We’re watching an American retirement crisis unfold

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Welcome back! This is Jordan Parker Erb, filling in again for Dan DeFrancesco. Haven't voted in our tech and biz March Madness bracket? Don't worry — you can still make your choices here.

In today's big story, we're looking at how retiring in America became a luxury that not everyone can afford.

What's on deck:

• Markets: Warren Buffett's favorite market gauge just hit a two-year high. It could mean a crash is coming.

• Tech: Only one generation has the skills to launch a successful new business: Gen Z.

• Business: Wait, it's OK to do drugs at work now?

But first, America has a problem.

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The big story

Retirement crisis

What was once a natural part of the American dream — retirement — is now a luxury many workers can't afford.

It used to be that you could expect to put in a few decades of work and then enjoy a few more good years of rest. But more and more often, retirement-age people feel they've been left behind.

Business Insider's Juliana Kaplan spoke with several people who should be able to retire — but can't.

The problem is multifaceted. Pensions are disappearing. Social Security benefits are in peril. People are living longer than ever. As BI previously reported, fewer than half of all boomers have saved enough for retirement.

Mounting student-loan debt doesn't help, either. According to one researcher and associate professor of economics, this is the first generation of Americans that has taken on substantial student-loan debt for their children.

All of that combines to form a growing, and increasingly bleak, American retirement crisis. It has left at least one woman Juliana spoke to, who's in her 70s, worried she's "going to die" in the HR job she's still working.

With boomers' experience trying to retire playing out in front of them, it's no wonder some younger people are hustling to secure an early retirement.

BI has written at length about Gen Zers and millennials who have saved up to retire in their 30s or 40s. Some save up the majority of their paychecks, while others have cashed in on relocation bonuses.

But still, the reality is that most people can't expect to retire by 36. Plus, some who do leave work early end up regretting it. Unused to idle time and the sudden evaporation of their office relationships, some people quickly return to the office.

One woman who retired early said she could only do so because she moved to India, where the cost of living is lower. She said there was "no way" she could have done it in the US. Still, she wound up going back to work after an initial attempt at retirement.

While early retirement isn't for everyone, retirement at its most basic level — leaving work after most of our adult lives — should be. The notion that people who've done everything they were supposed to, and still can't retire, points to major problems in the system at large.

News brief

Your Monday headline catchup

A quick recap of the top news from over the weekend:

• What we know about the Moscow concert hall attack — and why ISIS-K is claiming responsibility.

• Kate Middleton said she's having preventative chemotherapy — here's what that could mean.

• Trump's lawyers dance for him when he's in the courtroom. At a criminal trial, that could torpedo his chances of winning.

• Russia has finally admitted Western sanctions are hitting its oil exports.

• Momfluencer Ruby Franke wrote in her journal that it was 'a big day for evil' as she detailed how she tortured her children.

• X is fishing for more creators. Some won't bite.

3 things in markets

1. An investment firm says these two parts of the market still have huge upside. Investors should focus on the cheapest 20% of large-caps, as well as on non-US stocks, GMO wrote. The firm said these provide the best allocation opportunity in 35 years.

2. Warren Buffett's favorite market gauge just hit a two-year high. The "Buffett Indicator" — which just surged to 184% — compares the stock market's total value to the overall size of the economy. Buffett has warned that buying stocks at a reading near 200% is "playing with fire."

3. Sam Bankman-Fried is set to be sentenced on Thursday. Prosecutors want the disgraced FTX founder to serve 40 to 50 years in prison. His lawyers are asking for a much lighter sentence, arguing that FTX customers might get all their money back and flagging SBF's possible neurodivergence.

3 things in tech

1. Get ready for Generation Biz. The entrepreneurial landscape has changed dramatically in the last couple of decades. The new name of the game is branding and Gen Z is uniquely set up to succeed in today's digital-centric marketplace.

2. AI-powered Cherish Health has raised $26 million — without VC money. The company, which produces a radar-based fall detection device, is set to raise a $30 million Series B. Instead of raising money from venture capital firms, it worked with billionaires and other businesses. So far, it's paid off.

3. Apple is having a nightmarish year. The Department of Justice's antitrust lawsuit is just the latest of several events that may hurt the tech giant. Apple is also battling a tumbling share price, sluggish iPhone sales in China, and doubts about its AI efforts.

3 things in business

1. Work on drugs. Elon Musk is taking ketamine and people in tech are microdosing mushrooms. Drugs used to be for getting high — now people are using them to get ahead.

2. The American South is on a roll. Southern states are booming right now, thanks to an accelerating rise in population driving major economic growth. The region is beating out the West, once again, as the fastest-growing region in the US last year.

3. These are tough times for the consulting business. Major firms across the board appear to be struggling with waning client demand as the macroeconomic environment weakens. Accenture said on Thursday that it was cutting its revenue forecast for 2024, while Deloitte has kicked off a reorganization process in a bid to cut costs.

In other news

• Billionaire venture capitalist Marc Andreessen is selling his home for more than $33 million.

• It might be harder to buy your favorite pair of classic Nikes this year.

• Alphabet's Verily lays off employees working in one of its science groups.

• Whoop's CEO on staying nimble as a company — and why the startup pays employees to sleep more.

• A month's pay in one week: South Florida Uber and Lyft drivers explain how they capitalize on the spring break rush despite 'a little sand' and 'crappy music.'

What's happening today

• There will be a court hearing for Donald Trump on charges of falsifying business records for "hush money" payments.

• A hearing is scheduled in the UK for class actions against Google and Alphabet.

The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, editor, in London. George Glover, reporter, in London. Grace Lett, associate editor, in Chicago. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York.