Why ‘work longer’ isn’t great retirement advice


Olde Hornet

Well-Known Member
Interesting read

Why ‘work longer’ isn’t great retirement advice​



Financial planners typically advise people to work for as long as they can in order to juice up their retirement savings while holding out for a fatter Social Security check.

But such advice presumes that people have the luxury of deciding when to stop working. Tens of millions of Americans don’t.

Here’s the truth: The idea of retiring early — or even at full retirement age — is little more than a joke for those tens of millions. Retire on what? Most folks have a fraction of the assets they’ll need. And pensions? Unless you work for the government — state, local or federal — chances are you don’t have one.

It’s things like the decadeslong trend of companies shifting the financing of retirement off their own balance sheets and making it the responsibility of their workers that mean millions of people have to keep working whether they want to or not. But as the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan think tank, notes in a report, “Many face barriers to working longer and lack access to decent jobs with decent pay. Older workers who cannot afford to retire often face diminishing job quality and earnings as a result of loss of bargaining power.”

It’s a painful Catch-22.

The Federal Reserve said in a 2020 report that white families have the highest level of both median and mean family wealth: $188,200 and $983,400, respectively. Median — which means half have more and half have less — is the key figure here: Using the often-recommended 4% withdrawal rule, a person with $188,000 would have about $7,500 each year to live on. That’s a paltry $625 per month before taxes.

Think that’s bad? Now consider the Fed’s data on Hispanic and Black families. The median wealth for Hispanic families is $36,100, while for Black families it is a meager $24,100.
 
Click here to visit HBCUSportsStore
Interesting read

Why ‘work longer’ isn’t great retirement advice​



Financial planners typically advise people to work for as long as they can in order to juice up their retirement savings while holding out for a fatter Social Security check.

But such advice presumes that people have the luxury of deciding when to stop working. Tens of millions of Americans don’t.

Here’s the truth: The idea of retiring early — or even at full retirement age — is little more than a joke for those tens of millions. Retire on what? Most folks have a fraction of the assets they’ll need. And pensions? Unless you work for the government — state, local or federal — chances are you don’t have one.

It’s things like the decadeslong trend of companies shifting the financing of retirement off their own balance sheets and making it the responsibility of their workers that mean millions of people have to keep working whether they want to or not. But as the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan think tank, notes in a report, “Many face barriers to working longer and lack access to decent jobs with decent pay. Older workers who cannot afford to retire often face diminishing job quality and earnings as a result of loss of bargaining power.”

It’s a painful Catch-22.

The Federal Reserve said in a 2020 report that white families have the highest level of both median and mean family wealth: $188,200 and $983,400, respectively. Median — which means half have more and half have less — is the key figure here: Using the often-recommended 4% withdrawal rule, a person with $188,000 would have about $7,500 each year to live on. That’s a paltry $625 per month before taxes.

Think that’s bad? Now consider the Fed’s data on Hispanic and Black families. The median wealth for Hispanic families is $36,100, while for Black families it is a meager $24,100.
You are so right, this commercial is funny but not funny at the same time this is so many Americans story

 
Unless you come from generational wealth you gotta do what you gotta do. Unfortunately many of us spend our 20's getting things we never had. When we get to our 30's we're paying off that debt. By 40 we've figured it out and are heading in the correct direction. So at 50 we finally got a lil money and we weigh out how much more we need or try to help the kids or really helping our parents who struggled so that we can have something.
 
Unless you come from generational wealth you gotta do what you gotta do. Unfortunately many of us spend our 20's getting things we never had. When we get to our 30's we're paying off that debt. By 40 we've figured it out and are heading in the correct direction. So at 50 we finally got a lil money and we weigh out how much more we need or try to help the kids or really helping our parents who struggled so that we can have something.
You didn't have to put all my business in the streets.
 
Last edited:
I gotta be honest. You were spot on. That is exactly what happened to me. I overspent and did stupid stuff in my 20's. I spent my 30's correcting those mistakes. My 40's and 50's was when I started looking ahead and preparing for my retirement in my 60's.
According to must retirement studies, your habits were in line with the average American citizen. Americans magically get an epiphany about retirement at or around forty-two years of age.
 
Interesting read

Why ‘work longer’ isn’t great retirement advice​



Financial planners typically advise people to work for as long as they can in order to juice up their retirement savings while holding out for a fatter Social Security check.

But such advice presumes that people have the luxury of deciding when to stop working. Tens of millions of Americans don’t.

Here’s the truth: The idea of retiring early — or even at full retirement age — is little more than a joke for those tens of millions. Retire on what? Most folks have a fraction of the assets they’ll need. And pensions? Unless you work for the government — state, local or federal — chances are you don’t have one.

It’s things like the decadeslong trend of companies shifting the financing of retirement off their own balance sheets and making it the responsibility of their workers that mean millions of people have to keep working whether they want to or not. But as the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan think tank, notes in a report, “Many face barriers to working longer and lack access to decent jobs with decent pay. Older workers who cannot afford to retire often face diminishing job quality and earnings as a result of loss of bargaining power.”

It’s a painful Catch-22.

The Federal Reserve said in a 2020 report that white families have the highest level of both median and mean family wealth: $188,200 and $983,400, respectively. Median — which means half have more and half have less — is the key figure here: Using the often-recommended 4% withdrawal rule, a person with $188,000 would have about $7,500 each year to live on. That’s a paltry $625 per month before taxes.

Think that’s bad? Now consider the Fed’s data on Hispanic and Black families. The median wealth for Hispanic families is $36,100, while for Black families it is a meager $24,100.

I guess we can figure where some folk's money is ending up in who's hands.
 
Back
Top