More facts about millionaires

[disneysteve]

In a recent thread I posted some stats about millionaires: https://www.savingadvice.com/forums/...lionaires.html

Here is some more info, particularly geared toward retirement, also from a recent Money magazine article. More than 2,000 wealthy investors were surveyed by UBS for this data.

- You will still need to invest in stocks for growth. More than 60% of those surveyed hold 50% or more of their assets in stocks, even into their 70s and 80s.

- Think globally. Among Americans with between 100K and $1 million in assets, only 28% invest outside of the US. But among the ultra-rich, 50% invest internationally.

- Keep it simple. Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of wealthy investors rely on plain old mutual funds and ETFs as the foundation of their portfolio. The rich aren't all out investing in hedge funds and venture capital deals.

It's the same stuff many of us here preach over and over again. It's just nice to see that the wealthy really do follow all of this advice.

[Gailete]

You will still need to invest in stocks for growth. More than 60% of those surveyed hold 50% or more of their assets in stocks, even into their 70s and 80s.

With the increased longevity of people in the US these days, I always wonder why people still get advice that as they get near 65 or retirement age, that they should be pulling out of stocks, and investing in bonds, etc. Perhaps that date range should be changed to 70-75 to perhaps withdraw some from stocks. As if they don't need their money to keep growing to keep up with inflation as they may live to be in their 80-90's is not rare anymore. My parents and hubby’s parents are all well into their 80's and still living at home on retirement funds. My grandparents on one side lived to a ripe old age as did most of their 16 kids. We are talking in the 90's here. I don't think this is unique any more.

I knew a woman once from where I did therapy. When she died, and I read her obituary, she was 90 years old, had retired from teaching at the age of 45, period. She had been retired for half of her life!!! She was a math teacher so maybe that was her secret or perhaps her parents left her an inheritance. I don't know, but that woman somehow lived 45 years on retirement funds and close to 20 of those years without SS! Amazing. I would have loved to ask her what her financial secrets might have been. I could tell by the clothes she wore that she wasn't shopping at KM and WM for them so she wasn’t living in poverty.

[prosper]

With the increased longevity of people in the US these days, I always wonder why people still get advice that as they get near 65 or retirement age, that they should be pulling out of stocks, and investing in bonds, etc. Perhaps that date range should be changed to 70-75 to perhaps withdraw some from stocks. As if they don't need their money to keep growing to keep up with inflation as they may live to be in their 80-90's is not rare anymore. My parents and hubby’s parents are all well into their 80's and still living at home on retirement funds. My grandparents on one side lived to a ripe old age as did most of their 16 kids. We are talking in the 90's here. I don't think this is unique any more.

I knew a woman once from where I did therapy. When she died, and I read her obituary, she was 90 years old, had retired from teaching at the age of 45, period. She had been retired for half of her life!!! She was a math teacher so maybe that was her secret or perhaps her parents left her an inheritance. I don't know, but that woman somehow lived 45 years on retirement funds and close to 20 of those years without SS! Amazing. I would have loved to ask her what her financial secrets might have been. I could tell by the clothes she wore that she wasn't shopping at KM and WM for them so she wasn’t living in poverty.

Pension???

[Gailete]

Obviously I don't know what she was living on, but she died about 15 years ago , so it has been 60 years since she stopped working. That makes it in the early to mid 1950's that she retired. What kind of pensions did single school teachers get at that point in time? I have no clue, but would it have been a pension with decent COLA raises, unlike SS, I don't know. My point being that this woman spent half her life retired and it takes a decent amount of money to do that. Most 45 year olds today, if they want to retire, would really have to work at it to be able to cover all their income and benefits that they got when working. Especially if they plan on living another 40+ years!

I guess that is why I don't understand why so many soon to be retireed folks are counseled to get out or at least decrease stocks around age 65, if not earlier, when their life span could go on for another 20-25 years if not more. I know how the cost of living has gone up over the 20-30 years, and having my retirement funds stuck in a fund that might keep up with inflation and maybe barely the increase in the costs of just about everything. Seems like that date should be pushed back, at least for those with not a lot of funds, depending on personal circumstances, to being older before getting out of stocks as much.

30 years ago I remember being so excited to get my first nursing paycheck as a new grad for $9.32/hour. It was my first non-minimum wage paycheck. I felt rich! A year or so ago my youngest told me how much he was making an hour and it was right around that amount, and for the most part he had little in spare money. That money even with raises since then, barely supports a frugal guy! The COL marches on. Which is why I think that a person should, even when retiring, evaluate whether or not to back off on their investments that soon or not.