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WSJ: Gen X is poor

https://www.wsj.com/personal-finance/retirement-gen-x-money-...
blathering immigrant sneaky criminal
  08/21/24
...
puce son of senegal
  08/21/24
...
maize center
  08/21/24
post text pls
maize center
  08/21/24
the one good use of Drake Mallard tp
Brilliant Wrinkle
  08/21/24
I miss drake We need him TF back STAT fuck EPAH. Was...
haunting private investor
  08/21/24
...
Hairraiser Splenetic Plaza
  08/21/24
url says it all imo.
Sick office cumskin
  08/21/24
“John Kotrides, a 54-year-old living near Charlotte, N...
Vermilion tanning salon
  08/21/24
Those unexpected mid sized expenses like repairs, medical bi...
blathering immigrant sneaky criminal
  08/21/24
These "repairs" were probably shit like remodeling...
ocher school cafeteria cuckoldry
  08/21/24
This guy sounds like a fucking moron
diverse organic girlfriend
  08/21/24
how bout this guy: "Scott Zibel, a 56-year-old in ...
Vermilion tanning salon
  08/21/24
Lots of people like this who cash out in market declines or ...
Carmine erotic property halford
  08/21/24
my first boss (solo and closeted gay) told me his wife, a sc...
Vermilion tanning salon
  08/21/24
Right, common story. It's amazing the number of people makin...
Carmine erotic property halford
  08/21/24
nobody understands money or math or the stock market
geriatric partner internal respiration
  08/21/24
...
Razzmatazz area
  08/21/24
These stories are all basically about people making retarded...
ocher school cafeteria cuckoldry
  08/21/24
the system did fail them in the sense that finance isn't tau...
Vermilion tanning salon
  08/21/24
These people are all taught basic math and it doesn't stick;...
ocher school cafeteria cuckoldry
  08/21/24
i think this is unfortunately right. i've tried to explai...
Vermilion tanning salon
  08/21/24
yes. Most people will not remember what was taught, will not...
Carmine erotic property halford
  08/21/24
you can't solve stupidity individually but you can mitigate ...
Self-absorbed high-end kitchen
  08/21/24
they really should make some portion of everyone's ss money ...
Vermilion tanning salon
  08/21/24
You can't teach people with poor impulse control, no future ...
ocher school cafeteria cuckoldry
  08/21/24
Making people rely on their individual investing skills for ...
Claret new version
  08/21/24
So Jewish middlemen can make money.
Self-absorbed high-end kitchen
  08/21/24
"Don't trust tha govunment with ya Soshul Security, goy...
Claret new version
  08/21/24
It is frightening to consider what percentage of our "G...
Self-absorbed high-end kitchen
  08/21/24
You're right. The economy has been "financialized"...
Claret new version
  08/21/24
The people in charge of pensions don't charge any fees or ma...
Hairraiser Splenetic Plaza
  08/21/24
Not like some finance company, no.
Claret new version
  08/22/24
Crazy holdover from a time when people didn't believe you sh...
ocher school cafeteria cuckoldry
  08/21/24
You really get a sense traveling globally that healthcare co...
Scarlet ungodly site
  08/21/24
Examples
brindle godawful market ladyboy
  08/21/24
Singapore, Japan
Glassy hissy fit personal credit line
  08/21/24
Around 2007, Darling “Diva” Moore was at the pea...
Vermilion tanning salon
  08/21/24
I’m guessing none of the people mentioned ITT have kid...
Fighting lascivious mood
  08/21/24
The only thing missing from this story is buying a house wit...
ocher school cafeteria cuckoldry
  08/21/24
.
carnelian community account orchestra pit
  08/21/24
"Don't trust the system, man!" *gets two online d...
Razzmatazz area
  08/21/24
Boomers are the last gen to "retire", everyone kno...
Soul-stirring hideous hall
  08/21/24
There’s an entire cottage industry of selling web data...
Odious Rehab Fortuitous Meteor
  08/21/24
(Rachmiel having a Eureka moment)
Soul-stirring hideous hall
  08/21/24
...
puce son of senegal
  08/21/24
...
federal lodge factory reset button
  08/21/24
...
Fighting lascivious mood
  08/21/24
...
pearly stag film
  08/21/24
...
Grizzly jap
  08/21/24
...
Zippy Aggressive Box Office Deer Antler
  08/21/24
...
dashing abnormal national
  08/21/24
...
cocky trump supporter library
  11/24/24
post the article. Gen x'ers here dont have a subscription
beta business firm
  08/21/24
...
maize center
  08/21/24
Skip to Main Content Skip to... Select Explore Our Bran...
concupiscible impressive corn cake
  08/21/24
That headline is hilarious imho
vibrant doobsian piazza
  08/21/24
...
Fighting lascivious mood
  08/21/24
just wait for 10 years until they do the millennial roundup....
pale flatulent station genital piercing
  08/21/24
I’d bet that millennials have more savings than Gen X,...
maize center
  08/21/24
do you think so? i feel like they may be worse. not only bec...
Vermilion tanning salon
  08/21/24
Why would you think this? I'm sure they'll be even worse.
Razzmatazz area
  08/21/24
much worse.
pale flatulent station genital piercing
  08/21/24
Because Gen X is retarded and poor
vibrant doobsian piazza
  08/21/24
Gen X lost the generation.
Hairraiser Splenetic Plaza
  08/21/24
...
vibrant doobsian piazza
  08/21/24
Millennials devastated by ITE may have become more conservat...
ocher school cafeteria cuckoldry
  08/22/24
Gen X here. Can't afford WSJ subscription, please poast text...
chartreuse mind-boggling shrine
  08/21/24
Gen X here. Millennials seem much easier to beat and rob tha...
Glassy hissy fit personal credit line
  08/21/24
it's only because everyone knew gen x had nothing to rob
maize center
  08/27/24
...
vibrant doobsian piazza
  08/27/24
...
vibrant doobsian piazza
  09/24/24


Poast new message in this thread



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 9:18 AM
Author: blathering immigrant sneaky criminal

https://www.wsj.com/personal-finance/retirement-gen-x-money-a42bad7b

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47988908)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 9:21 AM
Author: puce son of senegal



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47988926)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 9:22 AM
Author: maize center



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47988933)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 9:27 AM
Author: maize center

post text pls

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47988946)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 9:27 AM
Author: Brilliant Wrinkle

the one good use of Drake Mallard tp

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47988952)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 9:56 AM
Author: haunting private investor

I miss drake

We need him TF back STAT

fuck EPAH. Wasn’t it enough he literally killed Halford tp? Now we lose yet another quality poster to his evilness. Fuck that guy.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989025)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 7:40 PM
Author: Hairraiser Splenetic Plaza



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47991306)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 10:24 AM
Author: Sick office cumskin

url says it all imo.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989097)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 9:45 AM
Author: Vermilion tanning salon

“John Kotrides, a 54-year-old living near Charlotte, N.C., had contributed to 401(k)s ever since he started his career in banking about three decades ago. But whenever he moved to a different employer, he usually cashed out his 401(k) because there was a more urgent expense, such as a home repair or moving costs.

Keeping the money invested in the stock market didn’t seem worth it after witnessing crashes like the bursting of the dot-com bubble. Retirement seemed far away. “

This entire article gives me anxiety

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989002)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 9:48 AM
Author: blathering immigrant sneaky criminal

Those unexpected mid sized expenses like repairs, medical bills, etc. are what really get the middle class. Very tough for them to get ahead.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989009)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 6:02 PM
Author: ocher school cafeteria cuckoldry

These "repairs" were probably shit like remodeling his kitchen

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47990935)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 9:49 AM
Author: diverse organic girlfriend

This guy sounds like a fucking moron

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989011)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 9:53 AM
Author: Vermilion tanning salon

how bout this guy:

"Scott Zibel, a 56-year-old in Leominster, Mass., started putting money in a 401(k) when he began working at a grocery store at 15. His father encouraged him to contribute. The account grew as he continued working at the store through college and became a manager. In his early 30s, he became an English teacher and expects to receive a pension after retiring.

When the stock market crashed in 2020 at the onset of the Covid pandemic, he and his wife pulled the money in his wife’s 401(k) out of the market and into a money-market fund. Now they have reinvested the money, but put a greater portion of it into bonds than before.

I’m grateful for the 401(k), but there’s no guarantees as well,” he said, estimating his household retirement savings at a little over $1 million.

Zibel feels prepared for retirement but says he has to live frugally to save. He has driven the same car for 12 years and has avoided pricey expenses such as new carpeting for his 30-year-old home."

he's better off than most, but seems like a retard with investments, so my guess is he and his wife will have like $1.3 million when he hits 65.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989020)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 9:56 AM
Author: Carmine erotic property halford

Lots of people like this who cash out in market declines or invest all in dumb shit like treasuries because they are afraid of a decline in a portfolio they probably won’t use for 30 years. It’s not hard to save enough for retirement but most people are retarded, impulsive beasts.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989027)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 10:03 AM
Author: Vermilion tanning salon

my first boss (solo and closeted gay) told me his wife, a schoolteacher, invested the max in her retirement account (whatever public teachers get to use) and put everything in treasuries because she "didn't trust" the stock market.

this guy has to be worth at least $20 million if i had to guess. his wife is a birdbrained retard.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989047)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 10:46 AM
Author: Carmine erotic property halford

Right, common story. It's amazing the number of people making catastrophically stupid decisions with their retirement portfolios.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989180)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 2:09 PM
Author: geriatric partner internal respiration

nobody understands money or math or the stock market

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47990037)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 11:14 AM
Author: Razzmatazz area



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989277)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 11:20 AM
Author: ocher school cafeteria cuckoldry

These stories are all basically about people making retarded financial decisions and concluding that the system failed them

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989307)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 11:29 AM
Author: Vermilion tanning salon

the system did fail them in the sense that finance isn't taught in our retarded ass school system. these people all fail to understand very basic concepts that anyone with any curiosity or initiative learned on their own. it really should be a priority to teach middle/high schoolers the basics of finance and investing.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989357)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 1:34 PM
Author: ocher school cafeteria cuckoldry

These people are all taught basic math and it doesn't stick; all this will do is create useless teaching jobs and classes where disinterested kids try to calculate compound interest

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989873)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 1:40 PM
Author: Vermilion tanning salon

i think this is unfortunately right.

i've tried to explain investing and compound interest/returns to my friends as well as my wife, and it just goes over their heads. my wife is intelligent too, but she's just like "what"

i was telling my one friend about the magic of compound returns the other day. he told me yesterday that he told his financial planner "yo, my friend told me about compound interest. i need to be in that shit, nigga." (he's kind of a wigger). like, he thought that was somethign you invest in.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989905)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 1:42 PM
Author: Carmine erotic property halford

yes. Most people will not remember what was taught, will not to do their own research, will be too much emotional and unable to make good decisions even if they know intellectually what to do. The idea you can teach some mouth breathers in HS what they should do when they finally have money and they will remember is a fantasy. A lot of them don’t even have the common sense to not carry a CC balance. That isn’t education. It’s being stupid and impulsive.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989911)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 1:46 PM
Author: Self-absorbed high-end kitchen

you can't solve stupidity individually but you can mitigate it for large groups of people as a whole. even if smart or middling intellect people learn these concepts a few years earlier it will have been worth it.

and really no one argues for additional classes, replace some of the absolute garbage kids learn in school with a one hour basic finance module in middle school or early high school.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989926)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 3:19 PM
Author: Vermilion tanning salon

they really should make some portion of everyone's ss money a defined-contribution investment amount and come up with a handful of investment options that even a retard can understand.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47990314)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 5:06 PM
Author: ocher school cafeteria cuckoldry

You can't teach people with poor impulse control, no future time orientation and limited reasoning ability not to do stupid shit. Health class teaches kids to eat healthy and use condoms and they don't

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47990680)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 12:18 PM
Author: Claret new version

Making people rely on their individual investing skills for goddamn retirement is a stupid system. If they're all retarded why put them in charge of their own retirement?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989505)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 12:19 PM
Author: Self-absorbed high-end kitchen

So Jewish middlemen can make money.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989509)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 12:23 PM
Author: Claret new version

"Don't trust tha govunment with ya Soshul Security, goyim! Trust the financial industry! We will just collect a smawll annual (((fee))) hehe"

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989533)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 12:26 PM
Author: Self-absorbed high-end kitchen

It is frightening to consider what percentage of our "GDP" consists of fraud transfers like this. 25% or more must be from the inflated healthcare to insurance pipeline.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989544)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 12:39 PM
Author: Claret new version

You're right. The economy has been "financialized". Financing is not optimized as a means to expand operations, it's optimized as a means to expand other financial transactions. Companies will be shut down in the blink of an eye. No they don't need to hire people to keep anything running and they don't care if stuff doesn't run. It's so dumb how modern US apologists won't see this.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989587)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 7:48 PM
Author: Hairraiser Splenetic Plaza

The people in charge of pensions don't charge any fees or make any money?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47991321)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 22nd, 2024 3:21 AM
Author: Claret new version

Not like some finance company, no.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47992599)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 1:31 PM
Author: ocher school cafeteria cuckoldry

Crazy holdover from a time when people didn't believe you should depend on the government for everything

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989858)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 9:54 AM
Author: Scarlet ungodly site

You really get a sense traveling globally that healthcare costs hold us back tremendously.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989021)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 10:08 AM
Author: brindle godawful market ladyboy

Examples

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989064)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 10:12 AM
Author: Glassy hissy fit personal credit line

Singapore, Japan

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989072)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 9:54 AM
Author: Vermilion tanning salon

Around 2007, Darling “Diva” Moore was at the peak of her career as a managing partner at a title company in West Palm Beach, Fla. Then the housing market collapsed and her company went under. She couldn’t make rent on her apartment and had to crash with her significant other at the time, sometimes turning to sleeping on the beach or in the car.

“The Great Recession changed everything for us,” said Moore, who is 57. “After that, I don’t know how many Gen Xers trusted that system.”

After settling in Denver, more than two years went by before she landed a new job. She went back to school, getting an online bachelor’s degree in business management and master’s degree in human relations and organization development. Now she is self-employed as a career counselor.

As she is approaching her 60s, Moore is trying to locate money she contributed to various 401(k)s from jobs earlier in her career. Whenever she switched jobs, she didn’t rollover her balance to an IRA or new 401(k), so those accounts are scattered across plan providers. “In the ‘90s, they didn’t make it easy to find out where that money is,” she said.

She is also contending with student debt from a for-profit associates-degree program she completed in her 20s that has swelled to nearly $90,000 from around $27,000 due to interest.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989023)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 10:05 AM
Author: Fighting lascivious mood

I’m guessing none of the people mentioned ITT have kids?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989053)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 10:43 AM
Author: ocher school cafeteria cuckoldry

The only thing missing from this story is buying a house with an interest-only ARM in like 2006, but maybe they just left that out. Becoming a career counselor is a nice touch

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989166)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 1:41 PM
Author: carnelian community account orchestra pit

.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989907)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 11:15 AM
Author: Razzmatazz area

"Don't trust the system, man!"

*gets two online degrees*

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989286)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 9:59 AM
Author: Soul-stirring hideous hall

Boomers are the last gen to "retire", everyone knows this.

Xers, as always, will be transitional gen.

Millennials will replace retirement as a concept with medically assisted suicide, which will TAKE OFF in the 2030s and 2040s. All these unmarried childless people who hit 65-70yo with no dependents, no hoap, and the prospect of having to work to stay alive? they will check out

Actually I wonder if there is a way I can place market bets longing suicide companies

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989033)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 10:00 AM
Author: Odious Rehab Fortuitous Meteor

There’s an entire cottage industry of selling web data on suicidal people to governments

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989037)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 10:02 AM
Author: Soul-stirring hideous hall

(Rachmiel having a Eureka moment)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989044)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 10:07 AM
Author: puce son of senegal



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989061)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 10:11 AM
Author: federal lodge factory reset button



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989071)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 10:13 AM
Author: Fighting lascivious mood



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989077)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 1:38 PM
Author: pearly stag film



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989896)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 3:15 PM
Author: Grizzly jap



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47990295)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 7:48 PM
Author: Zippy Aggressive Box Office Deer Antler



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47991322)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 9:30 PM
Author: dashing abnormal national



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47991753)



Reply Favorite

Date: November 24th, 2024 2:06 PM
Author: cocky trump supporter library



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#48375918)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 10:04 AM
Author: beta business firm

post the article. Gen x'ers here dont have a subscription

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989048)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 10:17 AM
Author: maize center



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989083)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 12:14 PM
Author: concupiscible impressive corn cake

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David Bryan, with cap; Darling ‘Diva’ Moore, John Kotrides. PHOTO: ANDREW J. WHITAKER FOR WSJ, JIMENA PECK FOR WSJ, ANGELA OWENS/WSJ

As Generation X Approaches Retirement, Reality Still Bites

The ‘forgotten generation,’ born between 1965 and 1980, launched their careers at the start of a massive shift in how Americans work.

By Hannah MiaoFollow

Aug. 20, 2024 9:00 pm ET

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The oldest members of Gen X are turning 60 next year. Many can’t afford to stop working any time soon.

Born between 1965 and 1980, Gen Xers launched their careers at the start of a massive shift in how Americans work. Companies moved from pensions that promise steady income after years of service, to plans such as 401(k)s that place employees’ retirement destiny in their own hands.

Some Gen Xers were hit hard in their prime working years during the 2008 financial crisis. Others are still paying off student debt. Their children are increasingly living at home well into adulthood, while their own aging parents often require care. Few believe they can rely on Social Security to make ends meet later in life.

By some measures, Gen Xers are worse off financially than their baby boomer predecessors. The median household net worth of Gen Xers between 45 and 54 years old was about $250,000 in 2022, about 7% lower than that of baby boomers at the same age in 2007, according to inflation-adjusted Federal Reserve data. That was the only age group that experienced a drop in median wealth over the 15-year period.

David Bryan, 55, earns about $35,000 a year as a school-bus driver and lives on Tybee Island, Ga. He doesn’t own property and has about $100,000 in retirement savings from his previous jobs as a railroad conductor and a researcher at a college foundation.

It’s a different life than that of his parents, who worked for decades for the sheriff’s department and the post office and received steady pension checks when they retired.

“As long as my body will let me, it’s better I keep working,” said Bryan.

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The roughly 65 million Americans in Gen X are sometimes referred to as the “forgotten generation,” sandwiched between the larger and louder baby boomer and millennial generations. They are also called the “latchkey generation,” often coming home from school as children to an empty house. Goldman Sachs Asset Management in a recent report called Gen X the “‘401(k) experiment’ generation.”

David Bryan, 55, is a school-bus driver in Georgia. Photo: Andrew J. Whitaker for WSJ

For decades, employers often supported loyal workers in old age through traditional pensions with set payouts for life. The advent of the 401(k) system pushed the responsibility on to the individual—and Gen X was caught squarely in the transition.

“Gen X is the first generation where they were mostly expected to figure out their retirement on their own,” said Jeremy Horpedahl, an economics professor at the University of Central Arkansas and director of the Arkansas Center for Research in Economics.

The early champions of the 401(k) never thought that it would become the dominant way most Americans save for retirement. It is named for a line in the tax code changed in 1978 that gave executives a tax-free way to defer compensation from bonuses or stock options. Human-resources executives and economists jumped on the 401(k) as a way to encourage saving for rank-and-file employees.

By the mid-1980s, the number of active participants in defined-contribution retirement plans—such as 401(k)s—overtook those in defined-benefit plans—such as traditional pension plans—in the private sector. Now, private pensions are rare.

When Gen Xers entered the workforce, the 401(k) was a new concept. Features such as automatically enrolling employees in a workplace plan and automatically increasing contributions every year didn’t become commonplace until later.

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Other common private retirement savings tools were also introduced in the last half-century. The individual retirement account—a tax-deferred investment vehicle—was authorized in 1974, while the Roth IRA—funded with posttax money, but tax-free when withdrawn—was established in 1997.

John Kotrides makes social-media content at his home. Photo: Angela Owens/WSJ

Gen Xers between 45 and 54 years old had a median account balance of roughly $60,000 in defined-contribution retirement plans at Vanguard Group in 2023, according to the firm. For most Americans, that is well below the target some financial experts recommend of having roughly six times one’s salary saved for retirement by age 50.

John Kotrides, a 54-year-old living near Charlotte, N.C., had contributed to 401(k)s ever since he started his career in banking about three decades ago. But whenever he moved to a different employer, he usually cashed out his 401(k) because there was a more urgent expense, such as a home repair or moving costs.

Keeping the money invested in the stock market didn’t seem worth it after witnessing crashes like the bursting of the dot-com bubble. Retirement seemed far away.

“You no longer have a generation of people whose employer took you from your first job into your retirement,” he said. “When we were offered 401(k)s, I don’t think that was a great deal.”

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Scott Zibel, right, and his wife Heidi. Photo: Ardon Zibel

Kotrides says he doesn’t have much in retirement assets, besides the home he owns, where he lives with his wife and two daughters, who are 12 and 20 years old. After quitting his job as a mortgage lender during the pandemic, he now works as a bartender part-time and earns most of his money making social-media content, mostly nostalgic videos about the 1970s through 1990s. He likes having more time to spend with his family.

“This is basically my retirement plan,” he said. “I truly assume that I’ll continue to work to provide for my family as long as I need to.”

Even those who have benefited from the 401(k) system say it hasn’t been easy.

Scott Zibel, a 56-year-old in Leominster, Mass., started putting money in a 401(k) when he began working at a grocery store at 15. His father encouraged him to contribute. The account grew as he continued working at the store through college and became a manager. In his early 30s, he became an English teacher and expects to receive a pension after retiring.

When the stock market crashed in 2020 at the onset of the Covid pandemic, he and his wife pulled the money in his wife’s 401(k) out of the market and into a money-market fund. Now they have reinvested the money, but put a greater portion of it into bonds than before.

“I’m grateful for the 401(k), but there’s no guarantees as well,” he said, estimating his household retirement savings at a little over $1 million.

Zibel feels prepared for retirement but says he has to live frugally to save. He has driven the same car for 12 years and has avoided pricey expenses such as new carpeting for his 30-year-old home.

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“My wife and I have done so much planning for the future with our money, it’s made living in the now difficult,” he said.

Darling ‘Diva’ Moore went back to school in recent years. Photo: Jimena Peck for WSJ

For some Gen Xers, the 2008 financial crisis was a hit that took years to recover from.

Around 2007, Darling “Diva” Moore was at the peak of her career as a managing partner at a title company in West Palm Beach, Fla. Then the housing market collapsed and her company went under. She couldn’t make rent on her apartment and had to crash with her significant other at the time, sometimes turning to sleeping on the beach or in the car.

“The Great Recession changed everything for us,” said Moore, who is 57. “After that, I don’t know how many Gen Xers trusted that system.”

After settling in Denver, more than two years went by before she landed a new job. She went back to school, getting an online bachelor’s degree in business management and master’s degree in human relations and organization development. Now she is self-employed as a career counselor.

As she is approaching her 60s, Moore is trying to locate money she contributed to various 401(k)s from jobs earlier in her career. Whenever she switched jobs, she didn’t rollover her balance to an IRA or new 401(k), so those accounts are scattered across plan providers. “In the ‘90s, they didn’t make it easy to find out where that money is,” she said.

She is also contending with student debt from a for-profit associates-degree program she completed in her 20s that has swelled to nearly $90,000 from around $27,000 due to interest.

More than a quarter of U.S. households led by Gen Xers between the ages of 45 and 54 had education loans in 2022, compared with about 15% of baby boomers at the same age in 2007, according to Fed data.

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Soaring tuition costs, sky-high rents and other inflationary pressures for Gen Z are also Gen X’s problem. Many Gen Xers have forked over tens of thousands of dollars for their children to attend college. Young people are also increasingly living with parents, or relying on them for financial support, well into adulthood.

Pamela Likos’s 21-year-old son lives at home with her in the suburbs of Madison, Wis., while another son and daughter are at college.

Pamela Likos and her family. Photo: Pamela Likos

“My kids are still definitely not grown and flown,” Likos said.

Some Gen Xers are simultaneously caring for aging parents, who are living longer than previous generations.

Likos isn’t in that situation yet, but her stepmother, who has Alzheimer’s, and her father are in their 80s.

“I need my parents to hang on healthwise for another five to 10 years because we are not ready to help financially, really,” she said.

Dede Nesbitt, left, and Avery Nesbitt, right, with children Ava and Aiden. Photo: Dede Nesbitt

Likos, who is 54, was the first person in her family to go to college, but didn’t work for about two decades after she got married and became a stay-at-home mom. When she got divorced about seven years ago, she found herself with no savings of her own and no resume to apply for jobs. She got a license to work as an esthetician for a few years and now is remarried. From her divorce, Likos received about half of her ex-husband’s 401(k), which comprises most of her plan for retirement.

The youngest members of Gen X are in their mid-40s, offering more time to boost savings ahead of retirement. Tyler Bond, the research director at the National Institute on Retirement Security, wonders if there will be diverging retirement experiences between the older and younger ends of the cohort.

“The older Gen Xers simply may not have time,” he said.

Avery Nesbitt, a 44-year-old operations manager in the Atlanta area, isn’t waiting for retirement to go on nice vacations or buy a new car because he wants to enjoy them now—and he doesn’t expect to be able to save up a cushy nest egg for later in life. If the Covid pandemic taught him anything, it was that anything can happen.

He and his wife have contributed modestly to employer-sponsored retirement accounts but didn’t feel like they could afford to save more. They own a home, where they live with their two children. That makes up the bulk of their wealth. He said he has put more money into life-insurance policies than in retirement accounts.

“I fully expect to work until I die,” Nesbitt said. “It is what it is.”

David Bryan sweeps the floor of a school bus at a fleet maintenance shop in August. Photo: Andrew J. Whitaker for WSJ

Write to Hannah Miao at hannah.miao@wsj.com

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(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989492)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 7:11 PM
Author: vibrant doobsian piazza

That headline is hilarious imho

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47991191)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 7:24 PM
Author: Fighting lascivious mood



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47991241)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 10:18 AM
Author: pale flatulent station genital piercing

just wait for 10 years until they do the millennial roundup. Saving / investment rates are atrocious compared to even GenXers

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989087)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 10:20 AM
Author: maize center

I’d bet that millennials have more savings than Gen X, at least the professional classes

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989089)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 12:25 PM
Author: Vermilion tanning salon

do you think so? i feel like they may be worse. not only because of spending habits but earning.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989541)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 1:30 PM
Author: Razzmatazz area

Why would you think this? I'm sure they'll be even worse.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989852)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 1:44 PM
Author: pale flatulent station genital piercing

much worse.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989918)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 7:03 PM
Author: vibrant doobsian piazza

Because Gen X is retarded and poor

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47991169)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 8:46 PM
Author: Hairraiser Splenetic Plaza

Gen X lost the generation.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47991579)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 8:52 PM
Author: vibrant doobsian piazza



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47991612)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 22nd, 2024 4:40 PM
Author: ocher school cafeteria cuckoldry

Millennials devastated by ITE may have become more conservative as a result

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47995053)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 1:46 PM
Author: chartreuse mind-boggling shrine

Gen X here. Can't afford WSJ subscription, please poast text, thank.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47989928)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 21st, 2024 7:17 PM
Author: Glassy hissy fit personal credit line

Gen X here. Millennials seem much easier to beat and rob than we were at that age.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#47991211)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 27th, 2024 1:04 PM
Author: maize center

it's only because everyone knew gen x had nothing to rob

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#48014302)



Reply Favorite

Date: August 27th, 2024 9:52 PM
Author: vibrant doobsian piazza



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#48016406)



Reply Favorite

Date: September 24th, 2024 8:49 PM
Author: vibrant doobsian piazza



(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5580076&forum_id=2#48128555)