Typical Retirement Account Balances

The Sandbox Finance/Investments
21

Again, maybe you should take a few minutes to read it.

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22

Yeah itā€™s based on sipp survey data. Sorry, but I just donā€™t find it to be very reliable source of data for retirement account figures

Iā€™m more inclined side with what I see in the fidelity study (which basically shows that anyone who saves over a long period of time has a boat load of money)

Cue people saying bUt NOt eVERyone can AFoRRD to saVe for ReTiREmeNT

Lmao - shut your broke asses up

23

I prefer the Survey of Consumer Finances which is household-based, and gives you quintiles

The downside is it comes out only every 3 years, but the quality is very good

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24

One other thing of note is that low earners donā€™t need to rely on retirement accounts in retirement so donā€™t worry about them

They will have 90% of their earnings replaces by SS which goes untaxed and makes up for that last 10%

So donā€™t panic. Gen X will be just fine in retirement

Donā€™t believe this propaganda

25

Fidelity says the median 401k balance for Gen x is 44k

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26

Holy smokes. Itā€™s interesting to see Asians split out

Iā€™ve always wondered where they were grouped into before

27

God damn it that is the median balance held at fidelity lol

Thatā€™s why I like looking at account balances held over time. This way it is less likely they have accounts elsewhere

28

This one is a little rosier for Gen X, but not great. The closest age band for Gen X is 45-54 and it says median Household retirement savings is something around $115k.

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29

Yeah, they never go into their methodology. If I have 5 accounts with $100,000 each are they counting me as 1 person with $500,000 saved or 5 people with $100,000 each saved?

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30

Strangely it shows median ā€œfinancial assetsā€ for the 45-54 group is $55k. Not sure how to square that with the median retirement balance.

31

Would a mortgage count negatively?

32

Nope. House is in non financial assets, and mortgage is in debt.

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33

mark it zero

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34

RN

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35

i am gen X but apparently for savings (grad school and early career poverty) have saved like a boomer the last 15 yrs

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36

Itā€™s only triple tax advantaged if you spend the HSA funds on qualified medical expenses. If you end up passing on with an HSA balance the HSA balance inherits the same way that a regular IRA does.

I am not completely disagreeing, and I also use the HSA as an additional retirement savings vehicle. Just once I am in retirement, I will make sure to draw on the HSA with every qualified opportunity.

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37

I think that this type of article is close to worthless. Most people donā€™t stay with the same job all that long and when they change jobs some will roll over the balance to the new plan while others will roll to an IRA. Iā€™d say that itā€™s impossible for Fidelity to have a complete picture of most peopleā€™s retirement savings.

Likely the authors of the article donā€™t care that much about accuracy, they just want an attention getting conclusion.

My 401k balance just crossed $ 50,000.00

but my total retirement savings are more like $ 360,000, where would Fidelity put me?

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38

Sigh. The original article was based on a detailed survey across all retirement accounts done by the census folks. You can find tons of underlying data about it. MPC suggested another detailed survey done by the Fed folks also with lots of backup and good info. It was another poster that refused to read either suggesting only Fidelity was reliable.

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39

It seems a lot of posters here are in a bubble and are really out of touch with the experience of ordinary Americans. Iā€™m lucky enough to have a pension where I work, but tons of people donā€™t have any appreciable savings to fall back on. Sure, some of them make horrible decisions and donā€™t know any better, but plenty of people are just scraping by and donā€™t have the luxury of saving any significant portion of their income.

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40

Thanks for setting me straight. I donā€™t doubt that a lot of members in the bottom half by wealth are going to find retirement difficult and also that a lot of seniors work in retirement or will rely on the public sector.

Beyond just a lot of people having insufficient savings increasing disability from Cognitive decline will be a significant contributing factor.