About one-quarter of U.S. adults age 50 and older who are not yet retired say they expect to never retire and 70% are concerned about prices rising faster than their income, an AARP survey finds.

About 1 in 4 have no retirement savings, according to research released Wednesday by the organization that shows how a graying America is worrying more and more about how to make ends meet even as economists and policymakers say the U.S. economy has all but achieved a soft landing after two years of record inflation.

Everyday expenses and housing costs, including rent and mortgage payments, are the biggest reasons why people are unable to save for retirement.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    It’s my own fault, I could have been far smarter.

    No. No it isn’t. It’s the country’s fault for not giving you enough to retire on even though you didn’t make the best financial decisions over the years. People should not be punished in their old age because they didn’t follow all the right rules of capitalism (which keep changing anyway).

    It might be your fault that you’re not as comfortable or as well-off as you would like to be, but it is not your fault that you can’t retire.

    • Eeyore_Syndrome@sh.itjust.works
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      6 months ago

      Remember that time they moved retirement to 67 in 2015?

      I don’t because I was too busy working 50 hrs a week @$14-19$/hr paycheck to paycheck.

      And now I have fibromyalgia at 38 and hope I die at 50.

      Thanks America.

      • leadore@kbin.social
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        6 months ago

        The law that changed full retirement age to 67 was passed in 1983 (during the Reagan era, no surprise there!) https://bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/full-retirement-age/ :

        “In 1983, Congress increased the full retirement age (FRA) from 65 to 67, a change phased in over the course of 33 years. This phase-in just ended, with the FRA now static at age 67 for individuals reaching age 62 in 2022 or later.” (those born in 1960 or later).

        What I always thought was unfair is that those who make the least amount of money get the least amount of Soc Sec, when they are the ones who need it the most. Those who make the most money get the max amount even though they need it the least. Seems backwards.

        But I guess it’s at least better than how things were before Social Security when you either had to make enough money to save enough for retirement and/or get a pension from your employer, or else work until you died, not to mention no Soc Sec if you became disabled. It was originally designed as part of the New Deal to help widows and seniors (poverty rate for seniors was over 50%).

    • skuzz@discuss.tchncs.de
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      6 months ago

      It doesn’t even matter if they did follow the right rules. Plenty of people did are still losing now because the rules have rapidly changed over the last 10-20 years, especially since the pandemic with inflation exploding out of control. Property taxes, insurance, medical costs, housing supplies, food are all skyrocketing. The SSA did up the Social Security payout slightly, but that doesn’t help 401k/IRA/pension output one bit.

      It also points out another flaw in America. Why does every individual have to be a doctor, tax man, investor, banker? Rather than having people compartmentalized in skill-sets and enabling each other, we’re expected to know 100% of how many jobs work. It’s a waste of collective brain power, and I really believe it stifles creativity and innovation as we all try to just survive. Even with all this knowledge, if one is in the retirement phase when a 2020-2024 happens, one can’t really go back in time to correct for that.

    • Trollception@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Blaming anyone but yourself is the new hotness around here it seems. Not planning for the future is somehow now your fault but the fault of the country? Sounds a bit entitled to me

        • Trollception@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          Other countries absolutely do require people to work to support themselves. The US is certainly not unique in this regard. Some countries have universal income or provide care for the elderly but to think it’s the norm is the Lemmy collective putting a bag over their heads.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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            6 months ago

            Yes, shitty third world countries do requite people to work to support themselves until they die.

            Non-shithole countries allow people to retire and not do that, even if they’re poor.

            Actually, I take that back. Not even all the shitty third world countries. I just googled ‘Rwanda retirement,’ to pick a country at random and they have a government pension scheme.