The general consensus is that people work now, so that they don’t have to later. A financially comfortable retirement being the ultimate prize.
But here’s the problem. Seniors are increasingly unable to retire to high health care costs and poor returns on retirement investments. Retirement may be a complete relic by the time Gen Y hits their golden years. With boomers set to begin leaving the full-time work force and social security looking to go bust, (Was anyone else nonplussed by Gingrich sentiment a few year back that it won’t be an issue until his grandkids are adults, so why address a failing social security system now. . . . ARE THERE ANY LONG TERM PLANNERS in our government?), I don’t have high hopes for returns on traditional retirement plans.
Neither does Congress. The LATimes reported on recent study on pension plans and retirement
The study found that, under current trends, 401(k) and similar plans would be able to replace an average of 22% of the income of workers who retire in the middle of this century. That figure is far below the 70% to 80% often recommended by financial planners for a comfortable standard of living in retirement.
While socially security benefits could additionally “amount to an additional 30% to 40% of pre-retirement income for many workers,” that leaves a pretty substantial income gap.
I suppose until someone on Capital Hill figures out how to balance the budget today, long term strategic, financial planning is just a hope and a dream for the citizenry. The problem with public leadership on retirement planning is that they don’t suffer the same circumstances as most Americans; the kind of money exchanging hands in DC means that our elected officials are unlikely to ever face a decision like: hmm, my medications or my mortgage. Thus there’s no incentive to improve the system for everyone else, leaving people to keep their fingers crossed that they’re making the right financial decisions.
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