78% OF AMERICANS HAVE SAVED $50,000 OR LESS FOR RETIREMENT

[NobodyReally]

I dunno. my parents essentially been retired for 15 years now and all they do is travel, play golf and do whatever they want

I've personally witnessed folks living great at 60+ for quite some time now.

This is my parents. They're traveling, going out to eat all the time, and just chilling. Some of their friends CAN'T retire, and one of their friends even has to work a second job. It's sad. People in here saying live for today you might die tomorrow anyway don't realize how long life can be when you make bad decisions. A lot of people are going to hurting in 30 years.

 

[Laidbackman]

stock market returns from various index funds have actually beat out inflation and high yield savings accounts been at 4-5% for a minute so if your savings/investments are not beating or keeping up with inflation your money hasn't been sitting in the right account.

This is a good example of not only saving for retirement, but also investing for retirement. They mean two different things.

 

[Woodrow]

I'm fortunate to have a job that contributes up 7% dollar for dollar to your 401k and offer a pension. I currently contribute 5%. Next year I plan to go up 1%.

I know so many people that either cashed out their 401k or has borrowed from it. I get it emergencies happen but damn. Good luck.

make your company max out their contribution; it's free money for you.

 

[HARLEM AL]

nikkas keep thinking this world ain’t about to be on fire or underwater
Climate change is going to fukk us all if not the oligarchs finally pushing that button to crumble all this shyt
Retirement is not in the cards for us
If you have the means now
You better do it and enjoy your life
shyt ain’t sweet out here

Right, fukk is they talking about.

 

[HARLEM AL]

Housing cost need to come down. How are you supposed to save if you are paying half of your check to rent and another for bills and food

Yeah I dont get it either. nikkas talking about people got to stop buying cars and etcc. Nah goofy, the cost of living is high as fukk. How are people suppose to save when all their money is tide up in just rent and food.

 

[Batsute]

put the max tax deductible I can in my 401k every year.

load up your 401Ks and IRAs every year brehs. shyt is not a joke. fukk a new whip, new house, etc.

Been taking that shyt seriously at the new job I’m already in the mid 6 figures and my employer matches 1:1 up to 10% Then I got an individual index fund that I’m dropping 1K into a month.

I just wanna be in my akiya home in Japan playing my PS8 drinking Strong Zeroes.

 

[Ethnic Vagina Finder]

Consumerism is a double edge sword. Every good and service exists to maximize profits.

Retirement doesn’t really exist for most people. Bills still need to be paid and inflation goes up every year.

I’m retiring in another country.

 

[Laidbackman]

Stop renting, and get you a home. It doesn't have to be a new home or a McMansion. Get that thing paid off asap, retire early, and become a birdwatcher...lol. But this is easier said than done, and it depends a lot on the housing market, and doing this at the right time. But in the long run, you'll come out better regardless.

Meanwhile, start putting money in an IRA, if your job doesn't have a 401K or TSP...the federal government's version of a 401K. I'll just say 401K from here on out. I read where this woman spent her entire career working for McDonald's, and was able to retire early at 45. She started working there in her late teens, or early 20's, and immediately opened an IRA. That's how she did it, with the magic of compound interest.

People in my generation weren't getting this kinda financial knowledge, like the younger generations get today. The younger generation got their wake up call after the financial meltdown in 2008, and more of them were forced to learn how to invest earlier for retirement. We depended on pensions, if we were lucky to have them. But if you had a job that didn't pay much, then your pension wasn't enough to retire off of, unless you were married. And sometimes, that wasn't even enough. I remember so many retirees having to either come back to work, retire to a room, or not be able to retire at all. And these were the older boomers. But today, a lot of younger boomers are catching it worse, and they have a growing homeless population. This is because a lot of their careers started right about the time they were phasing out pensions, and replacing them with 401Ks. And most of them didn't put enough into their 401Ks. And the jobs that had a pension and a 401K, practically cut the pensions in half, where you had to put money in your 401K to retire comfortably. But most single people, especially young men, weren't thinking about retiring, and they didn't know anything about the old pensions getting cut in half. So they had no ideal they were facing a worse retirement disaster than the older boomers.

The bad part is, this is affecting the young Black boomers the most, especially the men.

Btw, being debt free is just as important, if not more, than just saving and investing for retirement.

@Sauce Mane and anybody else who thought this made sense. I forgot to mention one of the main ingredients, which was downsizing. Once you get that very affordable home, but haven't had time to pay it off, and you still have 10 or 20 years left on the mortgage, then you want to at least have enough equity to downsize. Although this means moving to a smaller home, there's a good chance it will be brand new, plus paid off. But you may have to leave your area, or move way out into the suburbs. By this time, the children should be on their own, and you won't need as much space. Not saying never have a family, but if you're single, with no dependants, then you're pretty much a freebird, when it comes to needing to downsize, and relocate. When I was coming up, the parents didn't hesitate to take their children out their schools, and relocate. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Oh, come to think of it, as you know, if you relocate South, you may find yourself in a bigger home as well.

Anyway, people been doing this for years. But when I was young, and saw this, I didn't know what was going on, or why I would hear co-workers telling certain co-workers close to their MRA, to get an early out, sell their homes, and move South. Now it all makes sense. And thanks to the internet, more young people can see this earlier, and plan their futures accordingly.

This is why I always stress home ownership vs renting, the first opportunity one gets. Now there are some cons to owning instead of renting, perhaps more than some realize, but they still don't out way the pros, imo.

 

[Dad]

Bammas didn’t think they’d still be here

 

[Koapa]

Go up to 7% now and give yourself a 2% raise. Wtf breh...u won't even feel it if it's pretax weekly

I selected to do the Roth 401k because I want the govt to get they cut/tax now.

But you're right. I get a 4% pay increase next year. Might as well.

 

[Laidbackman]

It's hard for folks to put money aside for the future when they living check to check. I totally get it. I remember when I was younger and living on my own someone told me to put 20% away every check. I looked at him like he was crazy I got bills brah. During that time I was putting in like 3-5%. The older I got the more I wished I stopped buying BS and I could have put 9% or around that. But now I'm looking at my retirement account and I'm more than satisfied with it and I can gage I'll be a Millionaire by the time I retire at 60. My goal is to retire at 55 so I got some gains to get to where I'm conformable with .

This sounds like me when I was putting in 3-5% in my TSP. After this brother gave me some advice, I moved it up to 6%, and thought I was doing something, since I already felt like I was struggling. The brother didn't tell me how much I really needed to put away, because he probably thought it would have sent me into some kinda frenzy. Down inside, I knew I needed to put away a lot more, but I couldn't get myself to ask exactly how much. But when I think back, perhaps I did spend a little too much on clothes. Plus I had two cars, although one was paid off. But I was still paying insurance on it. I also only had two years left on my car note. I still have that car, although it's now my second car. My point is, I could have been putting a lot more into my TSP, especially when that new car was about to be paid off.

But I was forced out of my job, and wound up getting an early pension, that converted into a regular pension years later. Because of this, I was no longer able to contribute to my TSP, and I didn't become one of those TSP, nest egg, millionaires like you're about to become. But I can't complain, after nearly wounding up homeless a year or two after I left that job. Plus I ended up in a larger home and larger yard, brand new, but I had to move South. If I had stayed on that job, although I would have been one of those nest egg millionaires, I don't think I would have been that by 55...maybe more like 62, or 67. Probably 67, because that's the year my house up there would have been finally paid off. Hold on, since I almost upsized, and started a new 30 year mortgage not long before they ran me out, I would have had a mortgage into I was somewhere in my 70's...smh.

At this point in my life, all more money will do for me, is get me a bigger house I don't need, a nicer car I don't need, and more clothes I don't need, and more trips to go on, that could be risky if I overdo it. I'm more concerned about my future health these days. Although I have good health insurance, I still put away most of my extra money.

Anyway, good to know you gonna be alright.

 

[Yinny]

This is my parents. They're traveling, going out to eat all the time, and just chilling. Some of their friends CAN'T retire, and one of their friends even has to work a second job. It's sad. People in here saying live for today you might die tomorrow anyway don't realize how long life can be when you make bad decisions. A lot of people are going to hurting in 30 years.

People are hurting now

 

[Arizax2]

This sounds like me when I was putting in 3-5% in my TSP. After this brother gave me some advice, I moved it up to 6%, and thought I was doing something, since I already felt like I was struggling. The brother didn't tell me how much I really needed to put away, because he probably thought it would have sent me into some kinda frenzy. Down inside, I knew I needed to put away a lot more, but I couldn't get myself to ask exactly how much. But when I think back, perhaps I did spend a little too much on clothes. Plus I had two cars, although one was paid off. But I was still paying insurance on it. I also only had two years left on my car note. I still have that car, although it's now my second car. My point is, I could have been putting a lot more into my TSP, especially when that new car was about to be paid off.

But I was forced out of my job, and wound up getting an early pension, that converted into a regular pension years later. Because of this, I was no longer able to contribute to my TSP, and I didn't become one of those TSP, nest egg, millionaires like you're about to become. But I can't complain, after nearly wounding up homeless a year or two after I left that job. Plus I ended up in a larger home and larger yard, brand new, but I had to move South. If I had stayed on that job, although I would have been one of those nest egg millionaires, I don't think I would have been that by 55...maybe more like 62, or 67. Probably 67, because that's the year my house up there would have been finally paid off. Hold on, since I almost upsized, and started a new 30 year mortgage not long before they ran me out, I would have had a mortgage into I was somewhere in my 70's...smh.

At this point in my life, all more money will do for me, is get me a bigger house I don't need, a nicer car I don't need, and more clothes I don't need, and more trips to go on, that could be risky if I overdo it. I'm more concerned about my future health these days. Although I have good health insurance, I still put away most of my extra money.

Anyway, good to know you gonna be alright.

You got it right now some folks don't get it ever. I have my house set up to be paid off before I'm 55. I recently moved to the south but my previous house it would have been paid off in my 40s I'm 37 now but had to move for job. I'm putting more and more in the principal of my house to get it down to having it paid off in my 40s again but it's not that easy. Waiting to refinance since I had to trade in my 3.5% rate in my old house to a 7%. When I refinance I'll probably do 15 or 20 year I will not do 30.

 

[chineebai]

Very very hard to save.

 

[Samori Toure]

Example; my cousin left her job and cashed out her 401k. Not smart. She basically has no retirement. Has not a cent left from that cash out.

You still have to pay back that money if you borrow from your 401k. Even though the interest rates are low. That money will be coming straight out your pay or check.

Yes but it is cheaper to borrow from yourself than from a bank or some other source. Check with the financial guys in this thread, but the repayment might be pre-tax and if it is then that is a savings to you.