Just read that average income in US is $17/hr [View All]

That is about $36,000 a year. But people are having to make it stretch further all of the time. Insurance keeps going up and there are taxes that are going up (non-federal like property taxes or sale's taxes).

But you know what I have noticed (I do real estate loans so I see lots and lots of credit stuff for a lot of people) is that people seem to always buy the very most house they can qualify for. A lot of these people are pretty young kids who don't have any idea how much all the other stuff in their life will cost. Like having to replace the roof or the furnace. Like the cost of children getting sick.

And most people I see really have a lot of credit card debt and most generally pay about the minimum payment so the debt just continues to increase.

And despite all of this - most people are now expected to save enough so that they can make it through a disaster. And many people are also supposed to save enough for their retirement.

I have a feeling that the retirement money will just have to wait. And when these people really need it, it won't be there.