Posted on 02/22/2026 7:24:36 PM PST by Libloather
How's this for a somber retirement forecast: The typical American worker has less than $1,000 saved for retirement, according to a new report from the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS).
"The data are clear: Outside of high earners, Americans are choosing survival over savings and hoping to catch up later," NIRS executive director Dan Doonan told Yahoo Finance. "Even for those approaching retirement age — 55-to-64-year-olds — the median amount saved for retirement is only $30,000. We're looking at a looming crisis. These aren't just statistics — they represent millions of families who are doing everything right but still can't get ahead."
The report analyzes workers with 401(k) and other retirement plan savings, as well as the millions of US workers who lack access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan.
The median savings — half have saved more and half have saved less — for all employed adults ages 21 to 64 tallied $955, per the nonpartisan group, which analyzed data from the US Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Program Participation.
Employer plans are a difference-maker
When you look exclusively at Americans enrolled in an employer-provided retirement plan, the numbers are more encouraging.
In Fidelity's 26,000 defined-contribution plans at companies across the country, covering 24.8 million participants, account balances last year clocked in at record highs, with an average 401(k) balance of $144,400 and an average IRA account balance of $137,902.
For these folks, the average 401(k) savings rate was 9.5%, and the average employer contribution rate was 4.7%, bringing the combined employee and employer 401(k) contributions to a record high of 14.2%. Fidelity's suggested savings rate is 15%.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
From the excerpt:
“...for all employed adults ages 21 to 64 tallied $955...”
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At age 21 it is not surprising.
At age 64 it is worrisome.
Averages like that across ages is not meaningful.
“Even for those approaching retirement age — 55-to-64-year-olds — the median amount saved for retirement is only $30,000”
But that statement is informative. Ouch.
Dimes? :-)
-PJ
Just buy TQQQ or SPXL. You can do an awful lot in about 15 years. If you have 30 years you will have 10 million.
Anyone who has a 401k option available can put at least a little in, and usually get an employer match. keep doing it and in 30 years yes it will make a difference. The problem is that we have a couple of generations who never learned the virtue of delayed gratification.
Not to mention a big part of business and economics is dedicated to infantilizing people for profit.
I made sure my son put away 10-20% of his earnings from his first real job at 18 - overnight worker at an Amazon warehouse during the height of Covid. He has been doing it at every job since, and already has over $60k in his IRA age 23. Other kids also listened and are following suit.
I sure wish I had.
If you are rich you cant live like you are. You become a walking target for ambulance chasing lawyers and career faker clients.
500 or so lottery tickets!
Too old soon, too late smart. I tell kids to do this all the time. I give them my little talk on the difference between saving, investing and trading. I also tell them that trading is more of a game than anything and the hand has already been played on Wall Street before your cards are even dealt.
In just about any 10 year period for the last 120 years an S&P investment has been positive. It usually takes three years and 33% in gains to dig out of a 25% correction.
I also tell them that the stock you bought 30 years ago that pays a dividend is paying out several times the rate it did when you bought. John D. Rockefeller said dividends were the greatest investment he had. Beware though, even the Generals have sometimes failed; General Motors, General Electric, etc. Dividend Aristocrats usually stay around for a long time. They aren’t glamorous but they are steady.
I taught my children to live below their means and save the difference. That is what we did and we came out well.
An absolutely true statement. Stay off the radar screen not just low on it. If you splurge do it privately. Nails that stick up get hammered down.
I was oilfield making great amounts of money as a consultant on the rigs. I spent half wildly and oddly as opposed to most saved half. The wildly half was fun, my airplane and great vacations then 1983 happened. The oilfield crashed and burned and the consultants were the first laid off as we were making the big bucks. Sat on my ass of 6 months and realized it was over. My phone stopped ringing with job offers.
Sold my house, sold my airplane and went back to school again and this time a boring pharmacist. Due to my former degree in geology and taking much chemistry as electives my time to degree was only 2-1/2 years. From zero it is a minimal of 5 years, most take 6 years.
Pharmacy has been good to me in the extreme. I will always miss the oilfield. “Once you have heard the rattle of the spinning chain and thrown it, you are oilfield.” Later you may become many great things, but you are still oilfield.
Forgot to add this, my friend in pharmacy school had a degree in biology but was a pipeline welder as his dad got him the job that paid much more than he could have made as a biology teacher. He made good choices. When the oilfield collapsed he as I went back to school. We were mid 30s or a bit older.
He didn’t say that, but compound interest can be a terrible beast or work for one.
You nailed it, without Jesus it’s all hopeless.
Dangerous game. It can all be gone in an instant. Hard assets are the game.
It’s good they’re being financially literate though. The biggest thing would be to put God first and he will provide.
If you drop your address in my mail, when I plan the next trip south, I’ll come by and drop off a horse or a cow, that should be worth a few thousand. At the very least I can come for a coffee and you can charge me a few hundred for it heh.
It’ll just be my little way of saying thanks for all the years of paying for my country’s security during the cold war.
Forgot to add this, my friend in pharmacy school had a degree in biology but was a pipeline welder as his dad got him the job that paid much more than he could have made as a biology teacher. He made good choices. When the oilfield collapsed he as I went back to school. We were mid 30s or a bit older.
Taxes on the middle class are abhorrent.
The low producers and the elite pay NOTHING.
I’m glad my time here on Earth is coming to a close.
Screw the damn Congress and the banks, et al.
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