“We live in a society with one of the worst income distributions in the developed world.” (Photo subject is a model.) – Getty Images/iStockphoto
Dear Quentin,
I’m writing in response to the man who wrote a letter to you about his retirement success (“My wife and I retired with 22 times our income. Why don’t more people do what we did?”)
I was surprised that you didn’t point out that we live in a society with one of the worst income distributions in the developed world. The majority of people are struggling to make ends meet. They would love to save and invest as he did, but it isn’t possible.
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I’m curious about how he and his wife earn $200,000 per year. Do they own shares in companies that underpay their workers? I experienced many years of poverty, but as soon as things improved, I began putting small amounts into a tax-sheltered retirement fund.
I worked until 70 to delay taking Social Security. I now have a modest but comfortable retirement. While I’m aware that I’m better off than most people, I don’t judge them.
A Wise Woman
Also see: ‘Americans are not great at managing money’: Social Security and Medicare saved my father from financial ruin
Research says that many people don’t have enough for retirement. That’s due to a myriad of factors. – MarketWatch illustration
Dear Wise,
We all live in fear of judgment day.
The poverty gap in the U.S. is stark: The richest 1% of households average more than 100 times the income of the bottom 20%. The official poverty rate hovers at around 10.6%, equivalent to almost 36 million people, and has increased for those 65 years and older and for Black individuals, according to the Census Bureau.
I take your point and applaud you for turning your finances around, particularly through hard work, patience and waiting to claim Social Security at 70. Also, I did not talk explicitly about the inequality gap in America. Yes, it’s worth noting that the U.S. has one of the highest relative poverty rates among the world’s developed nations.
You are correct in another sense too: The fellow who wrote to me about retiring with 22 times his salary spoke about many people being intimidated by money and creating a retirement fund that he sees as an avatar for his working self — through, the miracle of compounding, it will continue to make money when he is either unwilling or unable to work.
Why do people write to me when they ostensibly have enough for retirement? They want to express gratitude. They want to exhale. Fear doesn’t always go away with a comfortable, well-executed retirement plan. It’s an inside job. Unhappy people judge others and, whatever you think about that letter writer, he did not seem unhappy to me.
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Related: Are you middle class? No, you’re not. Here’s why.
The ‘bootstraps’ theory
Research tells us that many people don’t have enough for retirement and, yes, that’s due to a myriad of factors, including opportunity, education, social status, choosing a profession that is rewarding but may not pay as well as others (teacher, nurse, social worker, caregiver etc.). The “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” does not always work in the real world.
Social Security accounts for about half of the income for the typical older adult, according to a recent report from the National Institute on Retirement Security. Retirement-plan income — both defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) — makes up roughly one-fifth of income on average. Many older adults rely on earnings, as you did well into your 60s.
The median balance of defined-contribution plans hovers at $40,000, and rises for older adults. For all workers, including those with no retirement savings, the median balance falls to just $955, the report said. Typical employee contribution rates to defined-contribution plans range from 5% to 6%, while employer contributions average less than 3%.
Recent research suggests that anywhere from 62% to 76% of Americans don’t feel financially secure. That’s a relative term, and it’s obviously a separate concept from those living on the poverty line. A worker making $50,000 a year or $200,000 a year may not feel financially secure, given lifestyle creep, mortgage payments, childcare, school fees, etc.
Related: Consumers should expect more pain in 2026
Judging other people
I also understand that reading a letter from someone who has $1 million or $10 million, who may be worried about taxes in retirement or concerned about whether the insurance is worth paying on their mobile home, can be triggering for many reasons. It can remind us of our own financial insecurities or strike us as an unrealistically lightweight “problem.”
Still, I will push back on your suggestion that he was overtly judging or looking down on other people who were less well off. Being enthusiastic about his own financial journey is one thing, but I don’t necessarily believe he was saying other people are less deserving by telling us how savvy he was with his money, living below his means and investing at an early age.
However, I fear that you fell foul of the same allegation you made against this man with 22 times his salary. While he may or may not have been humble-bragging by asking if he owns shares in a company that underpays his workers does, I’m afraid, cast aspersions in his direction, even if you were being purposely flippant.
That does raise a valuable question. If we are honest, we all judge people for having too much money or too little, whether we like to admit it or not. Whether it’s a poser on a dating app standing next to their yacht (or somebody else’s) or the carwashing panhandler who won’t stop with the squeegee even though the lights have turned green.
Few, if any of us, are immune to that.
Don’t miss: ‘The numbers don’t lie’: If I had invested my Social Security in the S&P 500 I’d have $4 million. Is the system broken?
I always did the graveyard shift: I worked for 54 years. Why on earth would I wait to claim Social Security at 70?
‘The S&P 500 seems to be doing particularly well’: I’m 66. Is this a good time to invest $100,000 in the stock market?
‘We’re all worried the honey pot will run dry’: Does the U.S. government borrow from my Social Security to fund federal programs?
‘There is an imbalance of power’: My husband has cancer. Why must we wait two hours for a 10-minute CT scan?
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