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From what I read, many if not the great majority, of HD readers are the exception to much of this dilemma.
The responsibility for retirement income has steadily shifted to individuals and away from employers (unless you work for government), but far too few workers have accepted that responsibility. Longterm thinking does not seem a widespread skill. I find this information a bit depressing. How do we change the situation?
Frankly I don’t know, but if we don’t make changes- if individuals don’t make changes in their financial behavior and if we don’t do better for those with inadequate means to fend for themselves, there will be adverse economic consequences as society continues to age. In my view anyway.
Hey, we need more Americans reading HumbleDollar and the reality it’s writers bring to personal finance. 🤑
Fact: most workers don’t stay with one employer long enough to get any value from a pension plan. The median job tenure is about 4 years, a bit longer in the public sector.
Fact: the peak for workers pensions in the private sector was about 50% in the 1970s. However, far less actually received a pension because they left the job before vesting or the receive a minimal deferred annuity at age 65 if they were vested. Today about 15% of private sector workers have a defined benefit pension, but short job tenure still means they most receive little value.
Fact: Today more workers have an employer-based retirement plan than ever before, just not a defined benefit pension. About 65–70% of private-sector workers have access to a retirement plan (401k and the like), the bad news, roughly 50–55% actually participate.
Fact: workers in their 50s have an average 401k balance of $246,700 – $270,000 and a median of $85,000 – $95,000.
Workers in their 60s have an average of $269,100 – $280,000 and median of $88,000 – $90,000.
Neither are going to provide much of a retirement.
Fact: 40% of retirees get 50% or more of their income from Social Security 15–20% of retirees rely on it for 90% or more of their income.
Unfortunately, for decades we haven’t been able to come to grips with changes necessary to keep Social Security sustainable.
Yes, agree completely that Individuals need to take responsibility and not depend on institutions to think about them. I am appalled by the lack of fiscal discipline and the waste that is going on in our Federal, State and County run organizations. Individuals can do better with some discipline and following Humble Dollar writers suggestions.
I agree that personal responsibility matters, but it’s incomplete to say waste exists only in government. Corporate greed and private‑sector failures also impose enormous costs on taxpayers and communities.
We’ve all seen examples: corporations taking subsidies, bailouts and tax breaks while delivering little in return, companies offloading environmental cleanup costs onto the public, or private contractors charging inflated rates for basic services. Those are forms of waste too.
Yes, individuals need to be more proactive in retirement savings, and government agencies absolutely need stronger fiscal discipline. But we can’t pretend the private sector is automatically efficient or virtuous. Waste, mismanagement, and lack of accountability exist in both arenas, and taxpayers end up paying for failures on either side.
What do you mean by corporate greed? If corporations take (legal) actions to maximize profits who benefits?
The answer is shareholders which includes pension funds, IRAs, 401k and individual investors.
If corporations did not have increasing revenues and profits nobody would be able to retire.
A few examples of greed come to mind. Wells Fargo, about a decade ago, pushed employees into an aggressive sales culture that led to millions of unauthorized accounts, forged signatures, and inflated performance numbers. En