Quote:
Originally Posted by GoRedSox!
If you have cash savings, you have real interest income for the first time in over a decade. If that fixed income is Social Security, it’s gone up 17.8% in the last 3 years. If you own a home, the value is up significantly. If you have stock investments, the market is at an all time high. If your IRA or 401k is invested in the market, that all time high has likely boosted the value a lot, which increases the annual distribution you can take. I think it’s fair to say that the last few years have been financially good for many seniors.
|
Not exactly.
Social Security doesn't keep up with inflation. It may have increased but those relying on it lost ground.
Home value is irrelevant unless you own a second home that you are willing to sell. Any increase in your primary home is a wash since selling for a profit would require purchasing a home that has also increased in value.
The market has been good for the last 12 months or so but that has only been sufficient to recover from the losses in the 18 months before that. By leaving my investments and 401K alone, it has finally climbed back to where it was at the end of 2021. If any seniors had found it necessary to make withdrawals during those 18 months when the market was down then their accounts have not regained the lost value.
SS has lost ground, increases in home prices are a wash, and investments that have taken withdrawals have not recovered. The last 12 months have been better than the previous 18 but the last few years have not been good to seniors at all.