Is your goal a comfortable retirement? Have you defined what that means to you?
Money is surely part of the equation, but so is lifestyle and, of course, the two are connected.
Is having just enough okay with you? Will your lifestyle be rocking on the front porch or traveling the world.
I asked the readers of HumbleDollar to discuss their views. Take a look and give your opinion.
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
I think many could accumulate some decent funds, provided they had access to retirement plans and some encouragement to buy index funds and stay invested during ups and downs and not use retirement funds as an emergency fund. Also life gets in the way that wrecks the best intentions. Divorce, job layoffs, health crises and family demands for money. Ignorance about investing is a big drawback also. The road from age 20 to 65 is full of surprises.
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My opinion is the AI definition is perfectly adequate and doesn’t need a lot of tearing apart to get to an answer you want. You seem to want to bring everyone around to your definitions by driving at each point instead of letting it stand on its own.
You want a belt and suspenders, guaranteed to cover any contingency, with a back up to a backup pension, social security, investments to throw off income enough to stand alone in case any of the above fails. You want enough to guarantee your retirement in a high cost and high tax area. You want an upper middle class (if that is still what it’s called) lifestyle in that high cost area. That’s your life and I hope it lives out long and to your liking but I don’t understand your constant needling of people who may live differently and be contented doing so.
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Not sure how you conclude that. I don’t care how others want to live and what contentment means to them.
However, data and surveys indicate a significant number of retirees are not content, but struggle every day. Retirees claim both SS and its COLAs are inadequate. Don’t you want enough income to meet your desired lifestyle throughout retirement whatever that may be?
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I draw my conclusions from your writings, maybe it’s your style but it sure seems to be the way I concluded. Anyway, yes there are people struggling in retirement, probably most were struggling throughout their lives. Looking at the income quintiles of the population gives a good clue as to why. We’ve got too many chump change jobs in this country. We’ve got too many people pointing fingers at those people and saying why don’t they save more or something for their retirement. We’ve got too many people blaming credit cards and lack of deferred gratification for these people. Blaming job hopping for lack of seniority and lack of savings. Let me tell you, sometimes the jobs get pulled out from under you.
It’s a little too late to point out that a lot of people are struggling financially in retirement. We need to point out people are struggling long before they get to retirement. That is when it can be rectified, if it can be at all.
Again, I will say that my conclusions were based on your writing style only and if I was mistaken, I’m big enough to admit it.
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Why do people reach retirement unprepared? Relative to their income of course. SS replaces about 40% of income for lower and lower middle income so at most they need to replace 60% but more like another 40% Isn’t that doable over 30 or more years for most Americans?
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