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And what percentage of the poorest 50% of Americans have even $5,000 in any kind of retirement savings?

by grecy 7y ago

ChrisLomont 7y ago
And what percentage of those people are not bottom 50% by the time they retire? Wealth is not a lifetime static number. It's easy to google median wealth by age and see how people add wealth over a lifetime.
getoveritbruh 7y ago
With platforms like robinhood, and the trend toward lowering the bar to investment, even people like me ( <3% of income is "disposable" (which in and of itself probably isnt true as I have student debt)) can start doing SOME investment. Ive been poor my whole life, and have made a point since my teens to keep savings. Only recently did I begin investing however. This is a result of benig surrounded by people who don't make enough money to buy the things they do. Everyone has a choice of how to spend there money. To pretend the 12 bucks you spent on PBR and cigs is a better way to spend the money than to put it towards savings is the crux of the problem according to my personal experience.
- fzeroracer 7y ago
  I'm curious by how you define being 'poor' since you say you had savings as a teen. When I was a teen, being poor meant that even if you put that $12 away for another day, it'll just be used the next day to fill your tank. It's not really saving money if you're just putting off buying gas for your car.
- npo9 7y ago
  > To pretend the 12 bucks you spent on PBR and cigs is a better way to spend the money than to put it towards savings is the crux of the problem according to my personal experience. Expensive habits are terrible for your personal finances. I like to look at habits like that in a weekly, monthly, and yearly cost. Seeing that a $40/week habit is $2,080/year really helps me put my spending choices in perspective.
- 83457 7y ago
  My concern with something like robinhood is that many people treat investing like gambling without realizing it until there is a down turn and the money they saved for years is wiped out.
cmdshiftf4 7y ago
"More than one in five (22%) Americans have less than $5,000 saved for retirement, and 15% have no retirement savings at all. That’s an improvement from 2018 when 31% had less than $5,000 saved and 21% had no retirement savings at all." Source: https://news.northwesternmutual.com/planning-and-progress-2019 https://news.northwesternmutual.com/planning-and-progress-20...
Turing_Machine 7y ago
Nice goalpost shift. The original poster claimed that only 10% benefited. How did it change to 50%?
tathougies 7y ago
Well 52 - 60 percent of Americans own stocks so more (probably a good amount more) than 2 - 10 percent of the bottom fifty percent must own stocks, directly or indirectly

And what percentage of the poorest 50% of Americans have even $5,000 in any kind of retirement savings?

by grecy 7y ago

And what percentage of the poorest 50% of Americans have even $5,000 in any kind of retirement savings?

And what percentage of those people are not bottom 50% by the time they retire? Wealth is not a lifetime static number. It's easy to google median wealth by age and see how people add wealth over a lifetime.

getoveritbruh 7y ago

With platforms like robinhood, and the trend toward lowering the bar to investment, even people like me ( <3% of income is "disposable" (which in and of itself probably isnt true as I have student debt)) can start doing SOME investment. Ive been poor my whole life, and have made a point since my teens to keep savings. Only recently did I begin investing however. This is a result of benig surrounded by people who don't make enough money to buy the things they do. Everyone has a choice of how to spend there money. To pretend the 12 bucks you spent on PBR and cigs is a better way to spend the money than to put it towards savings is the crux of the problem according to my personal experience.

fzeroracer 7y ago
I'm curious by how you define being 'poor' since you say you had savings as a teen. When I was a teen, being poor meant that even if you put that $12 away for another day, it'll just be used the next day to fill your tank. It's not really saving money if you're just putting off buying gas for your car.
npo9 7y ago
> To pretend the 12 bucks you spent on PBR and cigs is a better way to spend the money than to put it towards savings is the crux of the problem according to my personal experience. Expensive habits are terrible for your personal finances. I like to look at habits like that in a weekly, monthly, and yearly cost. Seeing that a $40/week habit is $2,080/year really helps me put my spending choices in perspective.
83457 7y ago
My concern with something like robinhood is that many people treat investing like gambling without realizing it until there is a down turn and the money they saved for years is wiped out.

cmdshiftf4 7y ago

"More than one in five (22%) Americans have less than $5,000 saved for retirement, and 15% have no retirement savings at all. That’s an improvement from 2018 when 31% had less than $5,000 saved and 21% had no retirement savings at all." Source: https://news.northwesternmutual.com/planning-and-progress-2019 https://news.northwesternmutual.com/planning-and-progress-20...

Turing_Machine 7y ago

Nice goalpost shift. The original poster claimed that only 10% benefited. How did it change to 50%?

tathougies 7y ago

Well 52 - 60 percent of Americans own stocks so more (probably a good amount more) than 2 - 10 percent of the bottom fifty percent must own stocks, directly or indirectly