How does your retirement savings stack up...

I even have an extra couch for when it's cold outside.

That's DD's territory, so he'll be the judge. Besides, he may not want much company, being a desert dweller and all. Truth be told, I'm of the same mind.

Come to popa. I'll let you live for free in my back yard.

Rumi

I have no problem believing so many people have saved so little for retirement. But, especially for older Americans like me, the seemingly small savings amounts may be a bit misleading. As I read the link, the numbers were based on records for defined contribution plans. Back when I entered the workforce, traditional defined benefit pension plans were common and it appears contributions to them are not counted as "savings." Even if I had zero such "savings", my state (defined-benefit) pension plus social security benefits would provide enough income to allow me to live comfortably. (Living in a low cost of living state also helps.) In reality, I also have savings (bank account and IRA) and they are for luxuries and emergencies.

I'm fortunate to be ahead of many (statistically), but still not where I'd like to be...

I suspect as the boomers retire, those who saved, when forced to start withdrawing at age 70, will be heavily taxed.....so, just because we put it in, doesn't mean we'll get to take it out and spend it on ourselves....

Don't worry T'Dale....social justice says everybody's retirement has to be similar....so, I suspect, Sam will take from the ant and give to the grasshopper.....so we'll all share in each others misery.....

Since he made each alternative its own sentence, he had to capitalize. (I might use "dirtbagginess").
:D

And good point about the defined benefit plans not being included. My husband's pension does form a key part of our retirement, though by no means the whole.

I also get that about the parental generation doing better with investments. My own parents didn't (had nothing to invest, and I think were perhaps too wary of it), but my FiL did very well. We didn't lose out in the crash of '08, since we just held everything, but quite a few years of little to no growth didn't help the nest egg, either. At least we kept saving and investing through that period.

And for those of you (if any) who have a spouse who, like me, hasn't had a proper career, take a good look at how your retirement covers him or her after you die. That's something we only recently began really looking at (realism requires it, as he's 8 years older than I am, not to mention apparently a whole lot more inclined to crash his bike!), and working out. Oddly, I do much better if he makes it to retirement than if he were to die while still employed. In the latter case, I'd get a single lump-sum payment (presumably of our contribution to the pension). In the former, I would get a significant percentage of his monthly retirement. Of course, in theory, I could go back to work if need be. In reality, at my age and with a limited resume? I'm not wild about flipping burgers