World stock markets are worth estimated $50 Trillion. Gold available in the world estimated $40 Trillion. World real estates are worth estimated $500 Trillion. So estimated $600 Trillion to $1000 Trillion is waiting for you, Go for it. Fortunes are Made During Market Crashes When you make the right decisions.
My view is most fortunes are made after market crashes. "Those who sold while everyone was still buying became millionairs and those who bought while everyone was still selling became billionairs"
America has 8.4 million millionaires. In 2010 America added 600,000 millionaires. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/7475023.html
I think majority of fortunes are made by daily traders. If daily trader sells his shares are $40 and he buy it at $34 and sells it again at $38 and so on. Also investor who sells shares, gold, silver, properties at high prices, they also earn earn fortunes.
And every year, as the value of the dollar declines, the equating of "millionaire" with "rich" becomes more and more meaningless. I'd say the minimum amount for a modest retirement is about $2 million dollars. This is for a middle class retirement, not living the life of the rich.
if you retire at 65 with 2 mil,and live til 90,that's 80k per year,that's not enough when you consider the likelihood of your children /grandchildren needing some help along the way
Unless of course you were fortunate enough enough to be able to participate in a properly managed defined benefit plan, and smart enough to take advantage of it; one like Social Security, but with greater contributions allowed. Then you can retire comfortably on much less because those who die relatively young will furnish the capital for those who live an unusually long time. You trade off the possibility of leaving some retirement savings to your heirs in exchange for lower monthly contributions during your working years. You end up with a similar monthly pension, just as if you had set aside ~2 million in a private pension plan you could not outlive, assuming the actuaries have done their job properly! In the defined benefit plan, however, you exhaust your own contributions first, as in a state sponsored plan, and after that, and upon your death, any amount contributed by your sponsoring agency on your behalf that remains is used to bolster the retirement benefits of those who live longer. You estate gets nothing. Or in the particular case of Social Security, your benefits end when you die. You don't get any of your contributions refunded, even if you haven't used them all. (Or you can trade off a lower monthly pension for continued support of a spouse, after your death. And too, Social Security provides a disability benefit, that in the case of private plans has to be purchased separately. Incidentally the disability part is in a separate fund, and it is in that fund where most of the adjustment is needed to keep Social Security sound into the foreseeable future.) All in all, the defined benefit plan is far better for middle class workers, and essential for low wage earners. The wealthy don't need it at all, and have no interest in defined benefit plans. And Wall Street sees them as a potential goldmine of fees and is doing all that it can to spread false rumors about defined benefit plans, particularly Social Security, and lobby for any legislative measures that will weaken Social Security. They are going to do their best to kill Social Security, one small step at a time. Wall Street's ideal world is one where everyone has a privately funded, individual retirement plan, despite the simple reality that the poor can only afford a plan with shared risk, and universal participation. What Wall Street will reap, if they succeed, is not the happy paradise they envision, but a world behind high walls and locked doors, protected by machine gun carrying guards. The change needed, according to the most recent summary report of the Social Security Administration is a two cent increase per earned income dollar. Wall Street always reports this as a 16% increase! And it is! A 16% increase on the current, small 12.5 cents per dollar put into the plan. (A wonderful example of how figures don't lie, but liars figure!) What is not at all a trivial problem for Social Security, is the excessive military and medical spending in the U.S. U.S. medical delivery is the most inefficient in the world, roughly twice the cost of other developed nations, with a worse outcome. U.S. military spending nearly exceeds that of all other nations combined, and by the time interest and future veterans benefits are included amounts to nearly $4000 per capita per annum. It is these two expenditures that are endangering the future of Social Security, because the U.S. Government does not have enough revenue to pay on bonds in the Trust Fund without more borrowing. Drastic fiscal constraints in military and medical spending are absolutely needed, and needed soon. Without those cuts, the U.S, is certain to experience more debt monetization and future inflation that will erode the buying power of future Social Security benefits. Even though benefits are indexed to inflation, it is the official inflation figure, not actual inflation rate, that is used in making the adjustment. (The Federal Reserve has absolutely ruled out deflation, and they are correct to do so. Considering the current level of U.S. debt and projected revenue shortfalls, deflation would be an unmitigated disaster.) What is happening at this very moment in United State history is that a reduction in Social security benefits is being seriously considered. This will result in a slowing of the rate at which the trust fund must redeem its bonds. While this will reduce government borrowing, it will at the same time effectively rob Social Security by the back door; the amount to be stolen has already been used to subsidize the military industrial complex and the medical industry. This is a diabolical plan, and it's completely contrary to congresses intention when they set aside Social Security contributions in a Trust that, by law, could only be used for Social Security. Write to your congressmen and object!
I assume that a person with $2 million in savings is going to put it in a combination of corporate bonds, BDCs, income trusts and the like. An overall yield of 5% (100,000 pre-tax) should be possible, without touching the principal. I never expected my 65 year old parents to give me a dime (the notion that they owed their fully adult children anything strikes me as absurd). So no, I would not plan my retirement under the assumption that I will be giving significant amounts to my adult children.
Nobody who isn't a government employee gets a defined benefit retirement plan anymore. They are gone from private industry. Gone. People now in their mid fifties are in the last tranche of private sector workers with a defined benefit retirement plan. The people who follow them don't have one.