A million dollars is not rich
That's how much you need to have saved up to retire comfortably by 65 these days. And I'm not talking Caviar Dreams and Champagne Wishes. I'm talking living modestly. You figure the avg life expectancy is ~78 years. That's another 13 years. $1,000,000 / 13 yrs = ~$77,000 / yr to play with. Sounds like a lot. And it is...until you factor in all the medical costs seniors pay as their health starts to fail. The average senior faces $250,000 (!) in medical bills during retirement before passing away. So basically, you just have $750,000 / 13 = ~$57.5k per year. That's not so bad. Add in property taxes for the house you bought to settle down in ... $10,000/yr ... drops that to $47.5k/yr.
Guess what ... $47k/yr puts you at middle class. IE: NOT rich. And some folks live longer than 78 years. You can recalculate all that as if you're going to live until 80, 85, 90, 95, etc. Depressing, isn't it? Social Security will help some, but not the massive load some folks think it will.
Now for YOU, "kids these days", it gets even more depressing. Factor in that the age of retirement for social security (currently 65) is going to get bumped to 66 or 67, since people are obviously living longer (but not healthier, unfortunately). More and more money is partitioned to the already-rich that make money by having money, while the middle class today is down-grading to "Poor" status, having to take pay-cuts due to layoffs at jobs and things. Prices for goods and services keep going up, either due to inflation or due to companies manipulating them. Also, the country is so broke that by the time you retire, we either won't have a social security fund, or it, the defense department, and the INTEREST on our national debt (not the base money, but just the INTEREST) will be the only things our government can pay for using your tax dollars.
So get cracking, Kids! You can thank your parents and their crappy choices in government, businesses they consume from, and turning a blind eye to everything while it goes to hell as long as "they get theirs".
BTW, I'd make a guess that half of you hoping to inherit your parents house...they probably already lost it doing a reverse mortgage, where-by they got a "huge" lump sum of money they've been spending from, and they have to either pay that back or give up their house. A lot of older folks with houses thought that was a good idea, because it gave them money to live off of as a retirement option. But the joke is, when they die, there's not much money left (they spent most of it), and the house goes to the bank as the asset in claim. Congratulations! Your parents just sold your inheritance out from under you!
