Aug. 24, 2005 - The Coming Retirement Crunch

Check this out for a retirement prognosis.

"The typical American household is on course to take a significant cut in income when its breadwinners go into retirement."

That's the conclusion of a study by Fidelity Investments as reported in the July 2005 issue of the trade publication Financial Advisor (scroll down to the bottom of the page under Frontline News to see the full article).

And just what does "significant cut" mean?  Try living on less than 60% of your pre-retirement income!

Let's put this in perspective.  Imagine your income today.  Now take a 40% cut and try to make ends meet on the remainder.  Not a pretty thought is it?  That's what it will feel like.

Millions of Americans will have to accept that "signficant cut" in retirement because they failed to plan and save.

To avoid this fate, you must be realistic about retirement.  Expenses don't magically evaporate just because you retire.  The truth is that you are likely to need the same income level for quite some time after you retire, depending on your age at retirement.

How will you pay for retirement?  Here are your choices:

1.  Social Security - Benefits today are small and will only get smaller.

2.  Company Pension - These are going the way of the dinosaurs.

3.  Your Own Savings - Better get started!

4.  God - But He will tell you that His provision can be found in #3.

The point is that it's up to you and how much you save.

The earlier you start saving, the better off you'll be in retirement and the less painful it will be to your budget while you are working.  If you don't plan and save, then you may as well start rehearsing for your fifth choice for retirement income:

"Hello!  Welcome to Wal-Mart.  How may I help you?"

Oct. 16, 2006 - Retirement Investment Digest

Nov. 15, 2006 - having a plan