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Some interesting stats on the American worker and retirement savings, courtesy of CNN:
1) The percentage of workers who have less than $10,000 in savings: 43% (up from 39% last year)
2) Percent with less than $1,000 in savings: 27% (up from 20% last year)
3) Percent who are confident they will have a comfortable retirement: 16% (2nd lowest in 20 years)
4) Percent who have postponed their retirement in the last year: 24% (up from 14% last year)
With Social Security already in trouble, and with the health care crisis far from being resolved, these stats are troubling to say the least. Part of the problem is our overly-consumptive culture that does not have the thrifty sensibilities of the Depression generation. But there’s also the fact that more people are spending all of their resources just to survive month to month. For many, saving simply isn’t an option.
The solution seems to be a combination of better personal responsibility and a greater sense that we’re all in this together. But isn’t that at the root of all our domestic problems?
What’s on your mind tonight?
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The figures are sad, but there are a few qualifiers;
‘That excludes the value of primary homes and defined-benefit pension plans.’
Since those primary homes became a major investment – with the since-debunked concept that money could be withdrawn thru second and third mortgages – I expect that many are now working their way through a second and/or third chapter of that original decision.
Also, the stock market once again threw off the investors who had chosen it as their security.
Not just the stock market, but how do you save when your income has dropped? Wages have been stagnant for more than a decade. I haven’t saved squat in the last 3 years or more because I financially cannot. That is what is the real gist of this entire problem. That’s if you are lucky enough to have a job at all right now. Look at the price of anything right now and you can see it’s price increases. See wage increases? Nope. Haven’t had a raise in 3 years but every year my property taxes go up, and so do all prices on food and necessities. We are all headed for a financial cliff.