Just a reminder to those approaching 45 to 50 years of age. It used to be that you had from 25 to 55 to "make it", all the money you'd ever need to make it to and through retirement, but that trended down to 50 and in some industries, it's 45 now. You know this by simply looking up, and looking around. Few exceptions exist. You either rise into executive roles, become the business owner, or you get culled. If you're in industries like manufacturing, construction, or especially tech, you should be well aware of the cyclic nature of these jobs as well, and you're going to face 2, 3, 4 or more layoffs and rounds of offshoring in your career. Meaning, that window of opportunity to make it is going to be a tough one. It's going to take everything you have to do it.
Also, be strategic. If you're only vehicle of saving is your 401K, note how you allocate those funds. Roth 401K vs. Traditional 401K. On the latter, every dollar you THINK you have is worth about 60% of what you need. Meaning, as the cost of living has risen, you lost purchasing power, and so when you get cut out from your job, and you've hit your credit card limits financing food, wiped out short term savings, busted your transmission dashing door to door, and no one is coming to save you, and you've reached the end of your rope and countless job applications have yielded no leads, you're going to have to make a choice, early withdrawals or tell your family you're about to lose their home and you have no way to buy groceries or anything else they need. So, the choice turns into early withdrawals or that. All the advisors and fund managers adamantly tell you to let them hold onto your funds, do not take early withdrawals, but when reality hits, it hits hard, and you're going to take early withdrawals, reluctantly, strategically, and desperately. You'll read about the hardship rules, and you'll read about structured withdrawals, and find that nothing really helps, and so you do what you gotta do. 30% of it goes to income taxes, no problem there. Another 10% goes to god knows where, just a kick you while you are down "early withdrawal penalty". So, you have 60% of what you thought you had.
Point is, you need to understand what things are like out here now once you cross the 50+ line. You're a target, ageism is normalized. You're likely not going to become an executive. Even the burger joints won't hire you. Cashier and door greeter jobs have been automated away. Delivery work relies on extracting equity out of your vehicle, and with no job, you won't be able to afford to replace it. And your entire lifetime of savings at this point in your life is worth MUCH less than many realize. You can try to bring yourself up to speed with how AI is being used to filter you out, you can learn how to do interviews with AI (as in you are literally interviewed by AI these days IF you can even get through the first stack of filters to get that interview), but nothing is going to change your age, and you're in for a tough tough time. You are joining the ranks of millions of us now, young and old alike, who have been unemployed for YEARS. This isn't going to be fun for you. So, if you're under 45, still have a job, save and invest for the reality we live in now. If you're still not convinced, look up, look around, talk to people, real people. Everything is not fine out here. Get prepared.