Americans curtail saving for retirement

Retirement Savings Low on Priority List

by Sheyna Steiner
Tuesday, August 23, 2011


While the recession, followed by a moribund recovery, may have imperiled Americans' future retirements, market volatility is not the only culprit. A new survey from Bankrate.com has found that many Americans have curtailed or decreased contributions to their retirement savings accounts this year compared to a year ago.

Nearly 3 in 10 employed Americans (28 percent) are saving less for retirement than they did the year before, while 15 percent are saving more and 48 percent are saving about the same amount.

Time is of the essence

In the best of times, most people are woefully underprepared for retirement. Clearly these are not the best of times for everyone, which puts retirement savings even further behind the curve. With no quick solution to the economic malaise on the horizon, it may be time for many people to downsize their lifestyles to save money.

The key to amassing a substantial sum for retirement is consistent saving and investing over time. With millions of Americans out of work and the economic doldrums occupying the nation's collective psyche, more people are focusing on survival rather than planning for the future. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://finance.yahoo.com/focus-retirement/article/113375/retirement-savings-low-priority-list-bankrate?mod=fidelity-startingout&cat=fidelity_2010_starting_out

dollars for retirement. They always assume that you will earn 10% return every year and you will be able to put away 200% of your gross income.

People choosing not to do this does not make it bad advice.

Income isn't one thing a lot of people are getting these days.

Have to have some extra to save. With very low to non-existent raises on top of low wages and escalating costs on everything, it is pretty dang difficult to save.

when you reach retirement age you could have a million dollar nest egg. What is the talk now? I hear both R's and D's wanting to means test SS. Under the current plan SS is (already) means tested, they start confiscating SS by taxing benefits on a single if you make more than $25000 a year and $34000 for a couple, I hardly think that is wealthy. So even if you can save for retirement what is the incentive to try when you may be penalised for it. In addition to that the long term capital gains you make on your IRA is taxed as regular income not 15% like a regular investor pays. I relized after I retired we were pretty much fed a bunch of BS about the advantages of saving for retiremnt.

The handwriting on the wall for workers has gone incandescent and it says "You're fucked".

The article says "curtailed or decreased contributions to their retirement savings accounts"
which leads me to believe only the formal 401-k type of accounts was counted.


the piece could be saying that a lot of Americans are getting smart enough to stop using job related retirement accounts which take their money and let the banks/funds go gambling with it, and that losing money in those funds is no longer acceptable.
It could be that people are saving cash for their retirement, or buying gold, or investing in rental units, or....


In fact, there has been a HUGE run on mutual funds and money market accounts, but that does not mean the money is still not in the hands of the people who have taken it out in the recent weeks.

The word "savings" obviously doesn't mean what it used to.

Actual savings are impossible when inflation in your costs of living is higher than the rate that savings accts will pay. You are then forced to throw your money into the Casino of Wall St. and hope that market makers and insider traders don't take it all, "interest" and principle together.

to not even have that money "on record". If they have a way to secure it from theft/fire/etc, some people may just keep it liquid and available 24/7..and off the books entirely. If means-testing comes to fruition someday, that money so carefully saved over decades (and paid little or no interest on) could end up disqualifying them.

Just be an ever-perfect human being, choose the correct high-paying career and never have any financial landmines whatsoever! I mean, it's SUCH a simple thing to do! Why isn't EVERY American doing it??

would assume you are also too broke to save for retirement. It has nothing to do with priority - there is no money to buy at Walmart and no money to save at the bank.

Sometimes you can't expect the government to do that for you. I know the dream is living on your own, and that's possible when energy is cheap, and people need each other less in a direct way, since you can easily get some person that you'll probably never see again to do something for you. But if times are changing, then you'll have to change with them, correct? Adapting to the situation. Evolving to meet a changing environment.