I feel like the reasons behind my fears are still based in generalizations. Please help me understand if I can ever have a comfortable retirement from work:
I'm earlyish in my career, but I've been contributing to 401K plans since I started a handful of years ago. The accounts are supposed to grow quickly in your early career and get more conservative with investments toward the end. But my accounts have gained NOTHING in interest. I keep putting money in and they keep running slightly negative, meaning there is always a little less money than I put in. Only a month ago did it surface into a positive growth of $150. So when I retire, I can now afford one extra trip to the grocery store.
Everyone says, “Be patient. They always grow.” But I feel like that 'wisdom' comes from people who have enjoyed the benefits of predictable economy. For many decades, America's GDP has always grown and people's retirement accounts with it. They come from a time when companies were ADDING benefits to compete with each other for labor.
The reality I seem to be facing is a contrast from that conventional wisdom. For the first time in America's history, the population is in a recession. It seems inevitable that the GDP will shrink with the shrinking population as it has in other countries like Japan. Won't the traditional retirement investment portfolios that leech profit off a growing economy also lose their revenue stream? In addition, companies are happily reducing every benefit they offer including retirement plan contributions. It's common now for companies to make zero contributions to your retirement account. As mentioned above, if my accounts do not grow quickly in my early career years, is there any point in having them? That's not to mention additional constraints on life like skyrocketing home prices, but I'm getting carried away.
tl;dr – Will 401K plans ever get me to a comfortable retirement?