Are you ready for retirement? Tens of millions of boomers aren’t.
Boomers by the Numbers
B&D has an excellent article on retirement: Baby Boomers – By the Numbers, Retirement Looks Bleak written October 24, 2024.
Many baby boomers-the 76 million Americans born between 1946 and 1964-have retired or are heading toward retirement, with roughly 10,000 retiring every day. Are they prepared? Based on savings statistics and actuarial charts, the answer is a resounding no. Insufficient savings and a lack of planning paint a gloomy picture for many retirees. This means more people working into their 70s and 80s, more poverty among elders, and more public resources devoted to health care for seniors. One in five baby boomers say they are concerned they will not have sufficient savings to cover basic living expenses in retirement.
A study by GoBankingRates found that 30% of people 55 and over have no retirement savings, with another 26% claiming they have saved less than $50,000.
When compared to typical benchmarks needed for a successful retirement, 54% of the older Americans in this survey lacked sufficient retirement funds. Nearly one-fifth of all baby boomers do not contribute to workplace savings plans such as a 401(k), and the majority of those who do are not contributing enough. And of those with savings, nearly half have less than $100,000, which would generate less than $7,000 a year in retirement income.
For the majority of baby boomers, this may mean putting off retirement, or not retiring at all:
- The Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies found that 66% of baby boomers plan to or already are working past age 65, or do not plan to retire.
- According to the Center on Aging & Work at Boston College, a recent study suggested that 64% of workers would like some kind
of “phased retirement.”- However, the study also found that while approximately half of employers offered phased retirement for the top employees, only 10-20% of employers offered it for all employees.
One of the biggest misconceptions about retirement concerns Social Security. With more than half of baby boomers counting on Social Security as a primary source of income in retirement, most think they will need less, and receive more, than they actually will. A survey by the Indexed Annuity Leadership Council found that 60% of baby boomers think they need less than $1,000,000 in retirement, when in reality at least $250,000 will be needed for health care alone. More than half think the average monthly Social Security payment is $500 more than it is, a budget miscalculation that will leave a nearly $250,000 shortfall over a 30-year retirement.
Recently, the number of people taking Social Security early (age 62) has declined, but experts still believe that too many people are taking Social Security earlier than they should. Waiting until 70 to withdraw from Social Security could increase a retiree’s monthly payout by approximately 75% over taking it at age 62, and 32% over taking it at age 66.
In addition, many retirees do not realize that most tax-advantaged retirement accounts, such as traditional IRAs, SIMPLE IRAs, SEP IRAs, and most 401(k)s, feature required minimum distributions. While individuals may withdraw from these retirement accounts beginning at age 59 without penalty, once they turn 70, individuals must take “required minimum distributions” each year. The amount an individual must withdraw is tied to an IRS formula based on life expectancy, and the penalties for noncompliance are steep.
Financial planning experts say that another miscalculation relates to life expectancy. Too many baby boomers do not to plan to live past 90, even though nearly half of women now age 65 will live to their 90th birthday. (The number is slightly lower for men.)
If all this sounds gloomy, it could get worse, as the two entitlements boomers rely upon most heavily-Medicare and Social Security-will run out of money in 20 years if drastic action is not taken.
Good News, Bad News
The good news is Social Security will not run out of money in 20 years.
The bad news is reduced benefits will stat no later than 2035 and possibly as early as 2023 is action isn’t take.
Trump has promised to not Touch Social Security.
That’s a lie considering Republicans expand Social Security at a cost of $196 billion. And Trump pledged not to tax Social Security benefits and Trump
Finally, Trump certainly has no plans to shore things up, not counting DOGE silliness regarding date errors in the system.
Related Posts
December 29, 2024: Team Trump Accelerates Social Security Insolvency, Where’s DOGE?
Republicans expand Social Security at a cost of $196 billion. Guess who benefits.
Where’s Trump, DOGE and Vance?
- The WSJ reported Donald Trump endorsed it the bill.
- CBS News reported Vice President-elect JD Vance of Ohio was among the 24 Republican senators to join 49 Democrats to advance the measure in an initial procedural vote that took place Wednesday.
- Vance then buried his head by not voting on the bill. So did Marco Rubio. This maneuver will allow both to later pretend they didn’t vote to increase the deficit by $196 billion.
February 18, 2025: DOGE is Careless in Operation and Reckless in Reporting
Let’s discuss viral nonsense on alleged Social Security fraud and a simple explanation.
US Debt Will Grow to a Staggering 156 Percent of GDP by 2055
On March 27, 2025 I commented US Debt Will Grow to a Staggering 156 Percent of GDP by 2055
If Congress extends the TCJA tax cuts with no offsetting savings, the deficits will surge.
“The good news is Social Security will not run out of money in 20 years.
The bad news is reduced benefits will stat no later than 2035 and possibly as early as 2023 is action isn’t take.”
The badder news is that I believe it is highly likely the government will run out of money within 20 years.
Does anybody believe there is a chance of “Catastrophic Budget Failure”?
Article 07-Burman.indd
“In this paper, we consider the causes, mechanisms, and macroeconomic fallout of a catastrophic budget failure — a situation in which markets’ perception of the credit worthiness of the U.S. government rapidly deteriorates, leaving it unable to access credit markets at any reasonable rate of interest and generating a high probability of the previously unthinkable: the U.S. government defaulting on its debt obligations.”
Exactly … no need to rescue SS. SS will remain solvent … benefits might not!
How does the government run out of money when it can print whatever it needs?
it has to buy the sacks to deliver the money in, sometimes it takes a while to make the sacks, they don’t run out of money, they run out of money sacks.
its tragic, they’re made in China.
Those who didn’t start saving/investing young will probably never be able to afford to retire. We started saving/investing young so we could retire early and do a lot of traveling.
You don’t always get to choose the circumstances surrounding your retirement. Just because you cannot afford to retire, does not mean that you won’t become a victim of downsizing or age discrimination.
yes, exactly. That is what a rainy day fund is for, a rainy day.
Always, and I mean always, save a portion of your earnings for future needs. You can be a millionaire by living beneath your means, and you can live in perpetual poverty, simply by living above your means.
The lack of work ethic by the younger generation all but guarantees Boomers and Gen-X will be in demand until they are financially ready to retire or pass away. This labor imbalance creates upward price pressures and a major skills gap in the future as Boomers and Gen-X retire. Any Millenial who applies himself will be financially set.
Ya, but the idea of HAVING to working through your “golden years” is heartbreaking and then what if your health forces your retirement with not enough money for health care, food, or shelter?
Not a great outcome but as they say people don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan.
People often say that they can’t afford to save for retirement but saving for retirement is one of the most important things you can do for yourself. More important than a cell phone, certainly more important than dining out or other forms of entertainment. Retirement saving needs to become a priority in most people’s life by the time they are 30 for the average person to be financially independent in retirement. It is affordable if you start early enough, besides given the downside, who can afford not to?
Hopefully this study is a wake up call for the younger generation as it is likely too late to help the baby boomers.
Most younger folks don’t read websites like this one. But a lot of them seem to have money for expensive tickets for concerts or sporting events. I was sent to the knackers’ yard some 20 years ago. After a couple of days of worrying about my finances, I realized that I would be just fine and never bothered to look for another full time job. These days I get upset because of all the income tax I have to pay related to my IRA Required Minimum Distributions.
Though not really mentioned, there is a breakeven point when comparing social security funds you receive at 62 versus 70. If you think you will live into your 90s, wait until 70 if possible. If you have poor health/DNA, you better get it while you can, starting at 62. Also, I hope that most of you readers realize that there really isn’t a fund with our SS money sitting in it. Without wasting space on the process just be aware that all the money gets used by Congress through a funky borrowing process, sort of off the books, so it doesn’t show as national debt. When money gets paid out it comes right from the treasury. So when people say the fund will run dry, it really means that on paper we won’t have enough coming in to cover what is going out, because there isn’t a physical fund in terms as we would think.
The SS program has always been limited in its investment choices to non-marketable US government debt securities, which are part of the National Debt. Unless the Federal government chooses to default on its debt, the SS program will be free to redeem its government investments to pay SS benefits until its holdings drop to zero. Even then, it will still be able to make partial payments every month from incoming FICA taxes.
I’m 3 years into GenX, and I’m ready for retirement. I can’t wait, and I have a good plan. I’ll do my best to wait 2 years after retiring & apply for SS @ 65.5 years.
With a little luck, we won’t see Rand Paul pass raising the retirement age to 70 anytime soon. Again as I’ve posted several times, the increase to 67 is still ongoing until about this time next year, 22 years in total.
My main advice is to live within your means. Since I’m a conservative investor, I have zero concerns for a stock market wipeout. It will just be a glorious buying opportunity for:
SMR, OKLO, PLTR, CWEN, ET, GOGL, GOOD, QS, QYLD, NNE & hopefully promising fusion companies like Helion when they go public. I’m definitely going to get into Kairos (Google) & X-Energy (Amazon) once they go public with their new generation SMRs.
Finally, it will be interesting to see what IS done in the next 5 years to bolster the SSTF. I don’t see Trump making any inroads, although I could see him appointing “another” commission is the later half of his term, especially if he causes a recession with all of his tariffs, resulting in him losing the House, and or the Senate in 2026.
You’re living in a fantasy if you think a DEI obsessed Google will continue outperform the market.
The Google of 2025 is only a shadow of the Google of 2005.
The Marco Meier lawsuit has revealed that Google subjected male employees to a “relentless campaign” of hostility and discrimination – systematically targeting men to be fired, denying them promotions, refusing to allow them to contribute in meetings and even distributing memberships to professional organizations that only served women as Christmas gifts — a bombshell lawsuit alleges.
Actuary table show life expectancy for males at 65 is 17 years and females at 19.9 years. Neither are expected to make it to 90. There are other problems with the facts in this article. Take it with a grain of salt.
Life expectancy – by definition – is a weighted average of what real people are “expected” to reach. That means, many will die before then, but many will also live past that timeframe.
So if you are only planning financially to have enough money to make it to ‘your’ life expectancy, you’re very likely to fail financially to be prepared.
The individual is not an average.
At 65, many people know quite well that their health and genes are likely to carry them into their 90s unless they get hit by a car or an improperly vetted new medical product.
Many others at 65 will have been struggling with health issues for years and know they’ll be lucky to make it to 70.
There is no one-size-fits-all statistic.
I would rather bet that I will live to age 90 and have money left over when I die at 85 than plan to live to age 85 and live on dog food for the last five years.
The more folks that can be convinced to delay SocSec until 70, the more folks that will drop dead and the Government won’t have to pay out a dime.
Meanwhile Lisa is expected to live till 90+!
Think Val Kilmer who recently died at age 65.
Even Batman gets the blues….
That’s why I started collecting at age 62 and my husband at age 65. We have no debt. Home and auto are paid off. I’ve always been a saver and I can manage/invest my money better than the government.
Another item, most retirees expect expenses to drop in retirement – the reality is that after retiring expenses increase rather than decreasing.
We know at least 5 couples, ALL in their 80’s, who are NOT down-sizing YET and are living in 2000 plus Sq Foot Mega Homes with 5 bedrooms/3 baths or more and one of them is my Father-in-Law. HE IS BROKE by comparison to my Wife and I and he is BARELY holding on yet stubbornly refuses to sell ANYTHING.
He is lost mentally and we cannot and WILL NOT help him. We have tried and gave up. WE are not going to lend him (GIVE HIM) another Dollar. He will be homeless in less than 2 years. TOO BAD, MOFO!
i know the type. have them in my family, too. same situation in fact.
Did y’all consider getting a reverse mortgage on the house?
Everyone gets to choose how they want to go.
Many years ago worked for a fellow whose desire was to die owing at least a million dollars. In his mind that meant he lived one million better then he could have on his own earning ability.
Not my choice for living but it works for many. Just don’t outlive when the Bank calls that loan.
Actually, most retirees can expect expenses to drop in retirement, at least later on. My personal experience as a retired boomer is that spending on gas went down since the commute is gone, electricity went up since I’m home more, and over all there was little change.
Josh Scanlon has a series of YouTube videos on the topic of retirement planning for a contrary view to this article.
one thing to remember about all these Doom! articles is that they come from financial companies that want their fees from your money. The more money you have with them the more they make.
that is the truth. it’s mostly rubbish to keep people invested for fees.
We have seen an increase in expenses since retiring in 2019.
We were both working from home so nothing changed there.
But, we started doing QCDs at $12K/year.
We started vacationing once a year in Europe at a cost of $14K.
We replaced our 14-year-old car in 2022 for $52K.
We did Roth conversions and paid a fair amount in taxes for the privilege.
a 14 year old car is barely broken in, the ashtrays aren’t even full yet. I’d rather have 52k laying around, then a new car in the garage.
but to the point all those “increased expenses” were deliberate “impulse purchases” rather than cost of living expenses.
If you have a sizeable IRA that has taxable RMD payments due starting age 73, you will probably have higher tax payments due rather than lower ones.
1) No taxes on SS benefits is one thing which will put a few more dollars into pockets.
2) Am waiting to see if the person identified by DOGE as stealing then selling 400,000 SS numbers gets arrested or are they going to turn States evidence to go after those bigger fish behind all the government Fraud.
3) Retirees can do wonders with pinching pennies and making a Game of doing more with little.
4) Boomers who started out making 12-15,000 per year and being able to buy a Home and raise a family will not be able to get back those years. Governments inflation policies have made savings a losing battle.
Those who lived frugally and built hard assets will do just fine.
If there is no debt to service it takes very little to Live as long as a person is healthy.
– Those who lived frugally and built hard assets will do just fine.
If there is no debt to service it takes very little to Live as long as a person is healthy.
> While true, be careful of Home Ownership. As I found out the hard way, when trying to get a HELOC. We didn’t have enough income to support the loan, so we were denied! We had plenty of money, but not income. We are fine, and decided to forgo that avenue as we have alternate options that are a better fit.
A persons home benefits from also having some land included. Even if only 1/4 or 1/3 acre is enough to Garden.
Ones Home thus becomes part of a Low cost Retirement lifestyle.
Things being paid off means a person now have time to go argue at town hall for that extra parking sticker for town beach. lol.
As one gets older having services available close by is also helpful.
Minimizes need for autos and consequent wear and tear maintenance.
Adopting pay as one goes economic model does impose restraint.
Benefits are time is now your own to follow whatever pursuit a person desires.
I paid off our home in Feb. The payment was small, but I will save about $40K over the next 25 years. So to me it made complete sense, especially since my wife have never itemized since we married 6 years ago with grown kids. When I retire in a little over 5 years, my Fidelity Cash Management account should have a very health balance again.
Yeah rising property tax and home insurance may make living on $1 meals a bit harder.
The good news is that when the mega recession comes, housing is going to tank, pulling down property taxes along with it. Home insurance should drop a little, but not enough to get overly excited about. A more likely scenario is that the premiums level off for a while, so long as you don’t live in an area affected by major weather events.
What you miss out on is making a homemade white clam sauce over pasta.
Clams I get at low tide for the cost of a five minute drive to harbor.
Garlic, Parsley, Chives, Dill that go into sauce I grow in backyard. So that is essentially free.
Have to use olive oil and Black pepper which do not grow in my climate so that is bought. Maybe 5 cents a portion.
teaspoon or less of corn starch to thicken
Pasta I buy since do not grow grains. Too many squirrels and Raccoons take their full measure before I do.
Better then anything you can get at finest restaurants in NYC.
Clams at peak flavor right now as we come out of winter and cold water.
These are the true Quahog hard shell clam. None of that surf clam in my sauce.
Taxes you will have always as there are far too many people who will not take self responsibility.
I will have to try this dish, as it sounds wonderful. Living along the Seacoast helps with a bounty of supply.
I recently learned how to cut a chicken in half, and all the pieces up. Not difficult and I rarely buy breast now. Save money, and lots more for what I do spend.
With clams the darker shelled ones are from a more mud silt bottom.
Pale shells are from sandy bottom.
More flavor with the darker shelled ones imo.
We are getting into the real subtly of clams 🙂
I was against most of Pumps new no taxes proposals until I looked at ss contributions. Those are with after tax money so yes I think it would be fair to get at least the portion you paid in with after tax money and then maybe start paying taxes after that figure is supassed.
the best form of retirement insurance is good children or nieces and nephews who will help you if you live too long and are healthy too long and live to 100. the rest of this stuff is just standard wall street sales hooey. most old folks are just fine financially. houses paid off or in retirement villages……
In this culture which glorifies young age, I wouldn’t bet my life on my children, I’m sad to say.
i guess every situation is different. i have great adult children and a dozen plus nephews and nieces who would step up, if i asked. i don’t need them, but who knows the future. this is normal human primate behaviour. anthropology 101
I would assume they arent going to answer the phone. Just my opinion.
Normal Human Primates, are just Human Primates you don’t know very well, or so I have found on this anthropology expedition we call life..
Be a better parent (meaning act like one don’t indulge them) or friend when they need one and you will see a better adult when they are one and a good friend when you need one.
I’ve seen kids raised both leniently and strictly forget their parents in not so old age. It’s never as clear cut as you think. In this pervasively toxic culture, it’s nigh impossible to inoculate the children against it.
Mish…
“The bad news is reduced benefits will stat no later than 2035 and possibly as early as 2023 is action isn’t take.
“Trump has promised to not Touch Social Security.
“That’s a lie considering Republicans expand Social Security at a cost of $196 billion. And Trump pledged not to tax Social Security benefits and Trump
“Finally, Trump certainly has no plans to shore things up, not counting DOGE silliness regarding date errors in the system.”
[sic]
Mike Shedlock
21 hours ago
Starting now for at least 30 hours, I will be in economic limbo. I have posts scheduled, and some very good ones, but I will not be current on news including liberation day.
I am on an overnight photography trip, Reflection Canyon Utah. Unfortunately, the weather sucks, at least that is the current forecast and conditions. But the trip is on.
This means I will be very delayed in approving comments. Don’t repeat them as I won’t see them.
Some regular posters have their comments regularly go into hold. I believe ABCD is one. CzarChasmReigns and Lil’ mister are two more I am aware of. There are more. I don’t know why, but likely changing IP address.
If you don’t see your comments for over a day this is why.
PapaDave or someone, please post this as a comment on my automated Posts on Tuesday and Wednesday.
I have 3 more today and one scheduled for tomorrow morning.
Thanks
* Are you ready for retirement? Tens of millions of boomers aren’t. For the majority of baby boomers, this may mean putting off retirement, or not retiring at all:
– The Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies found that 66% of baby boomers plan to or already are working past age 65, or do not plan to retire
> I personally don’t see the % that high amongst the many Boomers I know. That could mean nothing, but I am at the tail end of the Boomers, and have been watching my older friends and family retire in droves over the past decade. Many do work, but not in large numbers past 66/67 which seems to be the magic # I am seeing. This allows for the maximum S/S take, and those that are doing so, is because they have no choice. They mostly work P/T 20-30 hours per week.
– One of the biggest misconceptions about retirement concerns Social Security. With more than half of baby boomers counting on Social Security as a primary source of income in retirement, most think they will need less, and receive more, than they actually will.
> Unfortunately for many Boomers a 401K didn’t exist, or was not utilized early on when they came about. Being at the tail end I was afforded the luxury of witnessing why that was not the case. As a result my wife and I placed the Max amount with a Company Match % in many cases. The early Boomers had no such stash earning money awaiting for them, as I did and many of the later Boomers did as well.
– Recently, the number of people taking Social Security early (age 62) has declined, but experts still believe that too many people are taking Social Security earlier than they should.
> Experts are probably much younger and will change their tune as they age. There are many factors that don’t allow for that (80’s is ridiculous). Health and mobility is at the forefront, and that saps a lot of money from the retired. Many NEED it as soon as they stop working, AND a P/T Job as well. I see them at the grocery stores, cash registers, and the younger in the Service Industry (Tips) for more money.
>> Another thing I am seeing, more now than 5-10 years ago, is the older people moving in together. Maybe after a spouse passes, or for companionship and to save money too of course. It’s gotten much more common as time passes.
Financial planning experts say that another miscalculation relates to life expectancy. Too many baby boomers do not to plan to live past 90.
>>> Past 90 is a stretch, as most do not live alone or with others that are old in their 90’s. Most would be in some sort of care facility by then. My wife and I have worked at elderly places, taking care of people, and have seen it all first hand. We just stopped doing that recently.
– If all this sounds gloomy, it could get worse, as the two entitlements boomers rely upon most heavily-Medicare and Social Security-will run out of money in 20 years if drastic action is not taken.
> I don’t see that having any chance of happening. Too many rely on it now, and are for the future. It will be saved and be better controlled moving forward I would guess.
Saying Trumps Administration has no plans to shore things up is disingenuous. First nobody knows what they are planning, as they keep it tight to the vest for a reason. This example is a perfect fit for why they do so.
As the Boomers die off, there will be a very large industry that has. Been created for them. The next generation that will need this kind of support and industry is the “Z” Gen. and they are very far away. What’s to happen to the unused infrastructure is the issue. Many will want to tear them down or convert those spaces, but they will be needed once again soon enough.
What they do here could change the future generations expectation’s quite a bit, or not much at all. This is where the errors could be made IMO. This will be the next phase of elderly care, or more lack of it, as we progress forward.
Nobody is gonna read this overly long post which rehashes what has already been said.
Many read it.
I always give a brief on what I am referring to specifically. I don’t always answer the post in its entirety, so I want to be sure the readers knows what I am referring to specifically.
I am open for debate and discussion by anyone. If people choose not to read it, so be it. They will not learn from others by discounting longer responses. Isn’t that why we are all here?
Thanks Doug!
I guess you did to provide your comment!
Full Retirement Age is 67 now. 65 is only relevant for Medicare.
So of course fewer people are retiring at 65.
I looked at all of this when I retired at 62. I will have made $165,060.00 from S/S in those 5 Years (62-67) if I chose to wait, I would have gotten $0.00. Now I may not live until 67, but I may also live to be 100. I figured I would take the 165K NOW and travel, have fun, and not worry about that.
I will be fine and would have been either way, so again, it was an easy choice. I know a lot of people in this situation and taking it early, that’s why they are talking about it. Of course they want t you to wait, as it’s the best for the S/S system to reach more people, as fewer get what they had coming to them. You can wait, my wife is doing the same as I and many we know are doing. Live while we are young, and sloooowww down afterwards!!
The latest RMD rules has pushed that age out to 73. The administration is looking to extend SSI out beyond 2032 (not 2023, I know it was a typo) by cutting fraud, checking on those under disability, that still work, etc. See the Howard Lutnick, Sec of Commerce, interview which you can find on Youtube. Smart guy.
Also:
They want us to use emergency rooms, so use emergency rooms. My friend with no insurance ended up overnighting in the hospital multiple times. “They” assume underinsurance and design their medical systems accordingly. Use them.
This is why we need single payer. Its the lesser of all evils. We have the highest per capita health care costs about double the industrialized world average and the worst health. Clearly not working. There should be a national debate about this and voted on. If we had single payer more people would also be in the workforce. As it is now if you want free obamacare your income musts be below a certain threshold.
Fred: 65 years and over in the labor force: 23.2%. Mish chart: 77% of the boomers own a house. Many mortgage free or with some monthly crumbs. This article encourage the elderly to work forever to save the gov transfer money and to collect ss benefits from them as long as they can. The retirement range: between 62 and 70. Life expectancy is down. Deflation chewed up COLA. Option #1: accumulate smaller transfer benefits for extra 8 years, which is half of men expiration date at age 78. Option #2: collect the max for 8 years less and pay the gov ss taxes until retirement. The boomers biggest problem: the zoomers don’t want to buy your houses. In the next two decades at least 50 millions houses will pour in looking for buyers/tenants during the glut.
more red please.
No.You get a green and don’t complain!
U pay half SS taxes at any age if your annual income is between 25K and 34K. If your income is over 34K u pay up to 85%. This also apply to people over 70 years.
Since I am retired I propose that we increase SS taxes, increase SS payments and make GenXers to cut my lawn for free.
When Trump takes Canada we can take Canadian slaves to work in chicken plants, harvest crops and cut my grass. Tariffs can pay for their upkeep!
you don’t want to see what you lawn looks like when the GenXers, can’t put down their phones long enough to cut a straight line.
(gotta update my facebook -“mowing lawn”)
One can always be made into Soylent Green.
I find Soylent Blue less chewy and more healthy, but the Soylent Red is nice for a change of pace.
Did you know that married men usually die first. The reason is that they want to.
OK, none of this is new information. So what is to be done about it?
I’ve got two ideas:
One and two could also be combined so that someone choosing to check out, could arrange for their organs/parts to be sold and the receipts used to pay off estate debt and/or bequeath the proceeds to their heir(s) or family.
End-of life care is horribly expensive. My parents are 102 years old and I see how crippling the cost is. Fortunately they have assets to cover it but for those with few assets I don’t see how they can. Seeing this changes my view on aging “gracefully”. It doesn’t exist. My siblings and I have come to the conclusion that it is way better to die in a massive heart attack while eating ribs smothered in barbeque sauce than to go into end-of-life care.
u got a green
Frustrated I can’t give you a couple of dozen thumbs up.
You are paying end of life care cause YOU arent providing end of life care 🙂
They set it up so their assets pay for their end-of-life care so their kids don’t have to pay it. We moved them to a nice place 5 minutes from a group of their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. They get daily visits.
That’s Awesome!!
We are selling our home (own it) when we choose to move into an independent/assisted/care facility, and can just move along as we age, but stay put. For the same exact reason!
assisted care is a medical prison, I hope to keel over in my garden, when my use by date arrives.
It’s very rewarding psychologically to collect benefits for all those years. We all need something to live for!
For me, it’s split-king-crab legs. 6-9 class, rather than ribs.
I can think of one better way.
Or you can go to Switzerland and take advantage of the Sarco suicide pod.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13885937/amp/Inside-Sarco-pod-suicide-woman-immediately-pressed-button-lay-looked-trees-sky-lost-consciousness-two-minutes-died-five.html
Is that combined age? [lol]
That’s the 51st State.
Don’t have any organs to sell, but do have a few guitars and a few flutes.
Everybody has organs that can be bartered for cash!
Organs and pianos, they’re all midi nowadays, much lighter to transport and works on 5 volts. an you can buy as many octaves as you can use. Much easier to store on a shelf or in the closet. The future did bring one or two improvements for musicians and the people that tolerate them…..
3. Be turned into Soylent Green.
Articles like this have always confused me. They never define “savings”. Does savings mean cash in a bank account? Or does it mean assets more broadly? Liquid assets? Investable assets? Does it include equity in your house(s)? Does it include your Gold Eagles? Does it include your stocks and bonds?
The first rule of Fight Club, you don’t talk about Gold Eagles (or MREs).
It does not include the precious metals that were lost when the canoe overturned.
Or the cash that simply disappeared during that weekend in Las Vegas.
For medical purposes only.
savings means diversity, some cash, some money in the bank, some stocks, some bonds, some land, some silver, some gold, some fine barter goods should the SHTF, a vehicle or two though a declining asset, can become an investment if held long enough to become valuable.
and of course the best investment you can make is becoming and staying in healthy condition, fore without good health all else is merely useless.
Tomorrow is liberation day. We are all gonna be so rich.
WIll this be when we receive the $5k checks each from DOGE realized savings?
I prefer them to pay down debt before that.
That is UNAMERICAN! It’s every person for themselves here. How else are you going ot have a chance to become a billionaire?
The only person receiving a DOGE check will be Netanyahu.
right after Trump is elected to a third term.
Lack of sufficient retirement savings is the real root of the US external deficit, which, by definition, is the difference between US savings and investments. All those economic illiterates in this country, including the president, that keep claiming that the large external deficit is a clear sign that other countries are ripping the US off should try to get a modicum of economic education.
John Mauldin had a great article covering this. Suprised more economists/politicians don’t know thisl
I’m retiring at 60. I don’t know how long i will live but I can live on so little it doesn’t really matter. Of course kids are a different story and most people’s biggest expense is their kids.
Percentage of parents financially supporting adult children reaches a three-year high
By Beth Klongpayabal
Last Updated: March 21, 2025
The average amount these parents give also reached a three-year high at $1,474/month, but 40% plan to cut off funds in the next two years.
Let’s face it—adulting is expensive these days. With economic pressures hitting younger generations hard, more and more adult Americans are turning to an age-old financial institution: their parents.
For our fourth annual report, we surveyed 1,000 parents of adult children. We wanted to know how much money flows from parents to grown kids, what they’re spending it on, how this affects their financial health, and how far the “Bank of Mom & Dad” is willing to go to keep their adult offspring afloat.
Key Findings:
• Half of parents with adult children provide regular financial assistance to their grown offspring. The average support per adult child is $1,474 monthly, about 6% higher than last year.
• 83% of supporting parents contribute to their adult kids’ monthly groceries; 65% help with cell phones, and nearly half (46%) pay for vacations.
• More than three-quarters (77%) of supportive parents attach conditions to their financial assistance. 23% give money without any conditions.
• Nearly 50 percent of parents have sacrificed their financial security to help their grown kids financially, and most supporting parents feel obligated to help their kids with money.
• Working parents who support grown kids contribute over 2X more money each month to their adult children than they do to retirement funds.
Half of all parents with children 18+ provide them with financial support in 2025 !!
…
https://www.savings.com/insights/financial-support-for-adult-children-study
Many “kids” over 18 are in college full time. Of course many parents support and have supported their children in college. This article would have merit if it focused only on the adults being maintained by their parents past the age of 25. Otherwise, its mere propaganda.
Ya really gotta admire the 46% paying for the kids vacations.
Minding the essential cash flows is what’s important.
So you can move while they are away.
Assuming the kids are going to inherit anyway, why not? Just let them know the money is coming from their inheritance.
“With economic pressure hitting young people hard.” Do you mean things like uber, starbucks and door dash? Their economic priorities are horrible. Although my son lives in NYC and has wondered how some of his acquaintances can afford their rents, he has found out many of them get parental help. I do not even though his rent is 4000k for a studio. He makes enough but if he didn’t I would tell him to come home.
Trump will solve everything. I was told this and the greatest time ever is coming.
I am not here to proof the post but wish to clarify that the Required Minimum Distribution, under current law, begins at 73 for those who turn 72 after 12/31/22. It was previously age 70 for everyone but was pushed out under the Biden era SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022.
I’ve been doing a lot of research in preparation for taking medicare at 65 and determining when to start taking SS. I think some people don’t fully appreciate that the earnings threshold in retirement before SS is taxable income at the federal level is quite low and also not indexed to inflation. So federal tax will come out for a large segment of the population. Also, Medicare B and D is not free. That cost is deducted from your SS at age 65. And then for those that have higher incomes, but not all that high in retirement, there is the IRMAA penalty (Income Related Monthly Adjustment) that is an add-on to both Medicare B and D for higher earners. But again, it’s not that high. I modeled what would be my after tax SS payout if I was to start to collecting at 65 and based on my retirement income, I would be exposed to federal tax on 85% of my SS; be subject to an IRMAA penalty, and of course have the Medicare part B and D deduction. Based on this, my SS net would be about $800 less than the SS gross. My state does not tax SS (at least not yet). I am not complaining here but just calling out that there is, in many cases, a big difference in your SS gross amount assumptions and your actual post tax, post IRMAA penalty actual.
I think the RMD age keeps getting raised because so many are working to age 70 and beyond.
That’s correct. The article has a lot of incorrect facts
Same here. Between me and wife IRMAA reduce our SS over $10k a year and incuding Medicare supplement we pay $20k/ yr – more for health insurance than when we worked.
The IRMAA penalty (Income Related Monthly Adjustment) doesn’t apply to me and my wife, so we pay much less for Medicare, even with part G, than what I did in retirement before Medicare. Good for you that you saved and invested good enough that you fall into this category, I am not saying it is right, you worked hard for your savings. I just tell my kids don’t invest the way I did and tell them my mistakes, so far they are doing great. If I had been more conservative we would probably been paying the IRMAA too. Oh well. Life is good, as is God.
If you are on Medicare but not on SS you get a bill for $555 every three months to pay your Medicare Part B. My part D is covered by a zero cost Medicare Advantage plan which is mostly useless otherwise, but my health is good so it’s not a concern.
Nobody is prepared. One major illness and that’s a wrap. Nobody can afford it unless you are Steve Jobs and he died a young man despite all his money so who gives a %$#$.Seriously.
Many are prepared, just not most. Most of my friends all have 8 figure net worth. They will be fine
There’s no amount of money that can cure a terminal disease
Fiat money is a terminal disease.
hence the term “Terminal” – nothing can cure it.
who cares about your friends. they are probably scared to get old, and sick and die, anyway. the human condition for most.
Yep. Pancreatic cancer is a finisher. Others are bowel and other cancers to critical organs. The human body is amazing but fragile.
A garbage fluff piece article. How much you need to retire on is wildly different depending on where you live and how you live. A person who owns their own home in a low cost, low tax rural county and has a vegetable patch and has life skills such as being able to service their car and cook nice budget meals needs a fraction of what someone who rents a big city apartment and eats out or gets Uber Eats as they can’t cook.
Does the fact that (of course) everyone’s situation can be a little different make it a “garbage fluff piece article?”
I think not.
I doubt many know how to service today’s cars with all the electronics and computer chips and it takes expensive equipment to evaluate, unless you drive a car from the 70s
laptop computer, some software, some cables, those built in diagnostics save a lot of trouble shooting.
there just cars with computers and feedback sensor loops.. but still just cars underneath all that expensive junk.
It gets awfully difficult doing all of that for the average person past 70 years old whose joints may not be working right, has various ailments and takes a handful of drugs for those ailments, doesn’t have the strength they once had, etc.
be self sufficient. own mines and pastures. build your own vehicles from your own factory. or do as i do, don’t own a car and just walk everywhere. i make my own sneakers too. /sarc
LOL!!
You live an amazing life, Neal. Living off the land hasnt been in vogue since the chuckwagons went across. You apparently have never had a surprise financial situation in your life (and your car is a 1960s pickup), or you just shot a bear to fix it.
The problem comes when a person cannot walk. A LOT of people reach that state, and then they are in real trouble if they don’t have a tons money to hire help. You can have spent decades growing turnips and servicing your car, but once you can’t walk that is that; you are dependent and your money will almost immediately disappear and you will go on Medicaid and end up in a ghastly facility (if you are lucky). It is odd that so many people think they will never be in that condition, when it is so common. They have a fantasy of being independent to the end.
Mitachondria are important, take care of them, and they will take care of you.
I didn’t know what an RMD was, until last year, LOL. And I have to start taking them this year from my paltry retirement savings.
You have to take them and pay the taxes. You do not have to spend the remainder though. Just reinvest them, but probably not in long term bonds.
Massive understatement.
There are two gangs of baby boomers. Born between 1946 and 64, the oldest boomers were the first borns in their family, and they tended to be somewhat self-driven. Most of your astronauts, engineers and business owners were first borns. They are now approaching 80 and if THEY were not ready for retirement, you can bet we would have heard it loud and clear. The bigger problem is with the last borns (born closer to 1964 — peaked in 1957-1959) who tended to be the creatives — the artists, actors and musicians. Because of their chosen lines of work, the later borns didnt make much money and didnt save enough. They are the ones that are the biggest part of MAGA — deep in debt and desperate, with no pensions, not enough company stock and forced to get benefits at 62. THEY are the ones most in trouble. The first half did just fine.
So the Baby Boomer generation turned out just like Julius and Vincent in the 1990 movie Twins?
This is a stupid projection.
Heh?
Just waiting for the maga boomers to be all on board with their social security benefits to be taken from them…precious they are.
As long as there is work there will be Social Security. What DOGE wants to do is make it impossible to TALK to SS.
Agree
The IRS achieved their goal of not talking to average taxpayers years ago. Social Security is not far behind. Fortunately, my Congressman’s office has been more helpful.
No one is going to take all their social security benefits away. Where do people comebup with such nonsense
Only nonsense to people that haven’t been paying attention. Sam.
Paranoia and fear are powerful control mechanisms, in a country of millions, there will never be enough people to control the population, it must be done through media manipulation via tv and internet. Surely you must have noticed this by now…
see Edward Bernays for the early skeleton being built of the control state.
We have the money to buy the robots that will keep you young folk in line.
young folks will line up for a robot to keep them in line. they enjoying buying premium apple tracking personal tracking devices, they have been well indoctrinated into the magic of tech.
Early borns got a grip on things before 1971 and currancy debasement. Later borns suffered from a financialized economy rather than a productive economy. Much more scheming since 1971. Some groups are good at scheming , others not so much.
We have to thank LBJ for running things into the ground with the debt of the Vietnam war which resulted in elimination of the Gold standard.
Of course looking back it was all by design.
a single bullet in Dallas changed the world forever.
Generation Jones, yes, it’s real, you can look it up.
Doesn’t sound like RMD’s will be much of a problem, really.
Financial experts can’t even get the correct age for when RMDs must commence.
I could retire, but at 80, what would I do?
Work on your break dancing. Take up the harp. Learn Finnish. Teach swimming lessons to little kids.
Watch porn all day and wish you were younger?
Retirement means doing what ever the eff helps you get out of bed in the morning!!!
High libido 75 year old wife helps, let me tell you!
Unicorns exist!
AKA mythical creatures…
Certainly not in great numbers.
I HAVE to do what you think is appropriate Retirement behavior?
Makes all kine morons to make this lava filled orb to turn, I’ve been witnessing and tried to deny humans of three genders, maybe more genders, no final count , yet.
Unless you are are a TDS sufferer, could be 17 genders.
Sorry, I forgot that the potus knows of only two.
That is where I stand, two genders only, even though my empirical science has witnessed four, minimum, ok, three and a half, but only two?
You geniuses need to get out more.
I’m just suggesting you, uh, get out more.
Gender bending is a natural thing.
Unlike global change climate warming which is definitely man made!
Wait, man is part of nature so nature made is same as man made, man is part of nature?
Man is from the natural world?
You bozos believe in aliens from some other galaxy. Universe. Worm hole?
No man is not part of nature, separate and better.
Unless man made climate warming global change, oops…
Bunch of high IQ MORONS hanging out with the economists!
Oh, wait, that didn’t come out right.
Sounded like a contradiction of terms.
Irondoor indeed…
Read all those books you wanted to read but never had the time before.
the days will fill themselves if you let them. You do the things you want to do, and the things you must do, and you let the rest fall away.
Gardening, music, literature, films a daily walk, an enjoyable conversation, write a novel or a diary. Cook new meals, create new recipes. The world is your oyster, find the pearl. build a necklace. One day your chance will be gone.
The RMD age has been extended by several years in the past few years.