Poll: People over 50, do you have enough money for retirement?

[CaptHaddock]

43 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Very American?
Surely, I'll never live that down. 

The flip side of that is that in tallying up their assets I'll bet none of the Americans estimated the present value of their Social Security and other annuities/pensions, if any.  Although I did not answer the poll I can tell you that I estimate the present value of my own SS benefits (including my wife's eventual benefit based on my earnings) to be about two million dollars. 

[Skeptic7]

Right, I'm a Yank and only included my personal assets...IRA's, 401-k, stocks, bank accts and other investments. Did not include SS nor pension. 

[Jingthing]

I will comment on some of the feedback about the poll's structure.

 

I had to decide on some rules.

I think liquid net worth is something of interest to people all over the world. Not only Americans at all. How much impact that makes on having a livable retirement or any retirement at all  (I reckon most people in the world really never "retire") is a complicated personal matter. For example if you have a large pension or multiple pensions of over 50K USD per year and health coverage, a smaller net worth won't be as big a concern as having a small or no pension.

As far as REAL ESTATE, I regret including value of real estate in this survey. It's usually not including because real estate is definitely not a LIQUID asset and most people that own anything will be living in that asset.

On the other hand, if you own an apartment building, that's different. 

Of course it's common for older people to DOWNSIZE their primary residence real estate, sell it for profit and buy a smaller place, or rent. In the U.S. anyway there are even reverse mortgages where you can get income from an owned house  (by signing it away after death).

Needing to pay rent or a mortgage in retirement  (or not) is usually a very major economic factor along with health costs.

Naturally, expected life expectancy changes people's perception of their wealth or poverty entering retirement.

People with more limited assets/income will tend to more careful, maybe even too careful and forgoing necessities, out of fear that they'll run out of money before they run out of life.

As far as counting INCOME in figuring net worth. NO! 

That doesn't make any sense.

They are different things.

On the other hand, it is interesting to consider how much money you would need to buy an annuity that provides the amount of your pension. It will likely be a lot. But that figure doesn't fit in net worth. 

Cheers. 

Edited October 16, 2017 by Jingthing