Even with the Dow hitting all-time highs, look at why so many Americans are worried so much about retirement.
November 27 (King World News) – Gerald Celente: To be considered financially successful, a person needs an annual salary of $270,000 or else a net worth of $5.3 million, according to the majority of the 2,203 people in a new survey by Empower, a financial services company.
By that standard, most of us are failures.
In 2023, the average U.S. salary was around $67,000, according to the Social Security Administration. In this year’s second quarter, the mean balance in Fidelity Investments’ 401(k) accounts was $127,100.
Equity in a home can boost net worth considerably, but most homes are worth less than $3 million or $4 million, still leaving most of us short of what survey respondents consider successful.
Fewer than four in 10 respondents think of themselves as financially successful. Among men, 42 percent believe themselves to be; only 33 percent of women say they are…
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Almost half of the people queried do not expect to achieve the level of financial success they would like. The chief reasons: too little savings and adverse economic conditions were the obstacles cited by 35 percent of respondents. Thirty percent said their incomes were either too small or too irregular.
Still, 43 percent of people surveyed said they do not define success by a specific financial figure.
Almost 60 percent said the most important measure of success is happiness, which the survey defined as “being able to spend money on the things and experiences that bring the most joy.”
That metric still ties happiness to a comfortable income.
More than a third said health and free time also were crucial markers of success.
TREND FORECAST:
With retirement savings averaging less than two years of a comfortable middle-class income, retirees face stark choices, as we detailed in “Bye Bye Boomers” (11 Dec 2018) and “Americans Think They Need $1.3 Million to Retire Comfortably, Study Finds” (5 Jul 2023).
The Great Recession and Panic of ’08, and now post-COVID inflation and high interest rates, have left millions of elders bereft of the resources needed for a comfortable retirement: in 2023, Bloomberg polled 553 individual investors who estimated they would need $3 million to $5 million to fund a comfortable retirement—23 to almost 40 times more than the average that Fidelity’s 401(k) savers have amassed toward that goal.
As a result, many will cling to their current jobs, blocking career paths for the generations behind them.
Some elders will be able to launch encore careers for pocket money, making pottery or small-batch specialty foods, teaching in vocational centers, styling hair, or pursuing other skills that interest them.
Those less fortunate will be forced to move in with their children or relatives or with each other, forming new family-like groups aimed at sharing costs and mutual care. The trend of house-sharing among elders already is on the increase.
For too many, years of eating the sugar-laden Standard American Diet of factory food and unhealthy fats is resulting in failing health, another factor draining money from retirement savings.
Ultimately, greater demands will be made on governments for various forms of aid, such as expanding Medicare and Social Security benefits, subsidized housing, and other forms of support.
In 1940, there were 42 workers supporting one retired Social Security recipient; today, the ratio is three to one, according to the U.S. Social Security Administration. By 2050, unless the program is overhauled, the ratio will be two workers supporting one retired person.
This growing list of demands on public funds will ripple through already precariously strained government budgets, forcing hard decisions about the allocation of taxpayer funds and the limits of tax-supported borrowing.
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