How much money do you need to retire? Experts answer the question and explain what went wrong.
"That also means there's quite a few people that haven't saved anything."
Experts answer how much money you need to retire, we're behind
If you're like many middle class Millennials then you've likely resigned yourself to never being able to retire. It's a running joke amongst people entering middle-age that their retirement age is death. Meaning they've accepted that they'll likely work until they die of old age because there's no way they'll be able to put away enough money in the next 20 plus years to be able to retire.
This isn't even just a Millennial issue, it's simply more wide spread for this particular generation as wages stagnate while the cost of existing continues to skyrocket. But we've seen adolescents open up GoFundMe pages for elderly workers at their local Walmart or McDonald's who were well past the age of retirement trying to make ends meet.
Millennials have been told since they were in middle school that social security would likely not be around when they were old enough to retire. But how did it come to this and exactly how much do you need in order to retire?
Vox conducted an interview with a couple of financial experts and people who would be considered middle class. The video opens up with Teresa Ghilarducci, a labor economist, that gives some staggering figures if you're one of those Americans already feeling behind on retirement.
"If you want to maintain your living standards that you have now or you'll have throughout your life, in the American system by the time you're 30 you should have about one times your current salary. By the time you're 40 you should have about two and a half or three times your salary. In your 60s you should have eight to ten times your annual salary," Ghilarducci reveals to Vox.
Those numbers seem unrealistic, even to the expert interviewed when looking at today's economy. She later explains why retirement is becoming an unachievable dream for many working Americans.
"The reason why a coal miner and a lawyer could expect to retire is because of the design of our pension system, which we don't have anymore. Your employer would put money aside for your retirement and that money couldn't be accessed by you. So the dollar that the employer put in on your behalf was put into a big pool of money and it was professionally invested and at the end of your working life, that money would be translated into a lifetime benefit."
According to both of the financial experts interviewed, the laws changed about 40 years ago switching things over to more of the system we recognize today. The entire video is extremely eye opening. Check it out below.
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There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
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Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."