News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on The Typical American Lives Only 18 Miles from Mom. Parent comment

Re:The Typical American Lives Only 18 Miles from Mom by tw04 on Friday December 25, 2015 @11:24AM (#10791550)
That seems like a pretty gross overgeneralization. An entire generation that hasn't saved any money for retirement? Seriously? I guess I can count almost every one of my family members as "unique" then. I can think of only 1 of them I would expect to be in financial trouble post retirement.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Typical American Lives Only 18 Miles from Mom by atom-morgan on Friday December 25, 2015 @11:28AM (#10791557)
I would say your family is unique in this case based on this article I read earlier this year.

"Approximately 62% of Americans have no emergency savings for things such as a $1,000 emergency room visit or a $500 car repair, according to a new survey of 1,000 adults by personal finance website Bankrate.com. Faced with an emergency, they say they would raise the money by reducing spending elsewhere (26%), borrowing from family and/or friends (16%) or using credit cards (12%)."

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/most-americans-are-one-payc...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Typical American Lives Only 18 Miles from Mom by tw04 on Friday December 25, 2015 @12:51PM (#10791754)
That says nothing about whether or not they have a retirement fund. When I was fresh out of college for the first few years that described me to a T, but I still had money going into a 401k every month.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Typical American Lives Only 18 Miles from Mom by superuser2 on Friday December 25, 2015 @02:34PM (#10792097)
Nope. Retirement savings are typically in 401k and IRA accounts, which are untouchable (without enormous penalty) until age 59.5. It's entirely possible (though irrational) to have six or seven figures in retirement savings but no emergency fund.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Typical American Lives Only 18 Miles from Mom by nommm-nommm on Friday December 25, 2015 @02:59PM (#10792173)
People who go broke if they had a $1000 emergency are not the same people maxing out their 401(k)... plus about half of Americans have no retirement accounts at all.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Typical American Lives Only 18 Miles from Mom by superuser2 on Saturday December 26, 2015 @09:19PM (#10796127)
Not maxing it out, but many people have an automatic 5-15% payroll deduction that may even be on by default. That money is already out of sight and out of mind, same as tax withholding. Whereas not draining the checking account requires more deliberate discipline.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Typical American Lives Only 18 Miles from Mom by tbrownaw on Friday December 25, 2015 @12:26PM (#10791700)
GP's family being in a 38% "minority" hardly makes them unique.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Typical American Lives Only 18 Miles from Mom by kiiski on Friday December 25, 2015 @12:53PM (#10791766)
That 62 % was "people with no emergency savings", not "people without enough savings to retire". The latter number would be somewhere above 62 %.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:The Typical American Lives Only 18 Miles from Mom by sholanozie on Friday December 25, 2015 @11:34AM (#10791580)
I could argue that making the opposite claim is a pretty gross overgeneralization. It's good that your family is prepared for retirement, but most people aren't.
[ Parent | on HN ]