nottelling ,

I’m in a similar place to you, and I’ve resigned to it being an impossible feat. I’m pretty close to the number for 40, but the curve is flattening. There’s no way I retire at 65 with enough to survive to 80.

Those numbers were established during boomer economy years and assume a few things that aren’t true anymore:

  • infinite 7-9 percent stock market growth, but the modern market crashes every decade or so now.
  • linear year over year wage increases that outpace inflation. Really is either flat wages or OP situation of huge jumps. The former makes saving impossible, the latter throws the x percent by decade curve off.
  • you should count your home equity in that number, but fewer people own homes, or are underwater on them for far longer.
  • the x/decade number assumes a certain amount of income from social security, but that’s likely to be stolen by the time we retire.
  • those numbers were made before the entire American population was crushed with debt. Student loans and medical, even just modern insurance premiums dig deep into the ability to hit retirement goals.

Basically, good luck OP. We’re all going to work till we die.

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