About one-quarter of U.S. adults age 50 and older who aren't yet retired say they expect to never retire and 70% are concerned about prices rising faster than their income

About one-quarter of U.S. adults age 50 and older who are not yet retired say they expect to never retire and 70% are concerned about prices rising faster than their income, an AARP survey finds.

About 1 in 4 have no retirement savings, according to research released Wednesday by the organization that shows how a graying America is worrying more and more about how to make ends meet even as economists and policymakers say the U.S. economy has all but achieved a soft landing after two years of record inflation.

Everyday expenses and housing costs, including rent and mortgage payments, are the biggest reasons why people are unable to save for retirement.

  • prole@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1·
    6 months ago

    Interesting how you cherry picked there… This kind of thing makes me super curious: was this an honest misreading of the source? Or do you have some agenda here that involves pretending Americans have more retirement savings than they do.

    Like I’m not going to copy/paste the entire article, but I recommend going back and reading it again?

    Maybe study up on the different types of averages, and why median is often used (and why the median figure in the article is so different than the “average” that you chose to use).

    Here I’ll make it extra easy for you, it’s literally in the paragraph right after the numbers:

    The difference is important, because averages are relatively easy to skew with outlying data. In the case of the U.S. economy, a small number of households hold vastly more wealth and assets than most others. This skews the average result upwards, making it look like most Americans have more money saved than they actually do.

    Also, I’m honestly just not sure how much I care about, specifically, the retirement savings of people aged 55-60. That’s a really narrow range there.

    • Trollception@lemmy.world
      1·
      6 months ago

      Are you referring to the use of the average rather than the mean amount saved? The article is only like 4 paragraphs and I don’t think there was anything to miss. That said I also have a 401k tracker through my investments and it shows most individuals in that age group have around 400-500k.

      • prole@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        1·
        6 months ago

        It’s like you didn’t even read the entire article you sent… You’re right, it’s not long. Try again to understand it. I’m not going to copy/paste quotes from an article that’s like 2 paragraphs, I’m certain you can figure it out yourself.

        And yes, the use of median instead of mean is important, and you end up with a very different (but more accurate) numbers when using it to try to understand this type of statistic, as that way the data isn’t skewed by outliers.

        With the median, half of people are above, half are below. If you use the mean (what people generally default to when they hear/say average), you don’t end up with useful information because this is America and we have people with billion dollar bank accounts, and all you need is one or two of those to throw off the mean and make things look higher than they are.

        Well looks like I went and explained it anyway…