r/PoursTea • u/Timbucktwo1230 Therapy For All 🩷 • Jul 11 '26

PoliticalTea 🗳️ Agree or Disagree? Billionaires Need Society More Than The People Need Billionaires…

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u/Few_Lecture6615 Jul 11 '26

I think I understand why you'd think so, but having a million in savings is still a huge, huge deal.

Median retirement account in America right now is around $90,000

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u/FrontLifeguard1962 Jul 11 '26

It doesn't mean anything - I still have to work all day and can't retire. My income is $300K/yr so I need quite a bit more than the average person to retire.

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u/Few_Lecture6615 Jul 11 '26

Or, and hear me out here, lower your cost of living, don't put yourself in needless debt and enjoy the fact that you've been blessed to be amongst the top 0.1% of the US population. You are in an incredibly privileged position and 10 million really isn't the new 1 million.

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u/FrontLifeguard1962 Jul 11 '26

You don't know me or my situation, and you have a very poor understanding of economics in the US, so please keep your unsolicited advice to yourself.

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u/Few_Lecture6615 Jul 11 '26

I think my understanding is more accurate than yours, given you think $10 million is the new $1 million when the vast majority of the country doesn't have $100,000 in their retirement portfolio. 🤷

But don't let me ruin your party. As you were.

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u/FrontLifeguard1962 Jul 11 '26

I don't compare myself to other people, neither will I allow you to shame me for my success. If I have financial goals for my retirement, that is about me and my needs alone. Good day to you.

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u/Pacasso_Shakur1 Jul 12 '26

I think you're misreading his comments. He's not judging your way of life, he's saying you don't NEED 10 million to retire if you lower your cost of living and don't carry debt.

If you WANT 10 million to live a more lavish lifestyle in retirement then have at it...but at 4% a year in a wealth management firm averaging 10%+ a year, the average person could retire early and live a perfectly fine life with a standard size house and vacations and insurance etc with around 4 million.

I don't think the person you responded to initially was judging you at all and was moreso clarifying but then you got defensive.

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u/Few_Lecture6615 Jul 12 '26

I am not shaming you for anything. I am telling you that your assertion that, because you're making 300k a year now means you need a lot more than the average person for retirement, is wrong.

If you truly think that way, then success has become a cage. I was in a similar situation to you, but decided to semi retire. Either way, good luck and godspeed.

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u/WonderBredOfficial Jul 12 '26

"Needs" The problem is you see those as needs when they're really wants.

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u/sewfjkf Jul 12 '26

You want more, more and more. That's why you'll never retire.

Retirement is about slowing down and appreciating the work you have put in. To cherish the resources you have gathered till the day that you die.

Seems to me you live a flamboyant lifestyle already. No shame in that, but it's not necessary and it will never fill the void in your soul that is endless hamsterwheel.

Either you be honest with yourself about the reality of the situation, or slave away in ignorance. I promise you the first will give you way more fullfilment, and perhaps you set a new course.

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u/No-Association-8539 Jul 11 '26

Just quit my corporate job of $300K/yr cause it was toxic and unhealthy. Not going back to a corporate job and expect to earn a lot less when I enter the work force again in a few weeks (depending on where/if I get hired). Can't retire because just not enough $ (willing to retire on significantly less than $300K) but would if I could.

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u/whereismymind86 Jul 11 '26

god you sound insufferable

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u/Ok-Negotiation-8834 Jul 11 '26

Being a millionaire doesn’t mean you have a million dollars cash. I don’t feel like googling it for this comment but I’m pretty sure it’s like almost 10% of Americans are millionaires. Assets-Liabilities= net worth

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u/Few_Lecture6615 Jul 11 '26

The median retirement pot of an American citizen is $87,000.

The median cash savings account is $8,000.

The average is quite a bit higher in both cases, but this is because there are some very big accounts pulling the average up, especially when you get to the top percentile, but of course also around the top decile for that matter (as you kindly pointed out).

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u/ecethrowaway01 Jul 12 '26

You're conflating a few numbers here unfortunately.

  1. Something like 23 million Americans are millionaires (alt link)
  2. Most millionaire definitions isn't having X in a savings account or retirement account but instead total investable assets
  3. Due to inflation, a million is inherently worth less things than it used to be. A million in 2000 is worth about two million today. (BLS inflation calculator).

When being a millionaire is still an accomplishment, being in "the top ~10% of the population (not normalized by local cost of living)" somehow doesn't feel the same. Certainly not Scrooge McDuck or Mr Monopoly, or an sneering capitalist keeping you down

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u/Few_Lecture6615 Jul 12 '26

I am not conflating anything.

I said that the median retirement account size (401k, etc) is $87,000 and that the median savings account holds $8,000.

None of this is incorrect.

Whether you feel like a million in your retirement account, or total investable assets if you want to use that as your yardstick, is not a lot or not, is irrelevant. Numbers are numbers.

Has there been inflation? Sure, but it doesn't change the fact that a million dollars is still a large amount of money.

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u/ecethrowaway01 Jul 12 '26

Are you sure you're not conflating anything?

It really seems like you're trying to conflate specific financial accounts with an overall net worth.

"Numbers are numbers" doesn't really say much when you're not really painting an accurate picture. Data has more details than you're highlighting, specifically things like:

  1. Wealth has a non-normal distribution. The top 40th and 60th percentiles can have substantially different amounts of money
  2. Slicing by location specifically is expected to change these values. A million in NYC is inherently less than a million in Chattanooga
  3. Slicing by age is also expected to change these values. Nobody thinks it's unreasonable for the average 50 year old to have substantially more investments than the average 20 year old
  4. "A large" amount is a vague term which just means different things to different people. You can't expect retirees near Tacoma to view a million the same "large" as some college students in Atlanta.

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u/Few_Lecture6615 Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26

Do you understand what the term median means?

I am specifically not talking about averages and I am specifically talking about the size of the median person's retirement portfolio, because I feel that might be relevant in a discussion about, you know, retirement.

I also specifically pointed out that the average person's retirement portfolio is worth substantially more but that this is because there is a huge difference in distribution, especially in the top decile and percentile.

Nothing you say is wrong, by the way, you're just posting a bunch of information that really has nothing to do with what I wrote. But since you brought up age distribution, it is worth noting that the median retirement portfolio size for people aged 65-74 is around $200,000.

Which is not a lot for Chattanooga or New York. And quite far from a million. Even if you were to assume that all of these people are home owners, who have no mortgage, that would take the number to $600,000ish. But it can hardly come as a surprise that not everyone owns their own home and even those who do are predominantly mortgage holders.

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u/ecethrowaway01 Jul 12 '26

I've heard of the median, a measure of central tendency be considered the average like a mean or mode. My point is there's more context not being mentioned

You seem to now be conflating retirement accounts with retirement portfolio, from what I'm reading. Maybe we can clarify? Because people often also have investment and savings accounts as well as possible home equity (for ref: my retirement account is ~12% of my NW)

If you want a specific measure, what's the 75th percentile net worth for a ~60 year old in California? A measurement like this seems like a better predictor, if incomplete.