Quote:
Originally Posted by d4g4m
Interesting statistics in a 'Retire Solid' magazine. Do you beat the percentages.
70% of workers are behind schedule in planning for retirement.
40% don't track spending against a budget.
only 42% have completed a retirement needs calculation.
50% of investors rarely or never rebalance their retirement accounts.
55% of adults don't have a will or estate plan.
50% are not satisfied with their financial situation.
41% have no life insurance.
This one I find hard to believe. 35% of parents weren't saving money for their childrens college expenses. Which means that 65% are saving?
And this one, 14% of consumers have more than 10 credit cards.
I think there's a whole lot of people will have a rude awakening when they receive their first SS check and think 'I should have done some planning for the future'.
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1. Doing fine. Satisfied with my financial situation.
2. Have a pension after 34 years with the same employer. Knew how much I'd get before retiring. Knew I wouldn't need a lot in retirement because I didn't need a lot in non-retirement.
3. One credit card because I don't like paying a lot of bills. Only want to keep track of one. I pay it off every month. Never had more than one.
4. Don't have a budget. Don't track spending. Never did after I was divorced. I know I don't spend a lot of money.
5. Car is paid off. It's not flashy, it's functional and boring.
6. Rent, and always have, so no house/yard maintenance unexpected expenses to plan for or worry that house is worth less now and didn't plan for that.
7. No kids so no kid tuition issues, no kid/grandkid money help issues, no adult kids sucking me dry by living with me.
8. Have life insurance and have since I was 20 but after burial don't have to worry about leaving money to anyone because no kids or spouse.
9. Live close (within 3 miles and most within 1 mile) to everything I do regularly. I'd like to say I planned that for retirement but it just happened to work out that way. Still, if you are relocating in retirement it's something to think about.
10. Socked
max amount allowed (no matching funds) in my thrift savings plan (haven't touched it) and was living fine on the reduced amount of paycheck when I was in the workforce so now I find I can do fine on less income because I never was really living on the full amount of money I made when I was working. (Didn't plan this, realized it after I retired.)
11. Have more discretionary money in retirement than when I was working because to go to work costs money (clothes, dry cleaning, gas, wear and tear on car, eating lunch out, chip ins, vending machines, etc.) and because I now live in a low cost of living state. That's something people can plan for.
12. No will. (No current husband. No kids. Have one sister.)
13. No real big clothes expense to plan for. Live in washable interchangeable jeans and tees.
14. I'm pretty boring compared to most people. I didn't/don't live large or even semi-large. I didn't have to plan much for a desired "retirement lifestyle" because I pretty much didn't have one, ever. I hate shopping so I never buy anything unless I need it. My photography hobby has an equipment/software expense but it doesn't cost anything at all to do the hobby except for gas in the car. I like to read and belong to a book discussion group but books are not really expensive and it doesn't cost anything to read/discuss. I take classes but my tuition is only $100 a year for 3 semesters, 5 classes per semester. I don't fly anymore because I don't like it so my road trip travel expense is cheaper than flying. I just need a place to sleep that's clean so no flasy hotels. I'm out all day with the camera when I do travel. I don't like heat or crowds so I never vacationed "in season" even when I was working. That just happens to mean cheaper rates. Once every couple of months I play slots. I pretty much knew I wouldn't need a lot of money in retirement.
15. That leaves possible catastrophic illness planning. Since I live on my pension just fine, I see the money I've socked away in savings, and continue to sock away, for that purpose. But in retirement planning, it really should be considered.