Quote:
Originally Posted by motion
This is something I think about often, but just cannot figure out. How do most Americans retire comfortably? I know GD well that most American couples don't retire with 2-5mm in assets aside from their primary home. From what I gather, its more like $50K in assets average. I know a lot of you midwest guys have paid for homes that are worth sub $100K, but in most parts of the country, a decent home is a half million plus. I also see a lot of people 50+ refinancing their homes for 15-30 years. So, how do they pull it off? I have no idea what the average monthly SS payment is... $2500? That doesn't seem like it would go very far. Do people just keep working until they're 80? Where does the money come from? Kids? Inheritance?
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I work for the Feds (Department of Defense). When I retire in 20 years(around 58-ish), I will have 40 years of service invested into them (I "bought" back my Army time to give me an extra 10 years). This will give me a pension that is roughly 50% of my highest 3-year pay window, so I'll be expecting somewhere in the $60-75k/year range once I retire.
On top of that, I've been investing in our version of a 401k (the TSP, as previously mentioned by someone else), and that does fairly well, so I'll have a pretty nice nest egg there, as well.
I don't believe SS will be around when I retire, so it doesn't exist in my retirement plan. IF it does exist at that point, it'll just be a slight bonus.
I really have no worries about retirement...