unless you're a big shot lawyer or doctor or have a "pat" govt job, contributing to your retirement under age 24 is very unrealistic for our young people...they just don't have the money for it and the cost of EVERYTHING is very high....
8% is completely plausible over a 20 to 30 year period.
The S&P 500 has averaged 10.4% annually over the last 80 years.
A diversified portfolio of large cap, small cap, international, some bonds, etc. could EASILY average 8%, through good times and bad.
“Shockingly, only 18 percent of workers under 24, and just 38 percent of workers under 35, contribute to employer-sponsored retirement accounts even when they are available.”
And how many of those withdraw even that when they switch jobs, just to pay down the debts they’ve accrued?
I don’t know anyone that has been able to save this way without any withdrawal, and I certainly don’t know anyone saving since they were 24...except, of course, the people that have been in the same government job since they graduated from high school. The economy isn’t that steady, and most people switch jobs too often these days, to accrue that kind of savings. Add in paying for divorces and crippling student loans and you have a generation that will be worse off than the previous one for the first time in American history.
“”average” of 8%???....I think that is pie in the sky for most people....if 8% is achieved,”
8% is very conservative. It is actually realistic to expect an average of 12% in a growth fund.