Making Senior Citizens Poorer: The Negative Impact of the Biden Administration’s Economic Policies on Senior Citizens’ Retirement Incomes

This study estimates that the average 401(k) retirement plan has increased by about $11,000 (8.3 percent) from the first quarter of 2021 through the third quarter of 2024, but has lost about $12,000 (-9.2 percent) after adjusting for inflation.
Pension plan balances have increased from $26.9 trillion in the first quarter of 2021 to an estimated $29.1 trillion in the third quarter of 2024. Adjusted for inflation, these pension plans were worth just $24.4 trillion in the third quarter of 2024, a real loss of $2.5 trillion.
Three of the last four years have seen very poor average returns for bonds with 2022 being the worst year for bonds since at least 1928. Retirement accounts with greater allocations in fixed income assets have typically seen worse losses than average.
A person who planned on retiring with $1,000,000 in an IRA, and was getting ready to leave the workforce, will have to work an additional six years or more to recoup the real losses sustained since the beginning of 2021.
Seniors, whose savings are disproportionately in bonds and cash, have experienced the worst rates of loss in the last three and a half years.