Social Security was never meant to be a sole source retirement program. It is supposed to be a safety net and/or supplement during retirement.
You can always opt out of SS and not pay anything
If congress would stop robbing the SS fund and treating like a slush fund with IOUs, it would have been over-funded yrs ago.
But now we have congress constantly raiding it and putting (or attempting to put) illegals on SS who have never paid a dime into the system.
Don’t think this is correct…I know a couple that did just this decades ago & told me it’s no longer an option.
I only say this because it would be a routine topic & LOTS of people would rather invest their own income than pay in for crap return.
I’m an elder millennial (late 30’s) so I’ll share my thoughts. Without saying too much about me, I’ve done well thus far maxing 401K and Roth IRA for 6ish years now, prior to that I put very little in 401K and just focused on not accumulating much debt other than real estate and paid off my auto loans early. I was also fortunate enough to start buying rental properties pre-Covid, so that has put me in a great spot. I realized early on not to count on anything from .gov for retirement. SS isn’t even in my financial/retirement planning. If it’s still there when I can take it great. If not, I wasn’t banking on it anyway.
What I’ll share is this. My friends/generation are split. They are either in a great spot financially and put a ton of money into investments including retirement, stocks, businesses and real estate, or are just flat out living on credit and spending money like the influencers on IG/TikTok tell them they should, because YOLO I guess, with no real plan to ever break the debt cycle.
I worry what it’ll look like 30 years from now when some can’t physically work, but cannot yet afford to retire.
Honestly my grandfather was a WWII vet and even he had it hard.
He started his own biz right after the war with refrigeration repair, including commercial lockers and such and eventually included home ACs. Small town Iowa so worked regular but never got rich, tried to do nice guy pricing. Paid off the house sometime in the 1970s, owned a couple rental properties but he was a soft touch who almost never got paid by tenants.
Worked into his early 80s because he didn’t know any thing else and still had bills. Also had a wife who spent his money like it was going to expire, sadly she mostly spent it on things with zero actual value. I don’t know what he paid into SS but I know he didn’t get much on the back end. My grandmother actually got a bigger SS check each month than he did because she worked as a secretary from the late 1950s to the mid 1970s.
My brother use to work at a bank (10ish yrs ago), he said most older people are either well off or flat broke. Not much in the middle once you hit 65 from what he saw looking at their accounts. I don’t expect that to change and I don’t have high hopes from what I see walking around Target, and the crowd at Walmart is even in worse shape. It needs to be taught in high school how to balance your bank account. I hire kids straight out of a 2yr community college usually and I try to coach them on saving and thinking of the future. Last kid we let go bought a brand new car while he was still contracting in the trial period… Just poor decisions all around and then didn’t want to do what it took to get the job after buying too much car anyway. Who knows how he’s doing now. Couple others are typical that just worry about what the payment is going to be. One recently consolidated his debt to get one payment and payed everything else off and then went to get more stuff on payments within months… You just can’t help some people!
We luckily have good paying middle class jobs and live modestly with a couple splurges here and there (bought a new platinum F250 in 2022 and my wife a new MDX this year). But we both max our 401ks, IRAs (and then do a Roth conversion at the end of the year) plus we have rentals we bought preCOVID. My goal is to work towards the 4% rule on pulling money from my 401K and based off that it’s a big number I need. We are on target but I fear a lot of folks will not reach their goals… I believe in diversification and hope that I can press pause on taking disbursements from my 401k during a market downturn if I have other savings to go off of. Looking for more rentals but the prices are ridiculous and everything is a break even deal at best lately so we haven’t added any units the last couple of years.
I too have a 401G account but sadly my safe isn’t full but I do pick up guns here and there that I only buy because they hold their value. And I’m still looking for another income stream to add into the mix. Thought about starting a small business but margins are so tight and I struggle with having enough time now anyway since I self manage our rentals. I worry more than the wife, she thinks we are way better than I do and I can’t imagine how stressed I’d be if we were stuck in the “payment” mindset…
Dang lag…
I am blessed.
I was hired before the company I worked for eliminated their defined benefit plan. In addition, I attained a level where there is also an additional supplemental retirement package and of course the standard 401K program with matching contributions.
My 401k was maxed out my entire career, I did catch-up contributions when allowed, as well.
So, in essence, I have three pensions.
I’ve learned some things since being forced by XiDen to retire in Nov. 2022.
For any of you young-ins out there, pay yourself first, max out your 401K and you won’t miss the money. Also ensure you are contributing to a Roth, the tax advantage is fine, buy you eventually have to pay the piper.
We as a collective tend to not think about retirement in our 20’s and 30’s. Usually 40 is when the light come on and you decide to start Saving and Investing. It’s a double edged sword, if you invest early and set it aside and other than a monthly check, just pretend it’s not there. Now if you are like most people you’ll have an awakening in your 40’s and usually try invest 15 to 20% trying to catch-up.
My suggestion is
To start investing as soon as possible, in your 20’s investing as little as 5% takes a lot of pressure off turning 40.
If your Company ever offers a 401K, you need to jump on it and if they “Match” you invest at least as much as they are offering, often these I believe are tiered.
You can usually start one of these Company 401K’s with as little as a phone call, it’s well worth it if they match.
Read up a little bit and know what you’re getting in to.
I would tell NO ONE I have a 401K, unless required to by Law, keep it quiet.
You’ll go through Life Changes during your investing, stay flexible and call your Broker and adjust as necassary.
If you have friends or relatives who have retired talk to them.
Averageman, why would you tell no one you have a 401K? I assume virtually everyone has one.
Andy
Someone might want half.
Ah, like my mil retirement.
Andy
I think 401Ks, IRAs, and the like are the greatest things ever. Best tools I can imagine for the average person to easily accumulate wealth. Doesn’t even require much self discipline, just set it up, pull the trigger, and leave it alone.
Pensions didn’t really become common in the US until around the 1940’s and 50’s. I mean sure the concept dates back to at least the Roman Empire but it was hardly common and widespread.
Saving for the future is just common freaking sense, and with the various retirement savings options available it SHOULD be easy for everyone to do it. I live on between 1/3 and 1/2 of my income much of the time. Sure unexpected circumstances change that from time to time, and the occasional big expense or splurge happens, but I try. When you are younger and making less that’s hard to do but you should be saving at least something as soon as you start working.
Between investments, retirement savings, real estate equity, and regular savings I expect to be in pretty good shape when I retire. I’m not counting on SS for squat. If it is still around maybe it can be my beer money, thankfully I don’t drink much anymore. 
The big killer for a lot of folks is debt. Took me a while to figure that one out myself, but other than mortgages I haven’t carried any debt for decades. Not even auto loans. Debt is screwing this country and it is screwing the citizenry as well.
If you’re Single, it’s a very good idea to talk with anyone you get serious with about their finances, it’s not an easy discussion, but you have to do it.
If you’re taking on Kids (and aparently that means anyone under 30 now) you have to figure all that out.