GAO: Half of American Households Have No Retirement Savings

[elysianfields]

From FedSmith:

http://www.fedsmith.com/2015/06/03/gao-half-of-american-households-have-no-retirement-savings/

Perhaps they're the same households who can't afford an unexpected $400 expense (http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/antimustachian-wall-of-shame-and-comedy/nearly-half-of-americans-say-they-can't-afford-an-unexpected-$400-expense/)?

[minority_finance_mo]

The discepancy between households that have retirement savings and those who don't is HUGE. One would expect those with retirement savings to also have a higher median income, but 3x more is really crazy.

I don't know if you're the author, but I enjoyed his writing style :)

[elysianfields]

Nope, I'm not the author.

Interesting that the author only discussed one possible retirement solution (increased Social Security benefits), but not the others (increasing OASDI taxes to cover all wages, increasing the OASDI tax rate, privatizing Social Security, increased financial education, forced defined contribution plan investments...).  Perhaps the ultimate result will be a little of this and a little of that...

I think one's opinion comes from one's assessment about human nature.  Some humans are willing to set aside for the future; others live only for the present.  Is it therefore fair to tax the ants , who defer gratification, thereby reducing their returns, in order to protect the grasshoppers from themselves?

[Capsu78]

A whole lot of Cra Cra down in the comments.

[dsmexpat]

from the comments

"I am reading everything below and it amazes me that most writers here blame poor people with no discretionary income to save for their retirement. this is proof the average American has 100 IQ."

That's pretty incredible.

[thd7t]

from the comments

"I am reading everything below and it amazes me that most writers here blame poor people with no discretionary income to save for their retirement. this is proof the average American has 100 IQ."

That's pretty incredible.

I was trying to figure out how that proves anything about IQ and whether it's unusual that the average American has an average IQ.  Couldn't make heads or tails of this comment.

[Financial.Velociraptor]

The average person has an IQ of 100.  Consider: Half of them are even stupider!

[Indexer]

The scary part of that report isn't that half of american households have no retirement savings.

The scary part is that almost half of households OVER 55 don't have retirement savings.

[MgoSam]

The average person has an IQ of 100.  Consider: Half of them are even stupider!

“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.”
-George Carlin