#retirement #pensions #401(k)s #SocialSecurity
“It’s clear there’s a retirement crisis,” Illinois State Treasurer Michael W. Frerichs told small business owners. “This is a problem not only for families but for all of us,” the quote continues.
Frerichs was quoted in an Associated Press article on the subject by Maria Ines Zamudio. It was published Feb. 22, 2017, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Zamudio’s article focused on how seven states – California, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, Oregon and Washington, as well as Illinois, are in various stages of implementing state-sponsored retirement savings plans.
The plans, the article says, are tax-deductible IRAs with automatic payroll deductions, for which employees don’t pay federal taxes on the money until it is withdrawn.
Americans without work-sponsored savings plans are less likely to save for retirement, the article says. Zamudio quotes research from the Employee Benefit Research Institute that shows 62 percent of employees with an employer-sponsored savings plans had more than $25,000 in savings. Some 22 percent of those had more than $100,000 in savings.
Meanwhile, according to the quoted research from 2014, 94 percent of workers without access to those plans had less than $25,000.
We can certainly debate whether it should be the government’s role to set up savings plans for workers. What isn’t really debatable is that $25,000, or even $100,000, won’t get a person very far into retirement.
A good retirement savings would provide enough so that the person or couple could live comfortably off the interest and dividends those savings would kick off. If one does not have to touch his principal in retirement, he’ll never outlive his money.
Of course, those fortunate enough to get a pension from their employers, combined with Social Security, have a little more to work with, in terms of income.
But will those vehicles be enough to have the retirement you want?
Retirement should be about more than just living Social Security check to Social Security check. It should be about having the resources, combined with the time, to do things one didn’t have the time to do while working. Examples include travel, hobbies etc.
But so many at or near retirement age are not in that position. Some had signed on to work for an employer because of pension benefits, only to find that when the time came to access those benefits, they weren’t there.
Others, perhaps, were forced out of their jobs prematurely through downsizing, technology or other efficiencies. As a result, they lost of lot of work time that could have allowed them to save more. Or, they were forced to take a lower-paying job elsewhere, making saving for retirement impossible, or nearly so.
If you are among those facing tough decisions about retirement – perhaps you tell yourself you’ll have to work until you die – there are a number of good options for earning income that could augment or even enhance your potential retirement income. To check out one of the best, message me.
Meanwhile, if you have a job, make saving for retirement a priority. Closely examine where your money goes, and see whether you can trim spending to put money into retirement savings. Presume that there will be very little to bail you out if you are “retired,” but can’t afford to be.
Also, too, think about your time. How are you spending what free time you currently have? How will you spend your time when you retire? Will you be bored? Will you have the resources to perhaps do what you’d like to be doing?
Certainly, retirement is about more than money. But having enough money will take one worry off your plate so you can decide how best to use your time.
If you don’t want to work until you die, do something today to help eliminate that possibility.
Peter