{"id":91271,"date":"2026-06-27T01:00:05","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T08:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/?p=91271"},"modified":"2026-06-26T06:45:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T13:45:59","slug":"black-coffee-27-june-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenpenzo.com\/blog\/id91271-black-coffee-27-june-2026.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Coffee: Red Sky at Night"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"It’s time to sit back, relax and enjoy a little joe …<\/em><\/p>\n

Welcome to another rousing edition of Black Coffee, your off-beat weekly round-up of what’s been going on in the world of money and personal finance.<\/p>\n

I hope everybody had a wonderful week. And with that, let\u2019s get right to this week\u2019s commentary, shall we?<\/p>\n

Financial crises are like fireworks: They illuminate the sky even as they go pop. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2013 James Buchan\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Credits and Debits<\/strong><\/p>\n

Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Did you see this? Let\u2019s start with some good-news-bad-news this week. First the good news: Roughly 1 in 9 American adults have a net worth of at least $1 million<\/a>. Now the bad: A $1 million net worth doesn\u2019t go very far these days in retirement \u2013 especially if most of that million bucks is tied up in home equity.<\/p>\n

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Credit:<\/strong><\/span> Of course, the so-called \u201cmagic number\u201d for retirement varies from individual to individual. But one study from last year found that Americans believe it takes a net worth of $2.3 million<\/a> makes you officially \u201crich.\u201d We agree that number should be more than enough for retirees in most parts of the US \u2013 although for most people that probably isn\u2019t enough for a perfectly happy retirement in places like the Northeast or West Coast. Besides, depending on who you ask, everything<\/strong><\/em> is relative… especially when you consider that wealth can be fleeting…<\/p>\n

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\nCredit:<\/strong><\/span> Speaking of happiness, the amount of money it takes to keep us in high spirits varies, too. In fact, yet another<\/strong><\/em> study has determined that although happiness increases for most people as their income increases, it plateaus once they reach $100,000 per year<\/a>. The take-away here is that being happy is an easier goal to obtain than being rich \u2013 especially for those whose age is somewhere in the vicinity of their shoe size.<\/p>\n

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Credit:<\/strong><\/span> With that in mind, saving for retirement is more important than ever. And it\u2019s a generally-accepted fact that women display better savings habits<\/a> than men. But while women tend to save more of their paycheck for retirement than men, a recent study of 5 million retirement accounts shows that they still trail them in 401(k) account values. The average 401(k) balance among men in 2025 was $194,597, compared with $146,476 for women. For what that’s worth. As for elsewhere in the battle of the sexes…<\/p>\n

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Debit:<\/strong><\/span> Then again, many Americans are having trouble living on their own, let alone saving for retirement. As of last year, more than 25 million adult Americans under 35 lived with a parent<\/a>. For those of you not counting at home, that means roughly one in three people in that age group have yet to leave the nest. Yikes!\u00a0And, no… it wasn’t<\/strong><\/em> specified how many of those adult children slept in their parents’ basement. Er… assuming they’re even allowed<\/strong><\/em> in the basement…<\/p>\n

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Credit:<\/strong><\/span> In other news, we see that Elon Musk recently became the world\u2019s first trillionaire<\/a>. Put another way: Elon is now a billionaire 1000 over, and a millionaire one million times over. Yeah\u2026 that\u2019s undeniably wealthy by any<\/strong><\/em> measuring stick. Now here are a few more fast facts: Musk became a millionaire at age 27, a billionaire at 41, and a trillionaire at 54. Oh… and then there’s this<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n

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Debit:<\/strong><\/span> On a related note, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s GDPNow<\/em> model currently estimates the US real gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the second quarter of this year at a 3.3%<\/a> annualized rate. And while that may seem<\/strong><\/em> impressive, things don\u2019t look quite so rosy when measuring America’s GDP in terms of gold instead of the US dollar (USD). See for yourself:<\/p>\n

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(h\/t: @gloeschi)<\/p><\/div>\n

Debit:<\/strong><\/span> By the way, with the National Debt is careening towards $40 trillion<\/a>, the CBO is projecting that the US deficit will finish the current year \u2013 which ends on September 30th \u2013 at nearly $2.3 trillion. And yet nobody in Washington seems alarmed. Unlike these<\/strong><\/em> guys…<\/p>\n