Avoid Becoming One of These Six Retirement Statistics

Every once in awhile we stumble across some statistics. And you know this recent one that I came across and it was kind of a survey that compiled a bunch of statistics came from the Fed. And really it was very interesting because it outlined six unpleasant statistics for retirees. And so I kind of want to go over those with you today to inform you on them and then also kind of try to help you avoid being one of those statistics. So first, number one and this is more just background information for you. But it was covering the average Social Security benefit. So the average Social Security benefit for 2023 amounted to about $22K per year. So I want you to think about that. You know, if you’re approaching retirement or maybe you’ve got a few years out before retirement. You know, a lot of people think that Social Security should be a huge part of your retirement plan. Well think about it. Can you make $22K a year work for your situation? For a lot of people, that’s just not enough. So you can’t solely live on Social Security alone. So you got to have something else, right? Well number two, more than one in four working adults are not contributing to retirement accounts. Isn’t that just crazy? So the actual stat was 28% of those working adults aren’t saving for retirement, don’t have that retirement account. But what really blew my mind and this is number three, is that nearly 50% of millennials and get this 92% of GenZers don’t have a retirement account, whatsoever, okay? Isn’t that just wild? Now the Fed did do kind of an explanation there on reasons why these generations aren’t really saving for retirement. And the big one, the first one is those rising costs, okay? Obviously with inflation being so high, everything is costing more. And for the younger folks, having the extra dollar to put away in the retirement accounts is very hard to come by, right? Another one is the younger couples. Well, they’re having children, right? So the added cost to bring a child into the world, doesn’t allow for a lot in savings. But I would encourage you, even if it’s $50 a month, something that you think is way too small to even make a difference, well get started. Because I think that’s oftentimes the first hurdle is just getting started, just getting invested. And so I encourage you, stash away whatever you can because the earlier you start, the magic of compounding interest is just unbelievable. If you can continue to do that, year over year over year for 20, 30, 40 years until you retire, you’d be really surprised at what you actually have when you retire. Number four, 38% of Americans are not in the stock market, which I thought that was very interesting as well. I mean yes, it can be very volatile. But when you go back and look at history, for an example the S&P500, you go back 95 years. If you average the annualized rate of return, it amounts to 11.5%. So yeah, one of the main concerns is the volatility. But typically that’s just short-term in the market. So you should be investing in the market, but for the long-term. And hopefully in the long run you’ll end up ahead. Number five, nearly 70% of Americans aren’t on track with retirement. Isn’t that just crazy, that number? 70%. Now what they did find was as you increase in age, those stats kind of change a little bit. So those over 60, do feel a lot better about their retirement compared to the younger generations. So kind of self explanatory there. And then number six, many retirees without private income, report struggling financially. So this is hey, we’ve got so many people, about 53% that are living on just Social Security alone. Now they might be working, they have a job or so forth. But if you don’t have that extra income, whether it be from a retirement account, a part-time job or a pension, living on Social Security alone can be very, very difficult. So I encourage you, plan for retirement, right? Get things in place. Start investing and work on different income sources so that you can plan to retire well.