[bxparks]

It is significant if you remain healthy and employed with income.

But it is basically nothing if you get laid off at age 56, and you can't find another job due to age discrimination, your COBRA runs out after 18 months, but you are not 65 years old yet for Medicare . Obamacare may be completely neutered by then, so private health insurance may cost $30k/year for a 57 year-old. You still have a mortgage, you can't afford health insurance, so you take a risk and decide to skip it, because you are healthy. Then you get pancreatic cancer, and without health insurance, your chemotherapy completely depletes your 401k in one year. Then you die of cancer at age 59, because you cannot pay for the treatments anymore.

[tossandthrow]

Which is likely what happens.

It would not really be a great depression of there was not mass layoffs and immense job insecurity.

[p1esk]

In this scenario I would take that 200k (or whatever there would be), and move to some low COL country.

[komali2]

> move to some low COL country.

So you are now alone in a foreign country, no family nearby, trying to adapt to a new lifestyle at nearly 60 lol.

[Terr_]

Doesn't that imply magical foreknowledge about exactly how lengthy the bad-period will be?

[hdgvhicv]

You’re assuming that the US dollar retains a decent value and that foreign countries will put up with you for your wealth.

[p1esk]

I’m assuming US dollar will have more value abroad than here.

[hdgvhicv]

Given your government is trying very hard to relive the global demand for the US dollar and thus repatriate the trillions of dollars held outside the US that seems very unlikely.

[tossandthrow]

Ah yes, a great migration! Going to ~America~ a low COL area!