In my post titled Americans Think Retirement Savings Going Well, but They Need to Think Again, I noted that "four Americans are very confident that they will have enough money to live comfortably through retirement." However, at the same time, "more than half of Americans have less have $50,000 in their nest egg," hinting that maybe the "confident" group is a bit over-confident. My first commenter had an issue with this as well:
I find the results both VERY disturbing and internally consistent.
DISTURBING -- those of us who DO save will be increasingly taxed (god forbid a wealth tax ever come into existence) in order to support the morons who do not save.
INTERNALLY CONSISTENT -- 4 of 10 are reported to be "somewhat confident" while "four in 10 say they have calculated their savings needs for retirement". The survey summary seems to imply that reality differs from perception, but I think there is actually a subset, somewhat less than 50%, that is aware of retirement needs and managing them, as well as a slight majority that is clueless. It's those clueless people that disturb me (see above). Can we just kill them off or do we need to take care of them because life is precious?
Ha! That's certainly a unique suggestion for dealing with the problem. ;-)
Here's the next comment:
It's hard to save when the average American's debt is increasing two fold. Credit card debt is out of control and people are buying homes at costs at much more than they can afford. Everything from no-interest loans to 40 year loans will cause Americans to work much longer than they think they will have to. It is a "must have now attitude" that might cripple our national economy in years to come. It will be these same people who will then say the government owes them something and expect them to bail them out. What is even more scary is that probably over 80% of the people are not prepared for long-term injury or lost jobs. These things are even worse on families. Life is a crap-shoot, so we need to start having alternative plans that will make life easier in the long term. Having expensive houses and cars now does not make it any easier now than having an affordable home and car.
It can happen, we are putting away approx 20% of our income to savings and retirement while having disability insurance to cover the unthinkable injury. We will have our house paid off in less than 15 years since we purchased it new. All this on one income and having two children. We are not rich, however, we do not have such luxuries as cable TV, driving SUV's, or eating out 2-3 days a night. Our life is simple, but not poverished. We count our blessings everyday...and we pray that many others will be able too.
Lots of great thoughts in this last comment -- and I agree with them all. A few I want to highlight:
- It's very important for you to have disability insurance. Here's why I buy disability insurance. If you don't want to listen to me, see what Suze Orman has to say about disability insurance.
- It's amazing to me how so many people can't grasp (or live by) the simple concept that you need to spend less than you earn. Even if you make a huge salary, if you spend it all, you're no better off that you were before. On the other hand, if you master the concept, you can become rich. Notice how this commenter is doing well but not because of a huge income? No, this family is making choices, doing without some things, to secure their financial future. Good for them.
Responding to the idea that those of us who are saving will have to take care of those who don't I have two responses: 1) max your Roth IRA so you have an untouchable money supply 2) don't vote for people who show by their record that they are for more government control/interference in our lives. Right now, there really are no people like this available to vote for on either side of the isle.
Posted by: jhawsey | June 14, 2006 at 01:21 PM