Democratic Primaries
In reply to the discussion: Bernie Sanders Is Not That Rich for Someone His Age [View all]karynnj
(59,498 posts)Remember it includes their house. Many people his age have homes where they paid off the mortgage even if they stuck with a 30 year old. In many areas, that alone may be $500,000.
Then if they set up a 401k or their company had an ESOP plan where each year they got a small amount of their company's stock they could have $500,000 in retirement plans. The idea would be to augment what they get in social security. If they had company help with a stick plan of any kind they benefited from being employed during a more equitable time than now. In many cases, the unions fought hard for pensions and retirement plans.
In fact, during one of the SS debates around 2005, many people spoke of how retirement was a three legged stool with defined benefit pensions, and savings being the other tool. Their point was that many lost or never could get the other two legs.
Someone old enough to have benefited from better benefits that led to retirement savings could live an upper middle class life during their retirement. From the outside, they would be seen as living a comfortable life, but not as a super wealthy person.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden