Can Millennials Retire Comfortably at Their Preferred Age of 59?

This has been an oft-debated question for years now, and the latest to weigh in is Dogecoin creator Billy Markus who poked fun at the great contrast

Millennials have long targeted an ideal retirement age of 59, but achieving this goal may prove challenging given their current savings habits, as highlighted by Dogecoin creator Billy Markus.

Joining forces in 2013, Markus and Jackson Palmer created Dogecoin, which entered the market that December. As the largest meme coin available, it currently boasts a market cap of $17.6 billion, ranking ninth among all cryptos today. Its use cases have also expanded beyond entertainment to include applications like remittances, as we reported recently.

Famously, Markus sold all his DOGE in 2015 following a layoff, missing out on the meme coin's massive explosion, which has seen it surge over 200x since launch. Remaining an influential thought leader in the crypto industry, his latest musings on Twitter تناولوا تقاعد جيل الألفية.

In social media circles, Markus is known as Shibetoshi Nakamoto. He noted that millennials believe they need $1.65 million to retire comfortably, a figure that emerged from a Northwestern Mutual report. According to the report, millennials themselves stated that this is the optimum amount they require. However, the same report also found that on average, this generation has only managed to squirrel away $62,600 in retirement savings.

This leaves a gap of around $1.5 million that some millennials have a minimum of 16 years and a maximum of 31 years to plug. This is because millennials are the generation born between 1981 and 1996, currently aged between 28 and 43.

millennials believe they will need ~$1.65 million to retire comfortably

millennials have saved ~$62,600

millennials expect to retire by age 59

?

— Shibetoshi Nakamoto (@BillyM2k) July 17, 2024

While $1.65 million seems like an overly ambitious figure (at least according to the study), many of the replies to the Dogecoin founder indicated that a large number of millennials believe that even this amount might not be sufficient. Others poked fun at the projected average savings, claiming that millennials are unlikely to have saved that much. Coincidentally, the average savings for millennials happened to coincide with Bitcoin’s average price at the time Markus posted on X.

Crypto as a Retirement Plan?

Markus’ sentiments naturally lead to the question—can crypto be considered a viable retirement plan? Opinions on this matter vary greatly. Some point out that over the past decade, crypto has been the best-performing asset class, easily outpacing stocks and gold. This view is further supported by success stories, such as one former warehouse manager who managed to retire on his Shiba Inu earnings.

Take Dogecoin for instance; ten years ago in July, it was trading at 0.0002452. Today, it trades at $0.1201, having clocked gains of 48,880% during that time. If you had invested $1000 in DOGE a decade ago, it would be valued at $48.8 million today, more than enough to set you up for retirement.

In comparison, if you had invested $1,000 in the S&P index (which tracks the 500 largest companies in the US stock market), it would have yielded $180,000. A similar investment in gold wouldn’t even have doubled today.

The real outlook is much more nuanced, however, as volatility comes into it. It’s also worth noting that some cryptocurrencies that were big in 2014 have since collapsed, but gold and stocks have been a much more guaranteed investment.

Investing all the retirement savings in crypto may not be the wisest idea. However, allocating a portion of this fund could yield great dividends, which is what most wealth advisers recommend. Studies show that the number of people taking this route is increasing steadily.

“When making this decision, investors should consider their crypto allocation in the context of their broader investment portfolio, risk appetite, and income needs,” advises Grayscale’s Rayhaneh Sharif-Askary.

Recommended for you: