Peak Retirement Dollars Needed: It Is Only Down From Here

The state of retirement is the United States is horrific. Retirees are in a very tough situation.

To start, the second half of the Baby Boomers are the first wave that do not enjoy having pensions. The first half were still under that model, although they are seeing them being cut. What the second half is learning is the 401K program is not going quite as far as advertised.

The other issue is that a few of the requirements for people in this category are going up. Of the three areas that are still seeing issues we have healthcare, education, and housing. Obviously, the middle is not of great concern to retirees but the other two are.

This has created a situation where we are seeing more of their meager incomes going to these categories.

Another variable in all of this is the fact that people who do have money are not doing as well. The traditional mindset is that one needs to get more conservative as he or she nears retirement. This meant shifting out of equities and into bonds. The challenge with this is the fact that debt is paying next to nothing. Basically, a portion of a portfolio invested in this asset is basically sitting dead.

Of course, the market is providing a nice return. The challenge there is will it continue? An individual close to retirement is going to have a tough time weathering a massive pullback, drawing down a large portion of the holdings.

Hence, we have a retirement situation that never looked grimmer.


Source

I was talking to a buddy of mine who is making things work. He is retired and has about $500K. Over the years, he became fairly adept at the stock market, generating enough of a return to cover his household expenses. With his wife being a diabetic, this biggest cost is the medical insurance. The house is paid for and while not struggling to make ends meet, it is not the worry free retirement often proposed.

Today, I asked him how much one realistically needed to life comfortably in this area as a retiree. He said that with the present rate of return out there, to live a middle class lifestyle, one needed about a million dollars.

A million dollars to live a middle class lifestyle? I can tell you we are not in a high cost of living area. What do areas like New York and Los Angeles cost?

Leaving all that aside, I am highly confident that, within the next 15 years when I would be his age, this will not be the situation. While many are led to believe more money will be required, the truth is I foresee it being significantly less.

We are embarking upon a period where technology is going to cause a massive spread of demonetization across most industries. Over the last couple decades, we saw this in a few areas. However, automation and other advancements are making this more evident.

I often use the example of stock trades. Think back to what it cost 30 years ago to make a trade through a broker. In 2019, most of the online brokerage services waived their per transaction charge.

The aforementioned areas of education, healthcare, and construction are all going to see similar results. Why do I make that statement? It stems from my following of technology. I can tell you those are three of the areas where thousands of start ups are taking aim. In addition to that, you have the likes of Google, Apple, and Samsung going full-tilt into the healthcare arena.

We are nearing the "demonitization of everything". Technology is no longer industry specific. Hence, the effects are felt in many different areas. This puts downward pressure on prices over time. Today, those industries that have not changes are great deal in the past 40 years are primed for disruption.

The disruption is always the same. This time, it will be just on a wider scale.

As always, none of this is financial advice.


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It's surprising to hear that that retirement is stressful in the US. I thought retirees only suffer in Nigeria.

In Nigeria, the stories are not quite different, only the very rich can secure a stock investment before retirement. Other low level workers who retire below 14 GL find it difficult to even stage a meaningful life. Blockchain and cryptocurrency is here to give those who will care a safe landing.

I wish I can gather the courage to approach pensions Board or forums to discuss crypto investments for retirement.

Meanwhile, do we have an effective blockchain project that could handle that? Do we see a steem project emerging to cater for retirment?

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There is not a project dedicated to retirement but the wealth that is going to generated off Steem will set many people up for retirement. I believe we are starting to see a brand new economy being created.

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Surely, thanks for always penning such insightful blogs as this. I wanna be your student!

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When I go to work and see people in their 50's and 60's toiling away at what is essentially manual labor for low wages I get very nervous about the future.

If Steem takes off like we think it will we'll be able to support anyone we like with the click of a button. Wouldn't that be wild?

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The upvote economy has so much potential @edicted.

When you think of the power of people's upvotes when you consider if they have 7-10 projects they are Whales or Orcas in, then it can really show how someone could support another with 50 upvotes a day.

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So far I have never thought about it but after I read your post, it's also good we have to think of ways for a better future for our children in the future because
as we get older the more uncertain the more we work. today share an amazing post link maybe my evaluation day on your post this time. IMG_20200213_050744.jpg

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Congratulations! Your post has been selected as a daily Steemit truffle! It is listed on rank 22 of all contributions awarded today. You can find the TOP DAILY TRUFFLE PICKS HERE.

I upvoted your contribution because to my mind your post is at least 2 SBD worth and should receive 111 votes. It's now up to the lovely Steemit community to make this come true.

I am TrufflePig, an Artificial Intelligence Bot that helps minnows and content curators using Machine Learning. If you are curious how I select content, you can find an explanation here!

Have a nice day and sincerely yours,
trufflepig
TrufflePig

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Sometimes it gets really hard to keep a positive frame of mind... my wife and I are both later 50's and whereas we are self-employed, we don't exactly have any security and the way it looks right now, "retirement" isn't really something I'd expect we'd get to experience, unless the entire economic system changes.

I am trying my best to feel hopeful about the possibilities mentioned in your perspective here... but it seems like the biggest hurdle might be transitioning from the current corporate system to one where the growing corporate retained earnings (from automation savings and declining cost of human labor) get back into the hands of individuals, rather than just "sitting there" in the form of record profits rather than just being plowed back into more automation to produce ever more stuff for people who have no means to acquire and consume said stuff...

=^..^=

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Thanks for the comment curatorcat.ccc. All you mention here is true.

I just want you to think about how quickly Nokia went from being the overwhelmingly dominant cell phone provider to being dwarfed by Apple and the Android phones. Penetration in the US went from near 0 for smartphones to 70% in just over 6 years.

Also, think back to when Napster first showed up and how quickly it obliterated the record industry. Record companies lost money on their recorded music for 17 straight years.

We are now in the time when the internet came to money. Get ready for some massive changes.

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