Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Retirement
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 03-31-2012, 06:28 PM
 
Location: Sarasota FL
6,864 posts, read 12,003,801 times
Reputation: 6743

Advertisements

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'.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 04-02-2012, 07:35 PM
 
Location: CHicago, United States
6,933 posts, read 8,455,936 times
Reputation: 3510
Quote:
Originally Posted by d4g4m View Post
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'.
I agree.

Few people I work with who are 55+ are adequately planning for retirement. When I speak with them about this they say something like, "Oh, it'll all work out." Some will be lucky enough to inherit a house and some money from parents or siblings. Most will be unable to retire when they want. And others will be lucky to afford cat food to eat when they retire.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-02-2012, 07:57 PM
 
48,505 posts, read 96,496,294 times
Reputation: 18301
I would think that by now the ages they start workig at have the same problem. Most are pretty well set by 55 years of age ;if they haven't plan for retirement. Most have traditoally left this to planners owned by compnaies but mnay failed to keepup with trends. Just the opposite of the Chiunese who they can't keeep from saving for healthcare and retiremment and spend more.But then the list does not apply equal weight to all plans ebcause people have different needs. its like the hosuig finace options that mnay got in trouble because of ;they were good opiton for some and terrible for others.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-03-2012, 10:02 AM
 
31,672 posts, read 40,893,182 times
Reputation: 14418
Quote:
Originally Posted by gomexico View Post
I agree.

Few people I work with who are 55+ are adequately planning for retirement. When I speak with them about this they say something like, "Oh, it'll all work out." Some will be lucky enough to inherit a house and some money from parents or siblings. Most will be unable to retire when they want. And others will be lucky to afford cat food to eat when they retire.
I know folks who think they will be ok in retirement who probably will be when they start out but will get eaten alive by inflation and medical cost in the out years. My mantra is if you are just ok when you start out you better have some major upgrades in income coming in down the road.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-03-2012, 01:52 PM
 
Location: Tennessee
37,734 posts, read 40,783,268 times
Reputation: 61948
Quote:
Originally Posted by d4g4m View Post
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'.
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.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-03-2012, 02:33 PM
 
28,803 posts, read 47,491,814 times
Reputation: 37905
We fall into the opposite category for every item (that pertains to us) on that list. Who on earth needs 10 credit cards?

And this one is a gem:

Quote:
35% of parents weren't saving money for their childrens college expenses. Which means that 65% are saving?
No, they're blowing it on "stuff".
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-05-2012, 04:43 AM
 
18,608 posts, read 33,180,797 times
Reputation: 36869
I remember a friend and I were looking at a changing neighborhood, fancy stores coming in to replace daily-needs stores. I said it worried me and friend asked why I cared, and I said that I thought things and the area were getting too expensive and it wouldn't be good for us in the long run, like retirement. He said he never thought of that. He asked, "Don't you have savings? I've got about $2,000 in the bank," and I asked what he thought would happen (we were in our 30s). He said, "Oh, I guess the government will take care of us." I said, "The same government that you protested when you had hair? It doesn't take care of poor children now, it's gonna take care of gayboys who spent all their money on restaurants and interior decorating?" He looked at me with this absolute bottomeless look of terror in his eyes and said, "I really don't want to think about it."
His partner, the spendthrift, expected to inherit some real money- don't know if he did, after the useless PhD got finished. Friend ended up working for the V.A. system, with a good pension plan.
I still remember that blank look of terror.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-05-2012, 05:03 AM
 
Location: Tucson/Nogales
23,067 posts, read 28,783,425 times
Reputation: 32336
Since I work in a long-term-care facility, I agree, there's a lot of seniors who didn't plan well for the future, like those in their early 60's who will never collect a SS check, who are not going to have happy deaths, and isn't that the name of the game? The happiest death possible?

And there they lay bedridden, such poor planning, never expected some health calamity was going to cut their lives short and all their wonderful financial planning ended up in the pockets of a medical care facility!

Ain't never gonna see the Great Wall of China, Macchu Picchu, the Himalayan or Andes mountains, go on a Mediterrean cruise. The poorest of planning: they gambled they'd be doing all that after 65!

And with the surety of our defaulting on our foreign debt some day, lot of good all that planning will do!

Who is truly smart and who is truly dumb?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > General Forums > Retirement

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top