The Real Reason People Don't Save Enough for Retirement

The Atlantic ^ | 10/02/2015 | TERESA GHILARDUCCI

[SeekAndFind]

Aesop would have had a straightforward explanation for why some people just can’t manage to save up for retirement: Some people are born ants—industrious and in possession of great willpower—while others are grasshoppers, living only for today.

Millennia later, sorting workers into personality-specific boxes is still the preferred way of thinking about how to get people to put more money into savings. An otherwise thoughtful survey of over 1,000 individuals and interviews with 50 people by the MetLife Mature Markets Institute identifies no fewer than 10 different variations on the grasshopper: There are “Snoozers,” “Oversleepers,” “Stewers,” “Brewers.” And then there are “Preemptive Planners,” whose radar screens are populated with future risks. If people fit into these neat buckets, the conventional savings wisdom goes, then the solution is to educate the grasshoppers to start behaving more like ants.

MetLife isn’t wrong to dwell on personality types. Researchers such as Angela Duckworth, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, have found convincing links between personality traits and savings. Duckworth doesn’t talk about “oversleepers,” but about the Big Five personality traits: conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, openness, and extroversion. Conscientious types, she’s found, tend to save more money.

But while MetLife and Duckworth may have identified some traits associated with inadequate saving, telling people to buckle down is unlikely to do very much, because, by adulthood, personality traits are more or less fixed. A lack of discipline or joie de vivre are hardly the main reasons some people don’t put enough into their 401(k)s or IRAs; the blame lies not with individuals but with the nation’s savings institutions.

Even if someone has access to an IRA or a 401(k), it’s difficult to stash away money—there are always bills to pay or relatives in need of financial assistance.

[El Cid]

RE: 2

LOL! Don't hold back, tell us what you really think about her.
Thanks for the brief 'bio', by the way. I had never heard of her before - but given the socialist nature of the 'Atlantic' magazine, I don't doubt that she's of the same ilk.

[Gaffer]

These ghouls NEVER go away. Witness Jamie Gorelick, Teresa, and all the rest. They go hide somewhere after their masters go out of office. But they are ALWAYS there ready to feed and destroy.

It is up to us to remember them like they were and are Nazi Concentration Camp guards so they cannot retread their trash.

[higgmeister]

The Real Reason People Don't Save Enough for Retirement

Bernie Ebbers still rotting in prison.

[ExTxMarine]

Studies have shown that people who retire before the age of 60 have DOUBLE the mortality rate of those who retire after 60. And those who retire after 60 (but before 65) have a 27% greater chance of dying before reaching the age of 65!

We, as humans, are meant to be busy and active. When we “retire,” typically,we stop being active and our bodies just start shutting down.

Those who took up hobbies, volunteered, or at least maintained a part-time job were 80 more likely to make it to 65 years of age.

Coincidence?

[ExTxMarine]

All of these studies were based on death by the age of 65.

And that 80 in the second to last line should be 80%.

[citizen]

Good thinking, pal!! You keep right on working until you pass over.

[haywoodwebb]

Yup!

[Hoffer Rand]

Instead of a retirement-savings system that punishes certain people for being less disciplined, there needs to be a system that acknowledges a simple truth: There will always be both grasshoppers and ants.

Doesn't mean the ants should pay for the grasshoppers. By her premise, we could say, there will always be those who are much more athletically gifted, so let's make them share their salaries with those who aren't. Or those who are gifted in business, or the arts, or fill-in-the-blank. Simply broken down, from each according to his ability to each according to his need. It's just socialistic wealth redistribution hiding behind bad social psychology.

My BIL is the ultimate grasshopper. At 66, we're not sure he's worked enough to be able to draw SS. His philosophy is that spenders are better with money than savers, because spenders can think of a lot of things to do with money (to spend it on), whereas savers just know how to do one thing with money; save it. Needless to say, he and Hubby, who is a saver, don't have the best relationship.

[wbill]

How many trillions are in retirement funds? You know that politicians have got to be drooling over all that money, that they can't touch.

The author has been trying to figure out ways to help them get their hands on it for a good while now. Looks like the current attempt is, "People are too stupid to save, so the government should do it for them. You know, to be helpful."

[PAR35]

Periods of unemployment and under employment impair ability to save for retirement. (In other words, it is difficult to save money if you aren’t making much - or any - in the Bush/Obama economies.

[SkyPilot]

How many trillions are in retirement funds? You know that politicians have got to be drooling over all that money, that they can't touch.

I think it is going to happen, it is just a matter of time. Call it an educated hunch.

[SkyPilot]

Three times now, Obama's Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has "borrowed" from the Billions of the Federal retirement TSPs.

It was "paid back" with smoke and mirrors.

This is one of the reasons why I think the whole shebang, including IRAs and 401Ks, will be merged into a sham of collectivization when a financial collapse occurs.

Oh, and from today's news:

Government to hit debt limit in November: Lew

" In a letter to lawmakers, Lew said the federal government would likely have less than $30 billion in cash at that point, straining its ability to pay its obligations. "I respectfully urge Congress to take action as soon as possible and raise the debt limit," Lew said. "

Remember, the hundreds of millions of rounds of bullets purchased for almost every Federal agency, thousands of military MRAPs converted to civilian use, and the rest was not accomplished without a purpose.

[Verginius Rufus]

Do those studies take into account people who retire before 60, or before 65, because they already have serious health problems?

[SkyPilot]

Honestly...if I work much beyond 70, I WILL die.

Through Medicare and ObamaCare, and the soon to come budget crisis, they will control who dies and who will receive care. When Gov. Palin spoke out against the "Death Panels" the media and Democrats went berserk. Why was that? She touched on the truth.

[SkyPilot]

Do those studies take into account people who retire before 60, or before 65, because they already have serious health problems?

Those are the people that "cost too much" and our government will allow for age and disease to take their toll, I believe.

Having said that, there is very little American economy left that is not QE Wall Street infused heroin Central Bank teat suckers, or Federal money for Medicare/Medicaid/ObamaCare.

My wife and I went past an office complex that used to produce printing and art supplies. It is now a "Pharmaceuticals" office that deals exclusively with Medicare/Medicaid/ObamaCare recipients.

The trough for the Federal Trillions is a vast source of revenue. Few people make and produce things in America anymore. We are a nation of 95,000,0000 out of the workforce and 30,000,000 illegal invaders.

[SkyPilot]

And remember, when Lew threatens with the Federal government's ability to "pay its obligations" he means Social Security and Medicare also.

Many Freepers will come out with guns blazing about how they "paid into" all Social Security and Medicare, and they are correct.

However, that does not mean they are "above it all" in terms of our government's shenanigans and malice.

Their checks, and their care, including those in adult care facilities, depends on debt, taxes, and spending.

They can argue about whether or not illegals or retired workers are more deserving; and the moral answer is obvious. But we have immoral leadership in our Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branches. So they can argue all they want.

[minnesota_bound]

My parents lived in a big 6,000 sq/ft house with a creek out back along with a comfortable life. My dad made $12/hr plus bonus if the company did well. This back in the 60’s and 70’s.
I make more then double and cannot afford that same size home. The gov’t made everything more expensive while exempting themselves. Heck they even have stores charge me 10 cents for grocery bags!

[Dr.Deth]

Instead of a retirement-savings system that punishes certain people for being less disciplined

Life punishes people for being less disciplined.

Liberals are perpetual teenagers.

[Dr.Deth]

My personal prediction is that when the Stock Market finally crashes hard, the credit market is destroyed, and we are in a global financial crisis, then our Federal government will take quick steps to seize all IRAs, 401Ks, TSPs, and the like.

If they're that stupid to try it, they will find a critical mass of citizens who will decide that in order to take away your life's work, then they'll also have to take your life.

[SkyPilot]

Dow up right now, despite disaster looming.