Quote:
Originally Posted by MysticLlama
I have to wonder about these studies sometimes.
I look at them, and think, really?!?
A GOAL of 350k, and only 25k saved?
I'm only 33 and past that, and my goal is surely higher.
But then I get on Pelican, and fell like I'm in the bottom 5% sometimes, not aggressive enough to go for more $$ sometimes, etc.
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I think that overall, Pelican does have a different class of folks than if you were to just grab a bunch of random folks off of the street. Not everyone here is rich, not everyone here is a doctor or lawyer or engineer, but I think most of us are probably outside of the norm. So in that way, I think you are correct.
You also have to remember that income figures are pretty sad. When they say that most folks only have $25k. I've seen some figures from the 2005 Census that say that 60% of US households made less than $57k. That might not be bad if you're a young single guy, but if you're a family with a few kids, that's not leaving much money for savings.
Here are some figures that I found on the Internet.
20% of households made less than $19k
40% of households made less than $36k
60% of households made less than $58k
80% of households made less than $92k
95% of households made less than $166k
98% of households made less than $250k
Now, imagine being a husband and wife with a little kid or maybe 2 and making $40-50k a year. It'd be damn hard to do that, have reliable transportation, a house with enough rooms for your family, save for college and save for retirement. Don't forget that these folks also want some of the nicer things, the guy probably wants a 52" TV for watching the game on weekends. I'd also say that most folks seem to have some vice or habit that costs them money, whether it be alcohol, tobacco, caffiene, lottery tickets, whatever....
It should be a lot easier to understand how most folks only have $25k in the bank. And honestly, the only reason that's probably true is because they have averaged up to that because of the minority who have a lot of savings.
It's really sad if you think about it too much.