Shangri-La
Retirement used to be portrayed as the ultimate reward in America once the work career was over. The dream of an indolent lifestyle comprised of endless golf rounds and vacation trips is still within the realm of reality for many Americans, but for others, retirement is likely to be a miserable life of frugality and worry.
According to the Wall Street Journal, most people in the 55 and over age bracket are woefully unprepared financially to meet their needs in retirement. A shocking 60% of all 55 plus age persons have $100,000 or less saved up for retirement.
Not surprisingly, 67% of workers admit that they are behind in their plans to save and invest enough to get them through retirement. The issue becomes even more dire for retirees that intend to rely heavily on social security income.
Due to the massive numbers of baby boom retirees, many experts expect that at some point, benefits will need to be cut in order to keep the social security system solvent. In addition, the ratio of workers to retires has constantly declined over the past decades. It doesn’t take much in the way of math skills to figure out that the burdens on those left working will become financially untenable.
Courtesy: Wall Street Journal
Upon examining the savings details for those over 55 with less than $100,000 in savings, the situation starts to look even more hopeless for many people. Almost one third of all workers in the twilight of their career admitted to having less than $10,000 in savings and investments while another 17% had less than $25,000.
The number of elderly living in near or extreme poverty is going to inexorably expand as workers with no savings 55 and older eventually join the ranks of the retired.
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