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With savings rates so low, has anyone bothered to examine how 30 years of stagnant wages for the middle class might have contributed to this problem? Just a thought...
With savings rates so low, has anyone bothered to examine how 30 years of stagnant wages for the middle class might have contributed to this problem? Just a thought...
Well, we can't do that!! How else would the super-rich and their lackeys then rationalize the situation? It works better for them if they just villify Social Security and Medicare (which, ironically, are solely responsible for many people not being out on the streets).
How did this happen so that we can prevent the next generation from this painful outcome? I think retirement savings should be enforced much more rigorously by the employers. Employees who are not saving 5% or more must go through education by HR about budgeting, etc.
"Enforced" retirement savings... by employers, no less. That's a good one. How about mandating them to match contributions up to 7-8% or to have iron-clad pensions (I can already hear the cons bristling at that notion)?
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Stricter underwriting standards for mortgages and even for car loans, so people are not buying far above their means. Age covenants on longer-term debt (who writes a 30-year note to a 60-year old debtor, anyhow?)
I'm pretty sure that's age discrimination. Also, it's not like the debt isn't secured. The biggest problem facing people right now is unsecured debt and negative equity due to derivatives (i.e., mortgage backed securities) that they had no part in creating.
But that's a TWO WAY STREET. Unfortunately, these days, the poor are not expected to live up to any standards. We have a 41% out of wedlock birth rate. How can we expect to be a prosperous nation with a statistic like that when we know that single parenthood greatly increases the risk of poverty???
You have hit the nail right on the head. We're a very low standard society, and low standards lead to poverty.
If you don't plan your life around savings, you will never have savings.
Then you will sit there and say, "I can't afford savings."
Well, you can...you just won't like what you have to do to get it.
In the area where we live, factory jobs pay from $8.00 to $10.00 an hour. The other jobs basically pay minimum wage. Health insurance at the one employer I am aware of on current cost is $800.00 a month for a family depending on which employer you work for. A small 3 bedroom/1 bath house rents for about $500 a month. And the list goes on. Do the math and then come back and explain how one can afford to save.
Unfortunately everyone is in a different boat when it comes to savings. Whether you save a dollar a month or 10, 20 or a 100 it is still considered savings. I have so many friends that have good jobs (dual income) who live paycheck to paycheck. Some how Americans have gotten the notion that saving today gives no satisfaction or benefit instantly. Most of them have let their debt get the best of them. I just smile and I am thankful we put away something for tomorrow. We started small and increased slowly.
Those of my friends who spent hard now realize ten years from retirement they are at a point where their recoverability from spending and not saving is leading them to face the fact they might not be able to retire. Most of them tapped into their house for the extras in life they just could not live without.
I see a lot of talk with the younger generation saying the Boomers have it made and they have it tougher. I know my parents and friends parents and in-laws all made it work in smaller homes with one bathroom and none of the toys we have now. Who the h$ll set the bar so high now on how we are supposed to live comfortably?
In the area where we live, factory jobs pay from $8.00 to $10.00 an hour. The other jobs basically pay minimum wage. Health insurance at the one employer I am aware of on current cost is $800.00 a month for a family depending on which employer you work for. A small 3 bedroom/1 bath house rents for about $500 a month. And the list goes on. Do the math and then come back and explain how one can afford to save.
life is all about choices. choices in where we live, education ,how many jobs we work ,skills, what we do for a living etc.
these are all choices some of us made, and some of us not.
basically if you choose to live where you do with the skill set you are saying you have your screwed.
its not easy to pick up and leave and many are trapped and have no choice but work more jobs. there isnt an answer for every case nor an answer you will like.
Hard to believe its that high a percentage but I've met a few who don't trust their employer enough to be in the 401k.
Well there have been a few cases where the companies 401k or retirement plan was invested in Company stock. Some times it was the only option available, others times employees where encouraged to invest in company stock. My Mom's old Company, the First National Bank of Toms River, to name one, Enron to name another went under in a big way and the employees lost all of there retirement savings. So you can't blame people if they have a certain about of distrust of companies retirement plans.
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