Summarizing:
1) Illegal Aliens at 30,000,000 are almost all working age and send all excess cash back to their families in their home country. $0 in savings.
2) School Debt: Virtually nobody with college debt should have retirement savings. Their financial priority should be paying off their debt. $0 in savings.
3) The Profligate: Some fraction of people are wired to spend everything and more all of the time. There is no saving these people that does not involve theft from the thrifty. Let their penury in retirement be a warning to others. $0 in savings.
4) Preppers: They buy beans, rice and lead. $0 in savings. ;-)
5) Future Trust Funders: They know they get a lump sum in the millions, so why bother? $0 in savings.
Etc.
Sadly for THEM (not me, unless they later steal mine), The Profligate are probably the largest bunch. Tough Shiite.
6) Small Holding Landlords: They plow every last red cent into their buildings, the future rents from which they can live on forever. $0 in savings.
7) Entrepreneurs and Business Owners: See #6, but with a different form of business. Like farming massively valuable dirt, which when sold represent the retirement savings.
8) Some Homeowners: Some people weirdly put all their money into the most lavish home they can afford with all their cash. This is perhaps not a wise long term investment compared to stocks, but it does tend to keep up with the rate of inflation. When you retire penniless with a $1.5M house, you are not poor. You can trade out of that house and live well for a solid decade or more.
(To be continued by me and others who wish to chime in…)
“Some fraction of people are wired to spend everything and more all of the time.”
Sounds like politicians!