this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2026
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A Boring Dystopia
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Very few retired people "earn a living on savings and investments". They barely have enough savings to withdraw necessities before they die.
Rich retired, yes, but the qualifier is rich, not retired.
I don't think that this is true in the United States. People do acrue wealth over their lives. I don't know where you are talking about, so it is quite possibility true for there.
This site breaks it down by age, and not as a simple average:
https://wealthvieu.com/personal-finance/net-worth/net-worth-by-age-percentile/
Anyway, if you are correct and retired people have no money then you disagree to the original post, since the whole thesis is that older generations are taking wealth from the younger generations!
I basically agree with that interpretation, since I think the main divide is capital versus working class.
I have several people in advanced age in my life who decided to retired because they can't physically work anymore, they have under $100k in retirement.
How long do you suppose they can live off that?
They saved their entire lives to have less than $100k, lived in the cheap parts of town, had shitty cars that constantly break down, never really spent much money on themselves, and what little they have to try to survive a few more years does not make them rich.
Richer than those who have nothing, sure. It's enough money to cover 3 more years? and then what? Just die?
I'm sorry that you have people you care about who are in a precarious financial position. That sucks for sure, and is a sign of how a capitalist society treats working class people who can no longer work.
I would advise between generalizing though. Even one older person who is basically told they can freeze to death or starve is terrible! But that doesn't mean that it is common.
It really doesn't matter either way though. All people should be able to live good lives, regardless of their age.
Totally. That's my point, just surviving capitalism and being able to "retire" doesn't mean you're suddenly rich or a capitalist who lives off interest on savings.
Yeah, that's the point of my original comment. I completely disagree that we should lump anyone who happens to have more than the bare minimum as part of the capitalist ruling class, who want for nothing and exploit others' labor for their benefit.
Being in the capital class means living by renting your possessions to workers and living off of them, or living by owning businesses and living off of the profits that your employees generate.
It doesn't mean anyone who has a nice life.
That's literally what I'm saying.
I was responding to this:
In Marxist theory, bourgeoisie is the capitalist ruling class, and retiring doesn't make you a part of that club.
Why shouldn't he generalize about poorness when others here are generalizing about wealth. If I look at my parents Gen around 1940s, most of them barely manage retirement. I'd say 75% get by, 20% do better and about 5% could be considered rich. Many are trying to hang on to the family home so that they might have an inheritance to leave. My Gen 1960s is similarly stratified although I think we have a slightly higher middle portion. However people are losing their jobs before retirement so that will eat up more of their 'wealth' just to survive. Another thing to consider, if the people who have been saving and building some pocket of wealth for 40+years are condemned for it, why should anyone under 30 be aiming to do that same wealth build? I know that my sons' cohort, who long complained they were never going to get on the ladder, are now in their 30s and marrying, buying homes and having children if they want them. That doesn't seem to be any different than my rural (poorer) cousins except they seem to be having even more children on average.
There is no difference between rich and retired.
If you are fortunate enough to retire in this economy, you’re rich.
You’re either rich enough to retire, or you work till you die.
no, the qualifier is "not broke" the fact so many people are broke is irrelevant to the definition of rich and middle class.