Do Retirees Actually Run Out of Money? (Federal Reserve Data)

In 2004, the Federal Reserve surveyed 515 households aged 65 to 74, people born in the 1930s. Every survey after that has the same generation in it, all the way to 2022, when they were 83 to 92. I counted all seven surveys in the Fed's raw files to see what happened to their money. In this video: • Where this generation started in 2004: typical net worth about $300,000, savings about $52,000 • What the 2008 crash did to their savings and to their net worth • How many spent more than their income, survey by survey, after the paychecks stopped • Retirement accounts vs. the house: which one went down • Couples becoming one: from 58 in 100 households to 32 in 100 • How many ran low (under $10,000 in savings) • Typical net worth at 83 to 92, and three things that push that number up • Today's 65 to 74 year olds next to this generation at the same age CHAPTERS 0:00 Did they spend it by 90? 1:40 2004: the starting line 2:43 2008: the worst crash since the Depression 4:53 The paychecks stop 5:58 Retirement accounts vs. the house 7:27 Couples become one 9:13 How many ran low? 10:38 The line, survey by survey 12:32 Three things that push the number up 14:22 Today's retirees vs. their parents 15:40 18 years in one picture SOURCES Federal Reserve, Survey of Consumer Finances 2004, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019 and 2022 (every percentage and median in this video was counted from the public summary extract files): https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scfindex.htm Data file used: https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/files/scfp2022excel.zip (change the year for the earlier surveys) IRS Publication 590-B (required minimum distributions; for this generation they began at 70½): https://www.irs.gov/publications/p590b Social Security, survivors benefits: https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/survivors/ Chetty et al., "The Association Between Income and Life Expectancy in the United States, 2001-2014," JAMA, 2016: https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2016.4226 How I counted it: households whose head was born 1930 to 1939 (65 to 74 in 2004, 83 to 92 in 2022), weighted with the survey's own weights. The Fed interviews different families each time, so this follows the same birth years, not the same households. The group gets smaller over time (515 households in 2004, 128 in 2022), and people with more money tend to live longer, which lifts the later numbers; the video says so. "Savings" means all financial assets: bank accounts, retirement accounts, stocks, funds and the like, not the house or the car. "Net worth" is everything owned minus everything owed. All amounts are in 2022 dollars, using the Fed's own inflation adjustment. Before using the files, I checked them against the Fed's published tables (median net worth for households 65 to 74: $298,856 in 2004, $410,000 in 2022), and they matched. The survey can't say why the numbers moved, so the video doesn't either. This channel is educational only and is not financial, tax, legal or investment advice. Old Man Miller is a fictional animated narrator, not a financial advisor. Research and script by the channel's creator. #retirement #retirementsavings #federalreserve