Median boomer retirement account $144,000

  • After Iowa State won the Big 12, a Cyclone made a wonderful offer to We Will that now increases our match. Now all gifts up to $400,000 between now and the Final 4 will be matched. Please consider giving at We Will Collective.
    This notice can be dismissed using the upper right corner X button.
Status
Not open for further replies.

SpokaneCY

Well-Known Member
Apr 11, 2006
13,294
8,484
113
Spokane, WA
I don't know about you, but I'm constantly going back and forth between "Do I have enough?" vs "Am I being too conservative?" I'm mid-30s so I've probably got 30-40 working years left, barring medical/injury events. I get my 15% of gross saved every year between company match, 401k, and IRA contributions. I was luck that for the first 7 years of my career, I had an employer who matched my 6% with 10%, so I was putting away 16% of my pay starting in my early 20s.

That being said, I do wonder if it's too conservative, at times and if I should be doing more to enjoy life now. Like, not being so stingy when looking at new toys or trips for my wife and I, and our family.

Here's my advice. Retiring very comfortably is VERY simple. Invest as much as you can for as long as you can. It isn't EASY but the formula is simple.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bos

Dopey

Well-Known Member
Nov 2, 2009
3,106
1,878
113
Some are, others are not. Trade jobs today involve a lot less physical labor than ever before. Landman do not climb poles anymore, for example. Now concrete work and stone masons, that type of work is not for older men.

In my earlier post, I mentioned kids being lazy, I had an example of that this past year. My wife works as the city clerk in our town, they had an opening for an apprentice in the gas department. We were talking about it, and I told her, that I had a former student last year that would be great for the job. Kid loves hands on activities, bright, just needed to catch a break.
I had the kid' younger brother in class, wrote information down, told him to go to the website, and apply for the job. I told him starting pay was $18.00 an hour and they will train you, includes benefits, but you have to live within 30 minutes of town. He currently lives about 45 minutes. I told the brother to tell him my wife is on the group that is doing the hiring, and generally only a few people apply, so he had a great chance at getting the job.

Kid never even bothered to apply for the job. Long story short, many are given real opportunities and just do not care.

Are we ******** about how lazy kids are these days in a thread about boomers not having enough to fund their own retirement?
 

SEIOWA CLONE

Well-Known Member
Dec 19, 2018
6,452
6,638
113
62
That’s just BS. High schoolers get so much shoved at them about their future. While there may be some messaging about trades and I think it’s getting better the overwhelming pressure is still you have to go to college. It isn’t enough to have people tell them to go to trades. It has to be about granting them the freedom to legitimately consider a trade.

A lot of the messaging has to be directed at parents and counselors. To those groups it’s generally a college or your a failure message.

What BS and I totally disagree, the thing I can give my students about careers is advice and the opportunity. The days are gone its a college education or nothing, at least in the districts I have been around.
Today gets get plenty of opportunities to go to the local community college for a day and learn about the trade programs, we have career day every year, where we bring in schools and the trades to talk to the kids. That information is there, but the kids do have to take some responsibility and actually fill out a form or two.
 

SEIOWA CLONE

Well-Known Member
Dec 19, 2018
6,452
6,638
113
62
Are we ******** about how lazy kids are these days in a thread about boomers not having enough to fund their own retirement?

I guess I am, if they didn't save enough while they were working that is on them, its called personal responsibility.
I don't see anyone here willing to give up part of their saving to help them.
America is what you make of it, we get the opportunity for a better life, if you chose not to take it, don't come whining to me about your poor choices in life.
I figure my wife and I will be taking home around 10 grand a month when we retire in 3 years before taxes, that would be our IPERS, SS and other investments.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dmclone

Beernuts

Well-Known Member
Nov 9, 2017
1,155
1,145
113
55
How much money do I need to sit on my deck, fish in my pond and relax when I retire?

Let's do the math:

The fishing part is easy:

Home by a pond with fish: $500,000.00
New Deck to sit on: $ 50,000.00
New Deck Furniture: $ 10,000.00
Fishing gear and clothes: $ 5,000.00
Worms and Beer $ 20.00

To
tal: $565,020.00

The relaxing part is expensive:

Divorcing wife to give you time to fish: Half
 

isufbcurt

Well-Known Member
Apr 21, 2006
25,649
39,119
113
44
Newton
Let's do the math:

The fishing part is easy:

Home by a pond with fish: $500,000.00
New Deck to sit on: $ 50,000.00
New Deck Furniture: $ 10,000.00
Fishing gear and clothes: $ 5,000.00
Worms and Beer $ 20.00

To
tal: $565,020.00

The relaxing part is expensive:

Divorcing wife to give you time to fish: Half

Home with 2 ponds full of fish - already have
Nice big deck - already have
Deck furniture - already have
That must be some fancy fishing gear
Worms and Pop

Just trading my racing time for fishing time, wife will probably actually be disappointed I'm home more.
 
  • Like
Reactions: bos and Beernuts

SDCyclonesFamily

Active Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Oct 21, 2016
111
148
43
This is the reality I'm dealing with currently with my mom.
Minimum retirement and savings. Still has house debt and a home equity loan. Credit card debt. If we sell the house, we should be able to break even on the debt. Hopefully.
No idea where she would be without social security. It's a freaking nightmare, and it's a situation my siblings and I have been attempting to fix for 15 years.

Dealt with this last year when my dad passed away last year and I was the executor of his estate. He had $7500 in a retirement account, no life insurance (wish I would have known as I would have paid the premiums for him) and because of a divorce late in life a house with a mortgage. So he was living off of social security, credit cards and had VA insurance because of being a veteran. He never wanted to discuss his finances so I wasn't aware how bad they were. Luckily we were able to sell his house fairly quickly (for that small town market) and pay off the funeral and credit cards with the small amount of equity he had. After fighting with the VA they finally paid the ambulance and hospital bills - but that was extremely painful and took months!
 

isufbcurt

Well-Known Member
Apr 21, 2006
25,649
39,119
113
44
Newton
Dealt with this last year when my dad passed away last year and I was the executor of his estate. He had $7500 in a retirement account, no life insurance (wish I would have known as I would have paid the premiums for him) and because of a divorce late in life a house with a mortgage. So he was living off of social security, credit cards and had VA insurance because of being a veteran. He never wanted to discuss his finances so I wasn't aware how bad they were. Luckily we were able to sell his house fairly quickly (for that small town market) and pay off the funeral and credit cards with the small amount of equity he had. After fighting with the VA they finally paid the ambulance and hospital bills - but that was extremely painful and took months!

I learned when my dad passed away you are not required to pay off credit cards. Of course I learned this after I paid a couple small balances and then was pissed at myself for paying them. Also, the VA didn't make me pay any of his remaining bills.
 

urb1

Well-Known Member
Jan 23, 2010
3,360
1,912
113
Urbandale
No way thats true. Boomers have all the people younger than them to pay for their retirements. It's the rest of us that are ******.

I heard the same thing right after I graduated from college. That we'd never see social security.
 

Urbandale2013

Well-Known Member
Jan 28, 2018
4,285
5,264
113
29
Urbandale
What BS and I totally disagree, the thing I can give my students about careers is advice and the opportunity. The days are gone its a college education or nothing, at least in the districts I have been around.
Today gets get plenty of opportunities to go to the local community college for a day and learn about the trade programs, we have career day every year, where we bring in schools and the trades to talk to the kids. That information is there, but the kids do have to take some responsibility and actually fill out a form or two.
I don’t know what schools you are around but that is not how it is in the metro. There’s opportunities to go learn trade type stuff at DMACC but that doesn’t mean it is presented as a legitimate option yet. Like I said it is getting better but there is still a lot of improvement needed. The people that go do stuff at DMACC are still viewed differently. You also have issues where they miss half the school day. When I graduated in the last 10 years the counselors didn’t push anything but college readiness. All of the trade stuff was from teachers in the more trade classes.

As I said it isn’t enough to show them Trade stuff. It is about empowering them to not choose college.
 

SDCyclonesFamily

Active Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Oct 21, 2016
111
148
43
I learned when my dad passed away you are not required to pay off credit cards. Of course I learned this after I paid a couple small balances and then was pissed at myself for paying them. Also, the VA didn't make me pay any of his remaining bills.
Yeah - the credit cards were at the bottom of the list but they filed an official claim against the estate so I had to pay them off with what was left over. The problem we kept running into is the hospital and the ambulance company were separate (even though the billing address was the same). They didn't share my dad's VA insurance info and the ambulance company almost didn't get the claim filed to the VA in time. It was a process to "prove" that calling an ambulance and being transported to a non-VA facility was medically necessary. My argument was finally heard when I pointed out that he passed away in the ambulance on the way to the hospital so it couldn't get any more medically necessary than that. But the VA is a whole different can of worms :(
 

yowza

Well-Known Member
Jun 2, 2016
1,799
447
83
Your mom is lucky to be getting the defined benefits package from IPERS, I know several former educators and city workers that once they turn 62 and can start drawing SS are making more being retired than when they are working minus insurance for health care. I plan to join them myself in another 3 years.
There has been a huge push from the state republicans to change IPERS from a defined benefits package to 401K type of system. Even though IPERS itself is very well funded as of today. States that got into trouble with underfunded public workers pensions, are those that cut back what the state was putting into the funds, and used that money for other items instead of raising taxes. Illinois and Kentucky are two examples of states that took this approach.

Most older Americans 70 and up saved very little for retirement, they were told and believed that the government would take care of them when they retired, and with shorter lifespans that was probley true, but is no longer the case today. Many people in the 80's and 90's are getting by with only SS and a little bit of savings, and that number is cut in half when one of them dies. Not a good situation at all.

IPERS for all and we want it now.
 

yowza

Well-Known Member
Jun 2, 2016
1,799
447
83
I don't know about you, but I'm constantly going back and forth between "Do I have enough?" vs "Am I being too conservative?" I'm mid-30s so I've probably got 30-40 working years left, barring medical/injury events. I get my 15% of gross saved every year between company match, 401k, and IRA contributions. I was luck that for the first 7 years of my career, I had an employer who matched my 6% with 10%, so I was putting away 16% of my pay starting in my early 20s.

That being said, I do wonder if it's too conservative, at times and if I should be doing more to enjoy life now. Like, not being so stingy when looking at new toys or trips for my wife and I, and our family.

If you are too conservative the worst thing that will happen is that you can retire earlier than you planned.
 

yowza

Well-Known Member
Jun 2, 2016
1,799
447
83
Boomer here, obviously.

Not comfortable talking about my situation in depth. I have a government pension after 30 years of employment with DOD - and yes, damn glad I do. Spent many years earning less than peers in private business in hopes I would get that pension at retirement. (Edit: and that gov't pension is not free - over 30 years almost $150k was deducted from my checks for that)

And even though I worked way more than 40 quarters for SS outside of my Gov't job, I will get around $250/per month from that because there are rules for 'double dippers.' (My father did the same and got his full SS check because those rules were not yet in effect - so even though we boomers may have it good, the WWII generation had it even better.)

I had part time jobs starting 1972 and started my gov't career in January 1981. I did not do an IRA that first year but did every year thereafter until I retired.

I also did the maximum over-age-50 allowed make-up savings/investments. And also invested in individual stocks/mutual funds outside of that.

I basically lived on 40% of my take home pay for the last 5-10 years I worked.

So I definitely have the $144k number beat. It's worth it to be 'comfortable' in retirement. Having a decent home in Iowa and a beachfront condo in Florida was my dream/goal and I made it happen. Yes, big scares in 2008 and again this year, but you have to just keep on investing and saving if you don't want to live in a van down by the river.

Beach front condo................saaaaaaaweeeeeet!
 

SEIOWA CLONE

Well-Known Member
Dec 19, 2018
6,452
6,638
113
62
I don’t know what schools you are around but that is not how it is in the metro. There’s opportunities to go learn trade type stuff at DMACC but that doesn’t mean it is presented as a legitimate option yet. Like I said it is getting better but there is still a lot of improvement needed. The people that go do stuff at DMACC are still viewed differently. You also have issues where they miss half the school day. When I graduated in the last 10 years the counselors didn’t push anything but college readiness. All of the trade stuff was from teachers in the more trade classes.

As I said it isn’t enough to show them Trade stuff. It is about empowering them to not choose college.

Without a doubt is varies school to school, but I do know that one local school Cardinal of Eldon had 13 seniors last year graduate with their welding degree from IHCC and 2 others graduate with a AA degree from IHCC. All those courses were free to the students.
My current school had 4 students taking nursing courses, and 3 others taking auto body 50 minutes away each day, they got the HS around 11:30 every day. So its happening all over the state in varying degrees.
 
  • Like
Reactions: NWICY

isufbcurt

Well-Known Member
Apr 21, 2006
25,649
39,119
113
44
Newton
Yeah - the credit cards were at the bottom of the list but they filed an official claim against the estate so I had to pay them off with what was left over. The problem we kept running into is the hospital and the ambulance company were separate (even though the billing address was the same). They didn't share my dad's VA insurance info and the ambulance company almost didn't get the claim filed to the VA in time. It was a process to "prove" that calling an ambulance and being transported to a non-VA facility was medically necessary. My argument was finally heard when I pointed out that he passed away in the ambulance on the way to the hospital so it couldn't get any more medically necessary than that. But the VA is a whole different can of worms :(

Oh ok - We didn't set up an estate when my dad died.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SDCyclonesFamily
Status
Not open for further replies.