Sorry, only millionaires can retire

yahoo ^ | 11-10-04 | Paul B. Farrell

[LouAvul]

Hey boomers, if you're close to retirement run to Wal-Mart now and put in your application. And if you still have time before retirement, be forewarned. Keep that application handy.

Why? Because you have no choice but to work right up to the day the kids put you in long-term care or a mausoleum.

Seriously: Professional financial planners tell us we need a million bucks to retire today, multimillions in the near future. Unfortunately, the average American has a paltry net worth of $15,000 exclusive of home equity.

And things are going from bad to worse. A few years ago I ran across a study by the American Savings Council and the Employee Benefit Research Institute. Was anybody saving for retirement? Not many: Only 35 percent were 'Planners,' folks saving enough to retire comfortably.

The rest? Bad news: 13 percent were 'Deniers,' saving nothing; 15 percent were 'Impulsives,' consumers who save if there's anything left over after they buy that hot new toy; 20 percent were 'Strugglers,' who don't trust the market so they won't save much; and 18 percent were in the 'Cautious' category who know they're grossly unprepared.

Get it? Two out of three Americans had some kind of lame excuse for not planning their retirement: "I'm cautious, I'm struggling, I'm too impulsive, I'm in denial and can't save." Excuses, excuses, excuses. No wonder America's savings rate dropped from eight percent just 20 years ago to one percent today.

.......snip..........

And do not count on, privatization of Social Security to help you. That's another joke. If you're lucky playing the market with your dinky 2.4 percent Social Security account, you might make an extra couple hundred bucks a month. But don't count on it. Market risks may make things worse than the current system of guaranteed payments.

[LouAvul]

On down the article:

Now what? What's the answer?

First: America must cut Social Security benefits and raise taxes by 40 percent to 50 percent. The choices are that limited. Unfortunately, we're in denial, and we won't listen until things get really bad a few years from now, after privatization is enacted and everybody realizes it was like putting a Band-aid on a massive cancer.

Second: Is there a brilliant microeconomic solution, a personal finance recommendations that'll help you move out of the "Survivor" group and into the "Joe Millionaire" group. Okay, here's the big secret: You ... are ... not ... saving ... enough!

Nothing saved equals nothing invested equals nothing for retirement. A little saved equals a little earned equals a little for retirement. A lot saved equals a lot earned equals a lot for retirement. How much simpler can it get?

[k2blader]

Good points. But I imagine many older folks eager to retire are looking at their bank accounts and getting nervous. They haven't saved enough but don't want to keep working. For them, socialism is the answer.

[xrp]

How about if we just stop bailing out the people who failed to plan in life and let them die? It isn't my fault I am sacking away tons of cash (at the age of 31, only) and others, younger and older than me, have not, are not and will not save for retirement.

[Codeflier]

How will people save more when their taxes are raised 40 - 50%?

[JanetteS]

America must cut Social Security benefits and raise taxes by 40 percent to 50 percent.

Gee...I wonder who he voted for?

[Graybeard58]

Save and invest was preached to me from the time I first started working. It was good advice then and it still is.

I retired when I was 54.

I love it and only wish I could have retired sooner.

[Don Corleone]

Nothing saved equals nothing invested equals nothing for retirement. A little saved equals a little earned equals a little for retirement. A lot saved equals a lot earned equals a lot for retirement. How much simpler can it get?

"Pay yourself first!" Its a good plan and it works. The magic of compound interest is astounding.

[joesnuffy]

the illegal aliens new republicans will take care of us....trust them...

[staytrue]

This is true only while the conservative republicans are in power. If the dems come back, they will tax or inflate money to take your savings to "make the playing field level"

[Prime Choice]

I love how people can pull numbers like this out of their butts. A year ago I was informed by my financial planner that I'd need to save $1 MILLION DOLLARS to put two kids through college.

Sorry...ain't sending the kids to Harvard unless they get scholarships! The University of Iowa worked for me, and I put myself through college.

Besides, I have no intention of retiring. First off, I enjoy my work too much and my field is not one in which age is any handicap. Secondly, I've already experienced what it's like to not work when I was hospitalized. It sucked. No thanks.

[1L]

If they do away with withholding, we will eliminate the IRS on the April 16th following the year withholding ended. Government spending would revert back to where it should be and real wealth could start being created in this country.

[CaptainAwesome2]

what if all those years they were working and paying over 12% of their salary into social security they actually got to keep that money in an account for retirement. this whole program is such a criminal scam and id say no punsihment is too severe for its proponents.

[Rummyfan]

Unfortunately, the average American has a paltry net worth of $15,000 exclusive of home equity.

Incredible! That means a lot of people don't have any net worth at all exclusive of equity.

[Graybeard58]

I enjoy my work too much and my field is not one in which age is any handicap.

Great! Do what's right for you.

Some friends and relatives wondered why I retired at 54.

Because I could and it was what was right for me.

[SteveMcKing]

To give this an angle we can appreciate, many couples (and singles) spend their life with a conservative work ethic and acquire a small fortune. That money is then transferred to their socialist children who spend it on cars, semesters abroad in europe, and donations to left-wing groups... all culminating in the earning of a useless degree, whereupon they return home and ask for more money for graduate school. (They usually get it.)

10 years after that, and they still have not saved a penny that wasn't a gift from relatives, deceased or living.

Need an exapmle? Ter-eeee-za Heinze and her modest, beautiful step-children. Of course she didn't earn it, her husband did...

[sitetest]

In discounting the partial privatization of Social Security, this guy proves he's an idiot.

Take someone with a modest starting salary right out of school, give him a bit more than cost of living each year, on average, put 2.4% of his income away at a modest 8% annual return (full investment in the market would yield 10% over several decades), and he'll have hundreds of thousands of dollars by age 67 (retirement age for those of us born 1960 and later).

Is that enough all by itself? No, probably not. Is it a really, really good start? A really important component to an overall retirment plan? You bet. Will it beat out Social Security Classic? Yup.

[DM1]

i started saving since i was like 8
everytime i made some money some went into the bank
now some goes into retirement funds, bonds and a savings account. i work three jobs now so that i dont have to later
sorry individual responsibility is still the cure to this disease

[Citizen Tom Paine]

If you are in reasonably good health and you own your own home, you can live comfortably on $1200 per month.

Note however that the taxes in your house may go up enough in 10 to 20 years that you can no longer afford to live in it.

[leadpencil1]

I don't know about everyone else, but I spend every penny I make and then some. I'm counting on winning the lottery to fund my retirement. Duh.

[cherry]

"I retired when I was 54."

let me guess.....government pension of some sort with glorious medical benefits....