Your Retirement Anxiety Can’t Be Cured Online
When it comes to saving for their retirement, too many millennials rely on free advice they find on social media.
Retirement benchmark.
Photographer: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images EuropeThe often-cited goal of having a $1 million retirement nest egg needs to be retired itself. Adjusted for inflation , it would take nearly $1.9 million to have the same purchasing power today as in 1999, when the oldest of millennials were just turning 18. Granted, $1 million still sounds like a lofty sum to many Americans, which could be why so many are nervous that they won’t reach the double-comma club by retirement.
What makes me anxious for my fellow millennials, however, is how many are relying on social media, YouTube, podcasts and cable news for free advice about how to build their retirement plans. All these platforms are loaded with unreliable information that could create unrealistic expectations.