Still reeling from the last economic depression featuring $12 per hour jobs (no benefits) and the housing crisis? Fasten your seat belts as we are about to enter.....(dramatic music).....THE RETIREMENT ZONE .....(timpani drum booming)
There are so many tangents I could go off of, but for today I will center around personal finances and refrain from underfunded pension plans, social security and such. Not even I could handle that much bitching in one day.
I've noticed a disturbing trend that the media is not addressing head on as it would cause unpleasant feelings. More and more retirement age adults are bankrupt. Why? The reasons are varied, but in my experience the reasons are generally:
1. Lack of contributing to a 401(k) or SEP or equivalent: Maybe your employer did not offer it. Maybe if your employer did offer it you did not participate or participated at a measly 3%.
2. "Put it all on my Paycheck" mentality: During the 80's and 90's employers thought they were doing employees a favor by putting what used to be retirement contributions "all on the paycheck" for the employee to be personally responsible for squirreling away for retirement. Nobody did.
3. Tapping home equity: Using the home as a piggy bank is generally not a good idea. Granted, there are reasons to get a home equity loan but at the moment I'm drawing a complete blank.
4. Disability: We all plan to work as long as we can. However, illness and injury often pop up at the most inopportune times.
5. Putting kids through college: Nothing will drain your life savings faster. Unless you happen to have a kid who is super focused on a major with expected employment opportunities that will exceed the debt to education ratio, be very careful of this money trap. I'm not anti-education - I'm PRO education but not at the expense of derailing your retirement plans.
6. "The Government will Save Me": Bullshit.
There's my top 6. Damn, I sound like Suze Orman.
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