Bleak hopes about retirement savings.
By on Apr 10th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Bleak hopes about retirement savings.
A new study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute finds that the “percentage of workers who said they were very confident about having enough money for retirement decreased from 27 percent last year to 18 percent this year, the sharpest one-year drop” since the group began the survey 18 years ago. Just 34 percent of all workers now “expect to have access to employer-paid health insurance in retirement, down 8 percentage points from last year (42 percent in 2007).”
View Most Popular
Advertisement
What We're About
What We're Fighting For
What We're Fighting Against
Featured
Subscribe to the Progress Report
Topic CloudView topics sorted by popularity
Afghanistan
Bachmann
Beck
Boehner
Bush
Business
Cheney
Civil Rights
Congress
Corporate Ethics
Dobbs
Economy
Education
Election
Energy
Environment
Ethics
Fox News
Gingrich
Glenn Beck
Global Warming
Health Care
Immigration
International Relations
Justice
LGBT
Lieberman
Limbaugh
Media
Military
O'Reilly
Obama
Palin
Pelosi
Politics
Race
Radical Right
Religion
Steele
Stimulus
Tea Parties
Tea Party
Terrorism
Veterans
Women's Rights
Visit Our Affiliated Sites
Reports
In-depth studies on select topics
Got a hot tip?
Have a hot news tip? We'd love to hear from you. Use the form below to send us the latest.
ArchivesBlog Roll
And the number of people who have resigned themselves to working until they drop keeps increasing…
April 10th, 2008 at 5:29 pmOur bosses are about to get a lot older.
April 10th, 2008 at 5:29 pmWhat’s sad is that people are having to make early withdrawals from their 401(k) funds (along with paying hefty penalties for doing so) just so they can pay their MEDICAL bills and/or insurance premiums.
April 10th, 2008 at 5:30 pmDue to the Neocon wet dream of invading every country in the ME, we might have the single biggest collection of poverty stricken seniors the world has ever known. Then, project that out 20-40 years when more and more of us will be trying to survive on a bankrupt social security and medicare system.
I hope you all stay very, very healthy. Only the rich will have access to proper medical care.
April 10th, 2008 at 5:33 pmI’m in my early 20’s and I’m confident that I will have enough money for retirement. I’m fairly confident that I will have enough to retire ‘early’ should I decide to. I however, seem to be in the minority among other people my age in the amount going into my 401k.
April 10th, 2008 at 5:37 pmThis is only a survey, not fact, so don’t anybody worry about anything. Everything’s fine. Just Fine. Really.
April 10th, 2008 at 5:38 pmI just hope there’s some damn fish left in the ocean in twelve years when I retire.
April 10th, 2008 at 5:40 pmCompany paid health insurance? After retirement? Does anyone here’s company pay for their health insurance after they retire???
Does anyone here’s company pay for their health insurance after they retire???
Unless you negotiate that into your severance or separation agreement, or possibly your union has that stipulation, most will lose their health insurance once they leave the company.
That is why the medicare system is so fragile now and into the future. More and more doctors are chosing to not be part of that program because they are underpaid, and late paid. The Doctors won’t take patients if they cannot recoup the cost of their services.
April 10th, 2008 at 5:47 pmIt was down 27 to 18… What has the average been over the 18 years they’ve been taking this survey?
April 10th, 2008 at 6:01 pmFederal retirees who participated in their health plan for the three years prior to retirement can retain their health benefits. Some states also have similar programs for longer term employees.
April 10th, 2008 at 6:01 pmUS Economy: Tank, Tanking, Tanked!
April 10th, 2008 at 6:24 pmThis is a bleak forecast of things to come: We have the aging generation finding fewer benefits and coverage for retirement, while their savings and IRAs are dwindling in the market. They can’t save enough, and even if they do, the dollar value is less, so they lose.
April 10th, 2008 at 6:42 pmThey will be more dependent on Medicare (or Medicaid) for health care, while the government is determined to reduce coverage, payments and increase premiums.
They are looking at a no-win situation in which they have little if any control.
The situation looks to me like the pre-depression era, where mom and pop moved in with their kids because they couldn’t afford to live independently; and as for health care, the kids all had to chip in and if they couldn’t, mom and pop died prematurely for lack of medical attention.
April 10th, 2008 at 6:47 pmIn those days, though, families lived in the same town. Today families are all over the country and everyone is out there without immediate support in the event of a calamity.
During that period, the wealthy were doing just fine — sort of like today.
Americans were doing well in 1999 as the Stock Market was strong and the World trusted the USA. These same Americans put the crooks in office twice and now ask what happen. Bush/Cheney have given away the taxpayers money as Americans supported this Administration. They have had our soldiers killed for oil. Now there is no one to blame but the American people. Now we’ll lost the rest of the US Economy if McCain gets in or Obama with his only qualification that of a great speech. Look for the depression lines and no holding spots for anyone either, just wait your turn for the Government cheese, milk and bread.
April 10th, 2008 at 6:57 pmNo company I have ever worked for has had a retirement program or a health insurance program when you retire. Retirement is not gonna happen for me, I’ll end up working till I keel over, with run away inflation, just getting by week to week is a struggle. And my daughters 40K a year college has eaten every penny of my savings. I do have 2 rentals left though, hope I can hold on to those. My life started sucking when Bush took office, pay decreased 25% and has not gone up in 7 years. We are all screwed (except the ultra rich) thanks to the Repukian Criminals in office.
April 10th, 2008 at 6:57 pmCIALIS INJURY ATTORNEY COLUMBUS
April 10th, 2008 at 7:24 pmHOW CAN I GET VALIUMS WITHIUT A PRESCRIPTION
PHENTERMINE BLUE/CLEAR 30mg
XANAX OVERNIGHTED
BUY OXYCONTIN ONLINE WITHOUT A PRESCRIPTION
We’ve seen this before–a little something called “serfdom.” Instead of being enslaved to land for survival, however, we are now enslaved to our occupations.
April 10th, 2008 at 7:47 pmGOPpers can cite those numbers in their quest to eviscerate social security and medicare: ‘GOP, fighting for 18% of the population.’
April 10th, 2008 at 7:49 pm.
bleak is kind of optimistic, where i’m concerned.
April 10th, 2008 at 8:13 pmPart of a broader national trend that has seen overall savings rates plunge to all-time lows between 1 and 2 percent of income. In one recent survey, by Thrivent Financial, 36 percent of working adults said they hadn’t yet started saving for retirement, while another 16 percent said they’d put aside $10,000 or less.
Another major reason people do not have more money in their 401K’s is that we have a large percent of people that change jobs and do not roll over their 401k plans. They go on a spending spree. I have seen three surveys on that one alone. It has only gotten worse over the last 7 years. The average person in their 40’s for example; in the survey had $106,500 saved for retirement.
Many people have less than 3% taken out of their paychecks for their 401K. If you ask any tax expert/accountant he will tell you to have at least 5 to 6% taken out. The difference in your net pay after taxes would be taken out anyways would be negligible. Most companies will match at least 5% some has high as 10%. (The 10% companies are awesome)The average baby boomer is going to have to have at least $500,000 to $1,000,000. Closer to a $1,000,000 to live comfortably. They base this on cost of living, medications/prescriptions, vacations, and you get the idea.
What is also making this difficult for many Americans is, that they base that figure on the fact that you are going to earn 8% a year off of your 401K plan. Welllll, that is pretty hard to do with our economy. So many people have lost a large portion of their retirement/401k because of the stock market has tanked so many times.
Part of any good retirement porfolio has to be safe; such as Treasury Bills, Roth IRAS, CD’s. (Most of the Financial Advisors I have worked with say 20%.)
April 10th, 2008 at 8:45 pmWhat would your dollar buy at the beginning of the Bush administration and what does it buy now? Anyone who feels that their money will be worth something twenty years from now is suffering from a false sence of security. The dollar is being stolen from the inside.
April 10th, 2008 at 8:52 pmDoes anyone here’s company pay for their health insurance after they retire???StratRat Says:
April 11th, 2008 at 6:43 amYep,thanks to my UNION NEGOTIATED CONTRACT! Of course we don’t need Unions anymore,do we? We can trust the company to do the right thing,right?
StratRat Says:
April 10th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Does anyone here’s company pay for their health insurance after they retire???
The ones that I know bought plans through AARP for health and long term care, it is additional coverage that Medicare doesn’t cover. AARP also provides house & life insurance plans also, if you want them.
April 11th, 2008 at 7:50 amIf only Condi saved her dressessohbet instead of cleaning them. But in today’s twisted America, I don’t believe anything would happen if George Bush was cetcaught in bed with a dead girl AND a live boy. And it all procedes with a cheeky grin and a sickening smugness that is as arrogant as it is insultingBedava mp3 indir.
April 11th, 2009 at 1:03 pm