This post was originally posted at Towards Your Better Life, in October of 2015.
I was recently listening to the Stacking Benjamins’ podcast “Can’t Save for Retirement? Here’s Your Answer.“ It was mentioned that a percentage of Americans are not saving for retirement or not enough. I don’t remember the amount, but I was amazed.
With that, I did a quick internet search and found other sources citing numbers that few Americans are saving for retirement.
- According to Forbes.com, 68% of Americans are not saving in an employer-sponsored plan. (Article)
- Per a BankRate.com article, 36% of persons surveyed indicated that they were not saving for retirement. The article even cites that Americans nearing retirement age have not begun putting away money, for their years after working. (Article)
- A USNews.com article indicates that almost 50% of Americans are not saving enough for retirement. (Article)
- USAToday.com reports that 36% of Americans do not have anything saved for retirement. (Article)
That was just 4 articles in my quick search, and there’s many more behind those. Many more, sad, articles. Sad articles about the numbers of folks that aren’t putting money way, for the years after work is done.
I was one of those folks, many years ago. My folks didn’t teach me about investing or saving for retirement. I lucked into it, in that my profession was in education, and in Texas, where we had to participate in the state retirement system. That was the beginning, but later I learned about investing, and my wife and I started socking money away.
We didn’t know how much, but we made it a habit. We made sure that a percentage of each of our checks went into retirement savings. As the years rolled by, we were able to put more away, so we did. I wish that we’d put more away sooner, but at least we put money away; enough to retire in our mid-fifties, and we’re loving it. We don’t live lavishly, but we’re living nicely.
We have two children, both in their 30’s. I’ve been trying to get them to get serious about retirement investing. Our son and his wife have state and county jobs, where they have retirement plans. The daughter and her husband have non-government jobs, so they aren’t in mandated retirement plans. I don’t have any idea how any of them are doing, but I’m praying that they are putting money away. Believe me, I’m going to keep asking and pushing.
It’s not too late to look into retirement plans. There are many options out there. Don’t know how much you’re going to need? There are calculators and other resources. I recommend Ken Fisher’s 15-Minute Retirement Guide is a quick easy read, with great info. Fisher’s Plan Your Prosperity is also a great resource, which also helped clarify our retirement plans. Betterment’s RetireGuide is just one retirement planning tool, to help determine retirement needs and investing plans.
Are you part of the percentage not putting money away? If so, how can you not save for the future? What are you going to live on? With all the resources that are available, you owe it to yourself to provide for a comfortable retirement.
If you’re not going to be part of the percentage of non-savers, what are you going to do to prepare for your future?
