Reply to Median Retirement Savings of Pre-Retirees is $17,000

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Reply to "Median Retirement Savings of Pre-Retirees is $17,000"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Wow, that’s eye opening. I knew the numbers were low, but didn’t realize it was that low. Easy to forget the number of people living paycheck to paycheck. [/quote]
OP here. Yes, we have a real problem facing us, as a nation. The vast majority of people are unprepared for retirement, and with the disappearance of pensions in the private sector, they will have nothing but social security - and that's not enough.
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People have been living on just their social security checks for a long time.  It isn't fun but this isn't a new thing, either.

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How can they live on $1200 a month? Even if their home is paid off, they can have property tax of $500 a month. And then there's food, utilities, gas money and car expenses, Medicare premiums, household stuff, and more. [/quote]

The same way they scrape by on min wage during their working years.  I grew up like this and most of my family lives like this.  Everyone bunks together in one house that granny or great-granny paid off years ago.  It's falling apart.  People do without.  Working age people try to get disability checks.  [/quote]

This.  My ILs had retirement savings of $10,000 purely from selling a small business.  They stayed in their small, paid off home with low property taxes in a small city and spent most of their time watching TV.  This is normal to them.  Both have passed away and fortunately did not have to suffer through a long time of illness/disability.

My parents are much better off and with my dad now in his early 80s and health declining they are now shifting from travel and fun to estate planning so they just gave us $50K for our two kids' college funds.  It really worried my DH because he doesn't want them to run out of money.  He finds it hard to understand that my parents have plenty of money from a lifetime of living frugally and investing well.  They sent him $50 for his birthday and he said they shouldn't, they should save the money for themselves.[/quote]

Yup. My MIL has about $10k saved and lives in a trailer off of SS and help from her children. Luckily we can afford to help her without compromising our own savings. [/quote]

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