Dec 19, 2017 - Economy & Business

Trump's 401(K) talking point, by the numbers

Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP

President Trump has developed a new line that he uses at rallies, fundraisers and White House meetings.

He asks voters: "How's your 401k doing?" with the expectation that the strength of the climbing U.S. stock market will help get him reelected. But as Bloomberg points out, more than half of Americans don't even have a 401k — especially the lower-income voters in Trump's base.

By the numbers:

  • Roughly 45% of private-sector workers enroll in an employer-sponsored retirement plan. The least likely group to have such an account are the low-income workers in Trump's base, according to the Government Accountability Office, per Bloomberg.
  • p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #454545} span.s1 {color: #e4af0a} Only a third of people contribute anything to their retirement accounts, according to a Census study released this year.
  • Less than 25% workers in the bottom half of the income scale participate in a retirement program, according to the GAO, per Bloomberg.
  • Only about 14% of U.S. families directly own stocks.

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