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Here are 7 scary stats that will make you ‘rethink’ retirement in America — know them now before it’s too late

Here are 7 scary stats that will make you ‘rethink’ retirement in America — know them now before you make your next big money move

Retirement should be a time when you get to relax and enjoy the fruits of your savings, but that may not be the case for many Americans.

According to Ramsey Solutions, some startling statistics suggest many Americans could be in for a tough time in their golden years. Preparing for retirement is essential, but these stats paint a scary picture that explains why many Americans aren’t preparing much at all.

If you’ve got your retirement top of mind and you don’t want to be included in this cohort, here are seven troubling retirement statistics that could scare you and your retirement savings into action.

In total, more than 90 million adults in the United States owe more to their credit card companies than the amount that they’ve saved for retirement. This is a huge problem, especially with credit card interest averaging 21.47% as of January 8, 2025.

Those with massive credit card debt who are paying these high rates have committed a lot of their current and future income to creditors, which of course makes it harder to save money for retirement. Americans saddled with heavy credit card debt also have compound interest working against them, as interest is added onto their balance and they end up paying interest on interest.

Credit cards are a handy financial tool, but racking up credit card debt can have a crippling effect on your ability to save for retirement.

Investing in the stock market is one of the best ways to prepare for retirement because your assets can earn higher returns than most other investments offer. The higher the returns, the harder your money works for you and the easier it is to build wealth.

Say, for example, you invest $500 a month for retirement every year for 30 years, putting the money into an S&P 500 index fund that has consistently earned a 10% average annual return (AAR) over many years. At the end of those 30 years, you’d have a nest egg worth $986,964.14.

But if you were to put $500 a month into a high-yield savings account earning an average of 2% AAR over 30 years (which would be pretty competitive over the long term), you’d have just $243,408.48.

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