What Is The Median Retirement Income In The United States?

Added: 2026-05-20

[00:00:00]What is the median retirement income in the US?

[00:00:04]So, I thought I knew because I know everything  about annuities. I'm Stan the Annuity Man, America's annuity agent, I'm licensed in  all 50 states and Puerto Rico. But I did do a little bit of research on this to give  you the stats, and the stats are troubling.

[00:00:21]Now, we're going to talk about solutions to that.  Hopefully, you have enough means to do that. But I think we're going into a tough place in the  country's history right now, and maybe it's always been like this, that retirement's  not on the horizon for a lot of people.

[00:00:40]So, I'm going to go over these stats as of  today's date. You can check the taping after this.

[00:00:53]Alright, so, sit down.  You're going to need to.

[00:00:58]The average for a household 65 or older: $56,000 per year. Individuals: $47,000 per year.

[00:01:11]Those are sobering. And I've been sober for 20  years. And I'm not making light of that.

[00:01:19]Lifetime income is the lifeblood of this country.  Forget oil, forget eggs, it's lifetime income.

[00:01:31]Now, Social Security, which everybody owns,  the best inflation annuity on the planet, no arguments and no arguments. It's an annuity.  It is. It was not put on the planet by our lovely friends in DC to be the primary lifetime  income source for most people. Unfortunately, it is the primary lifetime income source for most  people. And that's the reason you see those stats right there, which is 56,000-ish  for 65 and older, and for individuals, 47.

[00:02:12]I saw a stat the other day. It's pretty sobering  that the bottom 50% of the country pays between 2 and 3% in taxes. Top 10% pay over 70% in taxes.  This isn't a tax lecture, but what that does show you is that bottom 50%, I always say their  net worth is in their front right pocket, okay?

[00:02:36]And the vast majority of  senior citizen, baby boomers have an average of around $10,000 net worth. So, for you to be asking that can be two things. Number one, you're worried. You  want to actually add to your lifetime income stream. Annuities can do that. There's  four types: single premium immediate annuities, deferred income annuities, qualified longevity  annuity contracts, and income riders.

[00:03:02]You can go to my site. You can run quotes on  all of those. You can download free owner's manuals on all of those so you can learn.  You can email me at [email protected], and we can connect and talk about it. But lifetime income is going to be a political football coming up, okay? A long  time ago, there used to be what's called defined benefit plans, which were pensions.  But most defined benefit plans were converted into what's called defined contribution  plans. And those are 401(k)s, 403(b), 457.

[00:03:39]In other words, deferring growth, and  then when you retire, it's up to you to turn that into a lifetime income stream.  Hopefully, that's grown enough to where you can buy lifetime income with annuities. And you can use those dollar amounts on my site. You can put lifetime income  inside of an IRA, inside of a Roth IRA. So, traditional IRA, Roth IRA, non-IRA can go  in any type of account for lifetime income.

[00:04:05]But what I need you to do is focus on your  income floor. That's Social Security. That's the money coming into your bank account  every single month, kind of like clockwork.

[00:04:15]And if it's not enough, then you might want to  consider adding a lifetime income stream annuity.

[00:04:20]And we would structure it so it'd pay  for your life. But if you died early, the beneficiaries would get the money. That's a  big misconception that, well, I don't want to buy an annuity because if I die, money goes poof.  That's one of over 45 ways to structure it.

[00:04:35]And 1% of the immediate annuities we  sell, and we sell more than anybody, are life only. And that's when they say, "I don't  want anyone to get the money. I want the highest payment." Life only is the highest payment. But most people do life with cash refund, life with installment refund, life with a 20-year  period certain. They have a backstop in there in case something happens to them early in the  contract because you've worked hard for the money.

[00:05:00]I mean, if this wasn't such a sobering topic,  I'd probably sing the, was it Diana Ross? Yeah.

[00:05:09]No. Who did "Hard for the Money"? I don't  know. But it's good. I could do it. I might do it.

[00:05:19]But it's all about lifetime income.  Chapter two is about you. Chapter two is about putting together that income floor. Now, let's talk about that for a second as well. The median numbers I gave you:  household 65 and over, 56; individuals, 47,000. The fortunate part about Social Security,  it's the best inflation annuity on the planet.

[00:05:40]The next part, I need you to listen to me. I  don't care what anyone tells you, shows you, promises you, illustrates for you, there's not an  annuity on the planet that solves for inflation.

[00:05:50]You can buy annuities with cost-of-living  adjustment increases to the income, but the annuity company doesn't give that away.  Just visually, here's the annuity without the increase. Here's the one with the increase. For  the people listening, I've got one hand above my head and one hand around my stomach. Typically,  a seven- to nine-year break-even point for most people. Does it make sense? Most times, no. So, how do you do inflation? How do you address inflation? Remember the income floor,  and you have that amount that's coming in every month that you need to live well. If hyperinflation happens in the future and you say, "Okay, we need an extra $575  to make it happen and live well," then we do a reverse-engineer quote solving for  that 575 or whatever that amount is. You can do that reverse-engineer quote on  my site for free under no obligation.

[00:06:42]I think last month there was over a million  quotes run on the site. Million. That's crazy.

[00:06:50]I pay for it. I pay for every one. I'm not going  to tell you how much, but I pay for every one because I want it to be something that you  can quote and it not be a barrier to you, that you're not going to get a phone call. It's not like you're going to a car lot and somebody's following you around going, "You want  to buy? You want to buy? You want to drive it? You want to buy?" No, we're going to leave you alone. And then I've written these owner's manuals so you can study up on it. I've done a few thousand  videos so you can watch the thousands of videos that I've done as well. I've got a Fun with  Annuities podcast that you can watch as well, have guests on. And I do one video per day, 7  days a week, 365 days a year. That's what I'm committed to do to educate you on this, okay? So, you're thinking about, when you ask that question, you're either saying, "Am I in the  ballpark? Am I low or am I high?" Either way, those numbers are pretty low in  the world that we live in today.

[00:07:44]Check the data at the time of this taping.  Gas prices are high. I was in California recently and saw the gas prices. I was like,  "You got to be kidding me. That's crazy."

[00:07:54]But even, you know, I spend most of the  time in Florida. Our office is in Las Vegas, and I go back and forth between the  two. Florida is even high right now.

[00:08:04]So, it's going to get tough, and I think you're  going to see politicians start talking more and more about basic income, like everybody getting a  check. Don't know how that works mathematically.

[00:08:15]I saw where Elon Musk floated that the other day  because he thinks AI is going to help with that.

[00:08:22]That's not how this country was  built. This country was built on work ethic. But when it comes to lifetime  income, that's where we specialize, okay?

[00:08:30]I love lifetime income. I left Wall Street to  do this because people need lifetime income streams. People need to be able to take  some of their 401(k), some of their 403(b), some of their IRA, and convert it into lifetime  income streams for both you and your spouse, if that's applicable, and then make sure that  100% of the money goes to the beneficiaries if something happens to you early. But everybody in this country needs more pension-type money. Everybody,  without exception, or at least consider it.

[00:09:01]I did have a call the other day. Guy says, "Do I  need lifetime income?" He gave me his portfolio, and it was a big portfolio. I said, "No, you  don't. You don't need it. You really don't."

[00:09:11]So, do me a favor. Go to my site and noodle  around. No one's going to chase you. No one's going to call you, okay? And you can  get a lot of free information there, and you can get quotes 24/7/365. But do me one last favor. Above my head, I did a video on lifetime income, which is  apropos for this topic, but also addressing it from how is artificial intelligence,  AI, going to affect the annuity industry.

[00:09:35]I'm not political. I'm not Democrat or  Republican. I'm contractual. We only look at the contractual guarantees of the policy  for what it will do, not what it might do.

[00:09:44]But AI is going to change the game, it's going  to lengthen out life expectancy sooner than later. Need to put that in the back of your  head. Lifetime income is a bargain right now.

[00:09:52]Alright? My name is Stan the  Annuity Man. See you next time.