And, really, prior to the mid-20th century, "retirement" if it existed at all was living with your kids. Multigenerational households were the norm. I think we're going back to that.

It used to be pretty standard that retirement was mainly puttering around your house. Maybe taking up hobbies like cooking, baking, knitting, reading. Listening to the radio/watching t.v. and family get togethers were the highlights in retirement.

They might take a trip of a lifetime on one occasion but regular travel and golf and country club living was something that the rich people did.

A married couple would split a tuna salad sandwich on whole wheat and pair it with a dollop of cottage cheese and some canned fruit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks. OP here. I posted this as a result of an annoying parallel thread in which people are insulting college graduates who havent amassed $2 million by age 40 as being irresponsible and "flushing money down the toilet."

Nice to know there are some normal people on DCUM, too.

Yeah. That "flushing money down the toilet" comment pissed me off. But then I remember that it comes from an elitist snob and all is right with the world again.

Thanks again. You must be the "normal" one on that other thread. I started this one to see if I could get feedback from the "real" people, and I did. I just need to put things in better perspective, as you did, and remember that people making those comments are elitist snobs indeed. Feeling better now!

You're taking this way to personally, OP. Keep doing what you're doing. It seems like the only thing that has made you better is to have others affirm for you that others are elitist snobs. That doesn't say very good things about you.

Oh go scratch your ass.

NP

Compelling retort.

I think this statistic is pretty useless. DC area residents are not anywhere near the median in terms of education, income, or housing costs. I'd be willing to bet that most people in NW DC or close-in suburbs have at least $2 million in net worth by the time they retire.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks. OP here. I posted this as a result of an annoying parallel thread in which people are insulting college graduates who havent amassed $2 million by age 40 as being irresponsible and "flushing money down the toilet."

Nice to know there are some normal people on DCUM, too.

Yeah. That "flushing money down the toilet" comment pissed me off. But then I remember that it comes from an elitist snob and all is right with the world again.

Thanks again. You must be the "normal" one on that other thread. I started this one to see if I could get feedback from the "real" people, and I did. I just need to put things in better perspective, as you did, and remember that people making those comments are elitist snobs indeed. Feeling better now!

You're taking this way to personally, OP. Keep doing what you're doing. It seems like the only thing that has made you better is to have others affirm for you that others are elitist snobs. That doesn't say very good things about you.

Oh go scratch your ass.

NP

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

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.

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.

I don't know how they do it. But if you think that every senior citizen in this country has a paid off house in a high income area with high property taxes....you would be wrong.

There are people living in homes that are worth under 30K. Some live in low income rental housing. They probably utilize food pantries when their money runs out. They may not have a car....so gas money is not an issue.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

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.

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.

People in most low cola areas do not have $500/month in property taxes.

My parents are in this situation. They have about that much saved. The reality is that our generation will be taking care of retirees with nothing saved. I live in a multi-generational home and pay a lot for my parents. I save the bare minimum for my own retirement, and the cycle will likely repeat.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

Plus a lot of retirees think they'll use their home equity as a big part of their retirement finances but a lot of today's retirees/near-retirees got screwed on that in the real estate crash.

DH and I are 48 and 55 and just passed $1 million in our retirement accounts. I work a lot with demographic data and was well aware of the crappy position most people are in so I was like "whoo hoo!" I still want it higher and we're accelerating our savings since we'd stopped saving for several years when I was a SAHM.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks. OP here. I posted this as a result of an annoying parallel thread in which people are insulting college graduates who havent amassed $2 million by age 40 as being irresponsible and "flushing money down the toilet."

Nice to know there are some normal people on DCUM, too.

Yeah. That "flushing money down the toilet" comment pissed me off. But then I remember that it comes from an elitist snob and all is right with the world again.

Thanks again. You must be the "normal" one on that other thread. I started this one to see if I could get feedback from the "real" people, and I did. I just need to put things in better perspective, as you did, and remember that people making those comments are elitist snobs indeed. Feeling better now!

What's "real" depends on where you live. In this area, this (17k) is NOT real, IMHO.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks. OP here. I posted this as a result of an annoying parallel thread in which people are insulting college graduates who havent amassed $2 million by age 40 as being irresponsible and "flushing money down the toilet."

Nice to know there are some normal people on DCUM, too.

Yeah. That "flushing money down the toilet" comment pissed me off. But then I remember that it comes from an elitist snob and all is right with the world again.

Thanks again. You must be the "normal" one on that other thread. I started this one to see if I could get feedback from the "real" people, and I did. I just need to put things in better perspective, as you did, and remember that people making those comments are elitist snobs indeed. Feeling better now!

You're taking this way to personally, OP. Keep doing what you're doing. It seems like the only thing that has made you better is to have others affirm for you that others are elitist snobs. That doesn't say very good things about you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:we can save that much in less than two months.

May Poppins throws shade at you.

LOL. Great. I love Mary Poppins.

Anonymous wrote:we can save that much in less than two months.

May Poppins throws shade at you.