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Well, guys, we're cooked. A new report shows that the median working age American has less than $1,000 saved for retirement. That's not a retirement plan. That's a Southwest flight and two airport margaritas. And that's if you don't check luggage. Thanks, Southwest. It's so much better now. Are you sure about that? Which is why today I'll be diving into the study that found this stat and crunching the other numbers in hopes of uncooking America. And if you watch to the end of the video, you'll get a custom letter grade for your retirement savings. So stick around for that. Before we get started, be sure to like the video and subscribe. And allow me to give a hat tip and a m' lady to my friends at Deleteme for sponsoring the channel. All right, let's start by looking at the study through a microscope. Literally. All right, I'm seeing a lot of micro spores in there. I don't know where they're making paper these days, but not good. The exact number the median working age American has saved for retirement is $955. And we know, thanks to a 2026 report from the National Institute on Retirement Security, or for short nirs, or phonetically nurse, not to be confused with the people who remind you of your weight and give you a shot straight to the keister. Why is it always to the keister? It hurts. And I'm self conscious. He got shot in the butt. This low number is forcing retirees to rely almost entirely on Social Security. Specifically, over half of the typical 65 year old's income comes from Social Security, with just 19% compared to coming from retirement plans. And that does not bode well, considering a report from the Social Security Administration's own website projects the Security Trust Fund reserves will be depleted in 2034, meaning benefits could be automatically reduced. And 2034 sounds like a long ways away. Except that it's eight years away. That's fun. Which is why I call it Social insecurity. Not proud of it. There's good news, though, because while you shouldn't rely on Social Security, you can still set yourself up for a solid retirement. How? Well, that study also answered why Americans have so little saved. Specifically, it revealed seven main retirement mistakes driving that horrible sub $1,000 number. And I'll go over each one to make sure you don't fall for the same trap. But I'm not just gonna read you a bunch of data like a finance professor. No, no, no. Nay, nay, I say we're Gonna turn this into a game. It's like fantasy football, but in a much more real sense. Nothing like that. Liar. So here's the rules. You're going to start by giving yourself seven points, just like in school. And if you just wrote your name, you got points. You get a trophy, my friend. So as we go through each mistake, you're going to take one point away for everyone that you are guilty of honor system. At the end, I'll tell you what letter grade your score translates to based on the only metric I ascribe to, which is the Camel Financial scoring system, TM or for short, kfss. Without further ado, let's see just how cooked you are. Now, we're going to start with the two mistakes that will keep you from even getting started with retirement investing. Number one, you're not saving anything for retirement. Now, sounds obvious, right? Maybe not, because almost 40% of working Americans aren't even participating in an employer retirement plan. Look, if you plant corn, you get corn. You plant nothing, you get nothing. Why do you even have a farm? Who gave you a farm? Where do people get farms? So here's the deal. If you have no consumer debt and you have emergency savings, but you have not opened a retirement account yet, get on it. So if you're not investing at all right now, take a point off your score. It's okay, you still got six more to go. Mistake number two. From the study, you make less than the median income. Now, if you have an income problem, it's going to be hard to build wealth. As Dave Ramsey has said for decades, your income is your most powerful wealth building tool. And per the study, workers in the bottom income quintile have only a 30% PROT participation rate in retirement plans, while workers in the top income quintile have an 87% participation rate. And you know this stat is legit because it uses the word quintile. We love a quintile. Now, assuming you're debt free with an emergency fund, you should be contributing to retirement regardless of how much you make. But as your income goes up and your margin increases, investing does get easier. And if you're contributing 15% of your household income like I recommend, your investing will increase as your income does. Think about it. 15% of 100 grand is more than 15% of 50 grand. So what exactly is the median income? Well, as of this recording, it's $45,140 for an individual or $83,730 for a household. So take a point away from your score if you make less than that individually or as a household. But don't stop there. Work on increasing your income over time. There are lots of great ways to do this. The best way is to work toward a promotion or raise at your current job. Maybe you need to get a better job altogether or even switch careers or get some more education to build those skills. And. And in the meantime, you can always start a side hustle. And if you want some ideas on which side hustles might be a good fit for you, I created a free side hustle quiz that you can get in the description below. I'll drop a link there. All right, with these next three mistakes, we are moving from obstacles to downright terrible, horrible, no good, very bad ideas that steal from your retirement. Starting with mistake number three. You have student loan debt. Now, the median defined contribution balance for workers with student loans is less than half of those without student debt. Specifically, median workers with an active 401k and no student loan debt have a median balance of around $38,000. But those with student debt, the number drops to just 16 grand. And if you've been watching this channel for more than like a week, you know two things. I love a good jacket and I hate debt. In that order. That's a nice jacket. But really, debt significantly limits your ability to invest. And this stat is proof positive. And it's exactly why I recommend getting out of debt before you start investing. And yes, you might delay some compound growth, but you'll also free up so much extra margin, not to mention eliminating a major stressor and payment. And you'll make up for lost time and then some. If you do it this way, focus on one thing at a time. Get rid of the debt, free up the margin, and you'll be able to build wealth exponentially for the rest of your life. So if you have student loans or really any consumer debt, car loans, credit cards, personal loans, you name it, then take a point away from your score and get to work on paying off all of your consumer debt using the debt snowball method. All right, mistake number four. You haven't combined finances with your spouse. Turns out marriage is a wealth building superpower if you do it right. Because the typical Married worker has 10 times the median retirement savings of the typical unmarried worker. Which means for you singles out there, it is officially cuffing season. Don't. Don't do it just because I said find the love of your life first. Are you seeing anybody? But I will say marriage is a major wealth building edge. Think about it. You have another person gives you a little purpose, a why behind investing for the future, someone to take care of. And maybe you have dual incomes with both people working. And if you're already married, you and your spouse need to recognize that and take full advantage. So how do you do that? Well, mainly by getting on the same page, having the same goals, heading in the same direction. And one of the best ways to do that is by combining finances. When you combine your money, and I mean really combine one joint checking account, not four different accounts, and his and hers, and then one pile that we pay bills from, I'm talking about one joint checking account, you can stop pulling in different directions and start building wealth together. That's what me and my wife have done. And. And it's worked beautifully for me. And here's the thing. If you're going, well, George, I like having separate accounts for X, Y, Z. Get to the root of why you feel like you need a separate account. Is it a trust issue? Is it a control issue? Because brushing it under the rug and never dealing with it is not a path to building wealth. So take a point away. If you and your spouse have separate bank accounts and keep the same score, if you have combined finances, or if you're unmarried and single. And if that's where you find yourself, I got you. We're gonna turn the comments section of this video into the Internet's best matchmaking destination. So drop a comment with your first name, your home state, and your favorite Dave Matthews Band album. I'll take it from there. Trick question. If you have a favorite Dave Matthews Band album, you are not eligible. I will not be matchmaking. I do not think you are a match for almost anybody. Mistake number five. Your car is worth more than your nest egg. I've been saying for years that car loans are America's number one wealth killer. And we have yet another stat to prove it. Because the study found that the median workers retirement account is worth about the same as the car sitting in their driveway. So that $30,000 car you bought, that's now worth 10 or 15,000? Well, that could have been an extra 30 grand growing exponentially in a retirement account instead of going down in value in your driveway. And meanwhile, you only have ten grand in retirement. So if your Hyundai Santa Fe is worth more than your 401k, take a point away. And that's why they call me the Macklemore of personal finance. No, nobody calls you that. And by the way, if you have a car payment right now, pay it off as soon as possible, throwing as much extra at the principal or you might need to sell it and downsize to something you can afford in cash. Alright, the final two mistakes on our list are the worst of all. Because while the last few steal from your retirement, these next ones, straight up destroy it. They come in like a wrecking ball and all they wanted was to break your walls. And I'll break them down in just a sec. But first, let me tell you about why I love the men's everywhere pants. For my friends at Cozy Earth, a sponsor of today's video, they're perfect for the office but or the living room. It's basically the mullet of menswear. Okay? It's business on the outside, party on the inside because we stay in cozy. And I love their joggers. They're made of premium viscose from bamboo. And I don't know what viscose is, but I love it. It's super soft and super comfy. And I love pretty much anything these guys make because I know the quality is going to be high and it will be built to last. And right now you can get up to 20% off by going to cozyearth.comgeorge and use the promo code George at checkout. And if you're looking to free up some extra money to put toward retirement, one of the best ways to do that is by switching your phone plan to Boost Mobile, another sponsor of today's video. By switching to Boost, you can unlock up to 600 bucks a year since their unlimited plan is just 25 bucks a month. And no, that's not just a promo offer to get you in the doors, they can jack up the price later. You pay $25 forever. And the best part, switching just takes a few minutes. So head to boostmobile.comramsey today to make the switch based on average annual single line payment of AT&T Verizon and T Mobile customers compared to 12 months in the Boost Mobile Unlimited plan as of January 2026. See website for full offer details. All right, back to the mistakes. We're at number six. You're not investing 15%. It turns out you don't just need to invest to have a good retirement, you need to invest enough. And right now, the truth is, most people are not. The median employee contribution rate to a 401k is just 5.3%. That's barely investing. That's, that's a. That's tipping your retirement. So here's the deal. If you only invest 5%, you'll make some progress. But it will be super slow. Which is why I recommend investing 15% of your income once you're debt free and have a fully funded emergency fund. Not whatever's left over, not just a match. I mean, why barely survive in a retirement when you could thrive with margin? And by the way, that 15% is regardless of the match. So you invest 15%, and then on top of that, your employer might match 3 or 4%. And hey, if you get to retirement, you wind up having too much money because you followed my advice. Feel free to write me hate mail along with a little check to say thanks and no thanks for making me rich. Or even worse, leave me in your will to really spite me, you know, leave me 10% of whatever's left of your estate, and I'll go. Oh, my gosh. Haters gonna hate the house at 2 Dearborn Drive. And all belongings therein, I leave to George Gamble. Oh, you little. I'll put that money to good use. But for now, take a point off your score if you're not investing 15% of your gross household income. All right, we've gotten to mistake number seven, the worst of them all. You've taken money out of retirement. Get this. In 2022, 4.7% of workers made a withdrawal from their retirement plan. Now, that might not sound huge, but park your ponies. Because for people age 21 to 34 who made a withdrawal, the average withdrawal was 29.7% of their total balance. Guys, that's almost a third. That's not borrowing a few bucks from your retirement account. That is putting your future under a slap chop. Okay, here's the deal. Retirement investing only works if you leave it alone. Let it cook, and if you want me to prove it to you, allow me to brandish my weapon of choice. That's right. I've got a license to carry the one. That's the only license I could get. Background check didn't go through. So in this example, we're gonna calculate what that 29.7% is really costing that person who is robbing their retirement. And to do this, I'm gonna use our investment calculator. Cause I have no clue how to do it on a calculator. That was somebody's calculator I just broke. My bad. If it was Dave Ramsey's calculator, we got problems. Swear to God, I can't make this thing work. Okay? I can't do it. Heck with it. All right, so I'm gonna use the Ramsey investment calculator. If you wanna crunch your Own numbers using this, I will drop a link in the description. So to this free investment calculator. It is my favorite. I use it probably more than anyone on planet earth. Again, I don't have hobbies. So for this example, let's say there's a 30 year old out there named Brad who has $33,670 in his 401k. And like the stats showed, he takes 29.7% out as a withdrawal. Which by the way, he's going to get hit with taxes and penalties. So that 10 grand he takes out is not 10 grand. He actually gets way less than that. But he did rob 10 grand out of his 401k. So let's see what that 10 grand actually amounts to over his working career that he never puts back in. So from age 30 to age 65, $10,000 was on the line and nothing's added to it. Let's see what the annual return would be at 11%. $461,000. That's what that 10 grand actually cost him. After penalties and taxes, he might have walked away with six or seven grand. Who knows what he did with it. But what he gave up was $461,000 if he just left it alone. Guys, that is insane. So here's the rule. Your retirement account is not an emergency fund. It's not your piggy bank. So if you've broken this rule, take a point off your score. All right, we're not done yet. That covered the mistakes, but now it's time to get your Camel Financial scoring system, Letter grade or KFSS for short, tm. Now, if you still have all seven points, bravo. Or for the ladies, bravo. You get an A. If you have six points remaining, you get a B. Five points a C. Four points a D, three points an F. And if you have zero to two points, a G. Yeah, you thought an F was bad. Try it. A G for size. You got no scruples. If you have a G, how are you not investing for retirement? And you robbed it. That's a wild person right there. So I hope your score was nice and high and no matter what your grade was. Don't be discouraged. I'm not here to judge you. I want to help you build wealth no matter what. Because you now know exactly how to turn things around and get your retirement heading in the right direction. So here's your homework. If you got an A, take the night off. Go get some ice cream. Unless you have a dairy intolerance, in which case maybe coconut milk. Or almond milk based would be the move for everyone else. Click here to learn the super simple investing plan I personally have used to build wealth. It's gonna help you earn that a status before you know it. That's it for today. Thank you for watching. Be sure to hit subscribe on this channel so you don't miss the next one. Hit the like button and I'll see you next time.