@lemmy.world 34 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I think that people don’t really understand what it means when they claim they have no plans to retire. My in-laws are always saying things like “I’ll work until I die” while they take out debt to go on vacations but they recently brought up that we should make sure to get an extra bedroom for them if/when we buy a house. The disconnect is infuriating.

[–] bluewing@lemm.ee 5 points 4 months ago

There are reason for them asking about an extra bedroom. And that is at some point, something will happen and they can no longer work at anything. For example, as much as I would still like to do something to do, I can no longer physically work. Even though I can still do things, ain't no one going to hire me to even be a greeter at Walmart.....

Nor do people want to survive and die in a nursing home. It's not a good place to die. We recently went through this 4 years ago with my Wife's Father. Fortunately, we have/had the skills to care for someone at end of life. And we gave up our lives to do so. And he was able to die peacefully at home.

Whether or not you choose to do something similar is completely up to you and your family.

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 21 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Only 1 in 4? 🤔 I've NEVER been under the illusion I would retire.

[–] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] Trollception@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Did you save at least 20-30% of your income in tax advantaged accounts?

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

30% on the solar panels. ;)

[–] tal@lemmy.today 21 points 4 months ago (7 children)

I really think that some time should be given to personal finance in school curriculum.

When I went through, we learned to write a check and balance a checkbook. That was it.

[–] dhork@lemmy.world 21 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, schools should be teaching more about financial literacy, but it's impossible to teach kids about good habits for retirement 40+ years down the road when the laws that govern their retirement haven't been written yet.

Heck, I'm old enough that my first job out of college actually had a pension plan. I never expected to work long enough there to take advantage of it, though. And I was correct -- even if I didn't leave when I did, the place eventually went bankrupt. Any advice they would have given me in high school about retirement savings would be obsolete now.

The only advice that is eternal is to save money, and live below your means. That seems difficult these days, though, especially for young kids just starting out.

[–] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

My wife has a pension through her employer, it is going to be her last employer until retirement. Hey at least the golden handcuffs are golden.

[–] projectsquared@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

More and I are in this exact boat. Want to find something - ANYTHING - else but can’t risk losing that pension. Eggs in one basket and all that.

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[–] zenharbinger@lemmy.world 13 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

My oldest did have to take a personal finance class in high school (last year) and did cover things like retirement saving and different methods of. I think some places are trying.

Edit: I, on the other hand, had your experience.

[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

Doesn't matter how many classes you take when there's multiple Financial collapses in your lifetime

[–] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 11 points 4 months ago (7 children)

I think we need to bring back pensions. There is plenty of money around.

[–] Ellecram@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

I guess I am one of the lucky ones. I will be retiring next year with both a pension and social security. I work in county government and that was one of the perks.

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[–] FancyPantsFIRE@lemm.ee 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

My high school had a mandatory senior class that taught things like budgeting, investing, filing (very simple) taxes, and balancing a check book. It also required you to do some form of community service. The investing portion was bad as it was basically stock picking with fun money.

It’s hard to say how much the class impacted me as I don’t have a control, and I then proceeded through four years of college not really exercising those skills. I suspect it’s not a silver bullet, but still a positive inclusion in the curriculum.

[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 months ago

These days I'm sure we would see students saying they went SPY 0DTE YOLO because of WSB's popularity

[–] SuiXi3D@fedia.io 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Managing your finances can only do so much when you barely bring in enough to cover rent.

[–] tal@lemmy.today 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

It definitely isn't the case that a quarter of the country can't afford to save anything though their whole working life.

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[–] gimpchrist@lemmy.world 18 points 4 months ago

I've got literal $0 for retirement and my bank account is in the red. It's not going to be too good when I'm old.

[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 13 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I would like to see a long term study on how people feel about it because I understand people in their 20s feel like it's hopeless but it would be nice to know how their opinion evolves as they move through their career.

[–] nondescripthandle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

My late 20s saw the delcine in health of my grandparents who I lived with. Seeing how elder care goes Im more frightened now than ever before. I have more to my name than ever before but seeing how it took a loud fight from the whole family to get the care centers just to take basic care of an elder, knowing I don't have a spouse and dont plan on having kids, Im terrfied I'm going to die neglected unbathed in the corner of some place that may as well be a mental institution.

The 'lonelines crisis' were seeing now is going to lead to many people who become disabled by aging have no family or other support structures to lean on and I wouldn't be surprised to see sick elderly people dying on the streets in mass in a few decades time.

Tldr: once you're old enough to start forgetting things, no amount of money can protect you from neglect. You need family to go to bat for you and less and less people are making families. I didn't used to believe in human euthanasia but now Im praying its legal by the time I get that old.

[–] Zerlyna@lemmy.world 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I am hoping they have Carousel when I turn 70.

[–] Grabthar@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

Renew! Renew!

[–] AlecSadler@sh.itjust.works 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)

At 40 and with $8k in my retirement fund (cashed it out on a business venture right before COVID...live and learn) I'm anticipating to do this as well.

Ah, life.

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[–] MagicShel@programming.dev 9 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I've got retirement funds scattered across a half-dozen different companies and honestly I have no idea how to find it. Probably doesn't amount to more than $150k anyway. Could be half that - I really have no way of knowing. I was planning on never retiring, but the job market says otherwise. I might already be retired. Six weeks into my job search with 25 years of experience and not even an interview much less an offer. It hasn't been this bad since 2010.

[–] dhork@lemmy.world 33 points 4 months ago (1 children)

That money is yours no matter how far it is scattered. Try to get in contact with those companies and check in on the accounts. You are allowed to move those funds into a single rollover IRA account with no tax hit if they send the check to the Rollover IRA provider directly.

You might be surprised at what you have. You might remember putting in $150k but it's possible it has grown quite a bit since then.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 6 points 4 months ago

You might be surprised at what you have. You might remember putting in $150k but it’s possible it has grown quite a bit since then.

It's also possible something dumb might have happened, like it ending up in a cash-equivalent sweep account or something, which only makes it more urgent that he get it all rolled over into an IRA that's set up and paid attention to properly.

[–] leadore@kbin.social 4 points 4 months ago (4 children)

Wow, you sound pretty nonchalant about losing $150K!

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[–] tearsintherain@leminal.space 9 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

"...even as economists and policymakers say the U.S. economy has all but achieved a soft landing after two years of record inflation."

disconnected much?

[–] Denvil@lemmy.one 12 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Perhaps the inflation is under control, but the constant price increases certainly aren't no matter what they say

[–] MNByChoice@midwest.social 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Prices only drop of deflation.

Economists only mean prices have increased less this last year for the selection of things they looked at.

They say deflation is terrible, but there are still Japanese in Japan. (Japan has had decades of deflation.)

[–] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

Economists only mean prices have increased less this last year for the selection of things they looked at.

That bolded part is crucial. A year or two ago, someone in the Biden administration released a report proudly announcing that there's no longer significant inflation when eliminating housing, groceries and fuel from the calculations 🤦

[–] billwashere@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Well I’ll retire (sorta). I’ll just get another job making 50% what I was making and earning 75% of my original salary through retirement. I’ll work till I’m dead but at least I’ll make more money for a bit … until inflation eats it.

[–] IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

My dad did this for a while. Had a nice white collar job my entire childhood. He loved boating and owned one for 40+ years. A year or so after he retired from that he got a part time job as a cashier at a marine supply store. He loved the interactions with other boaters. He did that for probably 10 years before retiring fully.

[–] skyspydude1@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I'm in MI and I'm pretty sure half the staff of any hardware store are retired Big 3 engineers. I've talked with them before, and most of them are more than comfortable financially, but just like having a routine, getting out of the house, and the employee discounts.

[–] ryathal@sh.itjust.works 5 points 4 months ago

A part time job after retirement basically keeps people alive. Just sitting on a couch all day watching TV kills you pretty fast.

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Incredible. You can bet your ass I won't work another day after I retire. I'm limping along to get to the finish line even though I still have a few years to go.

[–] skyspydude1@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

A job is far more enjoyable when you know you don't need it and have to put up with absolutely zero shit since you can leave at any time.

[–] Jaysyn@kbin.social 7 points 4 months ago

That's probably low.

[–] Kyrgizion@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

I'm 40 and I will work until the day I die.

I just hope that will be in my 60's rather than my 80's...

Same but I think I’ll die the day after my mum does.

That way I only need to survive as long as she does.

[–] Kayday@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I have had conversations with evangelicals who believe retiring is morally wrong, based entirely on this one passage:

For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. 2 Thessalonians 3:10

I can't begin to wrap my head around this.

[–] joneskind@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)
[–] Hugh_Jeggs@lemm.ee 4 points 4 months ago

Yep that's my experience too. That said, we were a bunch of hedonistic arseholes in the 90s so it's no surprise we're irresponsible 😅

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