My parents are dead. Dad kept everything secret from everyone. He outlived mom. Brother (adopted) and his wife were embezzling from him and he would have ended up broke if he lived another year. They ended up in jail for theft and drugs.

My sister is younger than I am. She has a few thousand dollars hidden so that she "qualifies" for Medicaid. She had joined a cult and worked as "self employed" and "under the table" for decades so that she has no Social Security earnings. We share a house. Her retirement plan is to depend on me. I have to get away from her.

I've got about half a million saved - despite having 2 "once in a lifetime market crashes" happening to halve what I had put aside. Due to quirks in tax laws, I was unable to start an IRA until I was 39. I saved the max allowed from then on in both 401k & IRAs.

If you haven't started your retirement savings, I strongly recommend starting now. If you wait, the hurt will only get worse. I've found that most people look at retirement savings the way people who live downstream from a dam think bout that dam - they hide in fear.