Posted on 08/08/2014 8:25:21 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
One in five people who are near retirement age have zero money saved.
Yes, you read that correctly.
The sobering statistic was one of many released by the Federal Reserve on Thursday as part of its report on the economic well-being of U.S. households, which surveyed more than 4,100 people online last year between mid-September and early October.
The study offered a stark reminder that as more Americans are made responsible for their own retirement, most are not saving nearly enough. Overall, 31 percent of people said they have zero money saved for retirement and do not have a pension. That included 19 percent of people between the ages of 55 and 64, or those closest to retirement age.
What's going on here? A lot of people said they rarely thought about retirement, at least not until it was too late. About 41 percent of people ages 18 to 29 said they never thought about retirement planning, a number that understandably declined to 20 percent for people above the age of 60.
But researchers said the dismal saving rates weren't fully explained by lack of caring. They also cited a combination of low resources and poor awareness
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Sucks to be them. (Unfortunately, they will ask for me to support them)
That sounds like the Aesop fable "The Ant and the Grasshopper".
In the Little Red Hen she planted the wheat, watered it, weeded it, harvested, ground it and baked it into bread. At each stage the other farm animals refuse to help only to show up when it comes time to eat the bread. Ha, suckers, no bread for you.
The primary difference is that in The Little Red Hen the bread is merely a tasty treat without the implications of starvation in The Ant and the Grasshopper.
Your sister reminds me of my sister-in-law. No financial sense whatsoever. Bought anything and everything on a whim. Several years ago she got a nice new car, but somehow forgot she really should change the oil. Engine blows after 2 years, so she buys another one, same model. But by now her credit is shot so the payments are double what they would be for a normal person. Stopped making payments on her car and house, contacted a bankruptcy attorney and calls on me to help buy groceries.....I can hear Ray Charles singing “Busted”.
Is she an Obama voter? You bet. Both times.
WOW!! What a devastating performance and storyline. That is how stage acting is supposed to be. Notice the Doctor looks a lot like Dick Cheney. The Hispanic man (name unknown) was seen later on several Flying Nun episodes. I can absolutely see the terror bringing out the true essence of who we are, when survival is all that matters. No one looks good here.
The Doctors’ only mistake is to continue having a dialog while locked safely away. That nearness of a safe environment, just an arm’s reach away, only serves to inflame his neighbors all the more. A good, tight script, with just enough character development to make you care about them.
Bringing passbook savings and money market rates back to historical norms would help a lot.
I disagree that one cannot win. Doing the right thing, morally speaking, is always a win regardless. So it’s better to be responsible and save for retirement even if other people don’t. You may very well end up having your savings inflated away because of irresponsible people, but at least you aren’t contributing to the problem.
Yes, as Jane Fonda predicted in 1969, the American people have become truly socialist. They want “others” to help “others”.
The most striking part is where the one neighbor tells the others that it’s “Our Shelter”, and doesn’t want anyone else to know about it.
Back in the Reagan years (for young people explain that means 1980s) we were getting close to 8 percent on our CDs in the bank/savings&loan. Old people used to rely on interest to live on so as not to touch the principal.
Now that we're in retirement, we get close to 0 percent. And accounting for inflation, it is as you would say, negative interest whittling away our buying power. The government is stealing from us via inflation while they are on a spending spree. Young people don't understand the concept of saving and earning interest - because they can't see any interest. I just hope inflation doesn't make my pension checks meaningless in the next few years as my nest egg disappears. Yes, we can't win.
socialism means never having to say sorry for government forcîbly confiscating resources from one class of people they’ve decided don’t need or deserve it, to bestow on another class of people they want to reward.
socialism means punishing the self-reliant preparers at the expense of the dependent, uprepared, and basking in the “it’s only fair” praise of those receiving the booty they did nothing to earn.
it makes me sick. it is the most disgusting system ever created.
Now that we're in retirement, we get close to 0 percent. And accounting for inflation, it is as you would say, negative interest whittling away our buying power. The government is stealing from us via inflation while they are on a spending spree. Young people don't understand the concept of saving and earning interest - because they can't see any interest. I just hope inflation doesn't make my pension checks meaningless in the next few years as my nest egg disappears. Yes, we can't win.
Your problem is that you understood the part about putting money aside, but didn't take the time to learn where to put the money. I spent years learning about different investments, and have put money into stocks, and real estate. We have been retired for years and our net worth keeps increasing.
It is not too late, take your money out of passbook savings accounts and put it into low cost index funds. Do the same thing with low-yielding CDs. There is lots of free advice on the internet.
bmp
“And for those of us already in retirement are watching our golden years funds slowly disappear via inflation. You can’t win.”
Yup......
Every trip to the store becomes a anger issue with me. Some stuff has doubled or tripled in that last couple of years, and packages are smaller. Yet inflation is totally fine and under control, in fact they don’t see enough of it...
I have been retired for 5 years or so, the wife left her job today to join the ranks.
For us it will be a gradual downsizing as we sell assets and at the same time reduce out footprint by trimming services and costs.
But we are virtually debt free...just some revolver charge balances..
I suppose we are better off then a lot of people in that regard, but retirement is not going to be easy for us to adjust to. But we will..
“My buddy, a retired Army Colonel, has briefed his cadet sons that they nmay have a time for choosing in their lifetime.”
I think that there is no question about it.
I guess I wasn’t clear about what my nest egg is. It’s a mix of cash, stocks, bonds and real estate. So don’t worry about me, I’m not bad off, it’s not just under the mattress or buried in glass jars in the yard (something a couple of friends do that we disapprove of). I also have some in metals. That having been said, I still have a sizable chunk in cash in savings institutions, and that is taking the biggest hit from inflation. I do have investment advisors but don’t necessarily heed their advice, as some are as good as fortune-readers. I’m paying for it, and it’s a little better than the free advice! What I might add, is that even though our net worth is increasing, it’s an illusion because non-cash investments are rising with inflation. The inherent value stays the same, although the cash value on paper rises. It’s the value of the dollar shrinking that causes non-cash investments to appear to be increasing. Just being real here.
Retirement was an easy adjustment for me, it's wonderful. Been retired ten years, my wife about 6 years. You'll find that a lot of work-related expenses go away, and you'll have less outflow of money. With the extra time, I grow vegetables and they supplement our food sources. More time with the grandchildren, and lots of free outings with them or having them over means not caring about giving up expensive vacations - we simply don't care about vacations or need them.
On the other hand, I am alarmed at how expensive food stuff is getting, totally out of control.
I’ll never retire. Retirement is too boring.
One of the evils of SSI.. i.e. false hope..
The concept of Cloward-Piven was not conceived..
The concept of stressing Federal and State coffers so severaly.. it goes bankrupt..
AND it’s WORKING... exactly as planned..
If the Federal Government would lower the tax burden and stop debasing our currency people would have a better chance to save
When you spend your working years at a career that does not pay well, but promises to take care of you in the end you find a lot of this.
We have scrimped and saved for years. His 20 year career in the Navy starting as a E1 ending as a SCPO, was never a high pay job when you have children.
Higher prices, more taxes, are slowly eating away at our savings too. We knew we were going to have to have hearing aids for him this year because of the flight deck hearing damage. Because we have 2 SS checks and he has a pension, VA does NOT provide any healthcare. We did not expect to have to double that with hearing aids for me due to inner ear damage.
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