Retirement crisis in America: 77-year-old flips burgers to earn in a week what he used to make in an hour

While Palome worked hard his entire career, paid off his mortgage and put his kids through college, like most Americans he didn’t save enough for retirement. Even many affluent Baby Boomers who are approaching the end of their careers haven’t come close to saving the 10 to 20 times their annual working income that investment experts say they’ll need to maintain their standard of living in old age. 

About 7.2 million Americans who were 65 and older were employed last year, a 67% increase from a decade ago, according to government data. Yet 59% of households headed by people 65 and older currently have no retirement account assets, according to Federal Reserve data analyzed by the National Institute on Retirement Security. 

They, too, are coming up short. Company-paid pensions are mostly a thing of the past, replaced in the last three decades by 401(k) accounts primarily funded and managed by employees. The median 401(k) balance for households headed by people aged 55 to 64 who had retirement accounts at work was US$120,000 in 2011, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. 

How is the average middle-class person going to amass US$1,000,000 by the time they’re 65, which is what they’ll need to get US$40,000 a year in income from their retirement savings?

Work until I die': Why older Americans are refusing to retire and how it’s changing the face of labour

Other on-the-job nuisances include hail, mud, diamondback rattlers, wild boars, coyotes, bobcats, porcupines and skunks. Bull keeps on driving. Past stunted wheat fields of drought and disappointment, he rolls. 

Fifty, 55, 60 mph. Turning up a driveway, he reaches out the window and, snap, the mailbox opens. Bull is a letter carrier with the longest postal route in America, 187.6 miles (301.8 kilometres) across some of the loneliest territory in the country. He’s 72, and part of the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. labor force — those who work past their 65th birthdays. 

Older Americans’ reasons for staying in the workforce cover the spectrum in the post-recession economy. Some need the money to live day-to-day, some want to build up battered 401(k) plans or put more away for their kids, some find that the daily activity organizes their lives in ways they can’t on their own, keeping them connected and useful. 

For Bull, who has a pension and Social Security and a $62,000 annual salary, it’s mostly about family. With what his wife, Susan, a second-grade teacher, makes, they earn six figures. He says his working helps them maintain a comfortable lifestyle, and allows him to save to leave something substantial for Susan, who’s 17 years his junior, and for his grandchildren.

DYI Comments:  The first article is more the norm as the second article is a family that is successful in their latter years.  For those of you who are the younger crowd (I''m 60 years old) saving and investing needs to become a way of life.  I realize the economy is performing poorly, however, it will NOT last forever.  When the 2020's arrive the U.S. will enter a period of high inflation, high taxes, and a LABOR SHORTAGE.  Boomer's will be exiting the work force but will continue to consume (at a lessor rate) creating a labor shortage to full fill those needs.  As this improvement occurs adjust your spending based on a 1/3 approach.  1/3 for your basic needs as in food, clothing, HOUSING, medical etc.  In order to achieve this it will require you to live way below your means but keep on reading it really does get better.  1/3 to save and invest.  For all types goals and problems that come with living life such as car replacement, water heaters, refrigerator, furnace, etc. (if you own your own home).  Plus out of this 1/3 monies, for retirement, allocate 18% of your income at that level you will do very well.  The remaining 1/3 party with it like there is no tomorrow!  Save a portion for a vacation see if the pyramids are still standing in Egypt or a skiing trip to Colorado but the message here is to have FUN, FUN, AND MORE FUN.  But first do your duty to the first 2/3's and have fun with the last 1/3.

HAVE A GREAT LIFE!

DYI