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There’s No Quick Fix for This Alarming Retirement Dilemma

By Steve McDonald, Bond Strategist,
The Oxford Club
Tuesday, May 17, 2016

This is your once-a-quarter “wake up and smell the roses” Two-Minute Retirement Solution. I do this only four times a year because I get too depressed looking at these numbers.

There are now around 40 million seniors in this country; one in six is living below the poverty level. That’s about 6.5 million people. To put that number into perspective, that’s roughly the population of Massachusetts.

And last year, half of all retired boomers reported that their personal financial situations were deteriorating.

By 2050, there will be 90 million seniors. There is no estimate of how many will be living in poverty.

Between 1985 and 2010, the number of 65- to 70-year-olds working for a paycheck almost doubled. And almost three-fourths of all Americans now plan to work in retirement.

Most, I am sure, have not yet accepted the fact that the jobs will not be there for them.

Over half of those entering retirement carry significant debt and have higher credit card balances than younger Americans. And the number of bankruptcies increased 178% since 1991. That’s only 25 years.

In 1945, there were 42 people working for every one collecting SSA benefits. Today, there are only 2.5 contributing for every one collecting.

In about 20 years, the number of people receiving Social Security benefits will increase from 61 million to 91 million. That’s almost 50% more.

The average check from Social Security is around $1,200 a month, and most U.S. workers have $25,000 or less in savings of any kind. If they withdraw equal amounts from their $25,000 for 15 years in retirement, their weekly income goes up by just $32.

Try living on $332 a week!

And we haven’t even touched on Medicare.

By 2025, the number of people receiving Medicare benefits will increase almost 50%, from 50 million to 73 million.

The program faces unfunded liabilities of more than $38 trillion over the next 75 years. That comes to approximately $328,404 for each household in the United States.

And the only solution on the table for any of these issues is to increase the retirement age to 70. And, as all solutions now seem to do, it falls entirely on the backs of the folks coming behind us, not the boomers.

Living on $300 a week for 20 or 30 years and leaving the mess for our kids. That’s not how things should be done.

Save more, spend less and pay off your debt.

Try to have a good week.

Good investing,

Steve

Don't forget a lot of us are not physically or mentally able to work to 70; wages have gone down for a lot of us; the cost of living has gone up (one dependable transportation vehicle, food, and a safe home, not living in your winery); and they spent all the money and lied to us about the interest we could have earned.

Also, a lot of peope dont live to draw2 anything, just lost a friend at 64.

The number one biggest asset you have is time. That is, if you are now under the age of 40. If you are over 50, time is your biggest liability.

The sooner you start saving the better off you'll be; the later you start... well, welcome to $322 a week.

which is why Bernie is so appealing to those who are facing living on a fixed government income

1300 a month. Neither of us brings home a lot more than that.

The problem with living is that folks think they have to live like kings.

1350 would be tough, but by retirement time everything you have is well paid off and the only things you have are utilites, food and fun. And fun involves vehicle expenses too.

Tough but it can be done.

The young ones need to save more! Obviously because .gov and life have demanded such, and that we take more to pay for others.

Me... I"m still in the groove, and if I run out of money, then .gov can take care of me or i'll take care of them. LOL.

Worse, the Fed is deliberately keeping interest rates so low that people cannot build up enough savings for retirement. They're forced into risky investments which will likely collapse like a bubble some day.

I'm surprised that the Millenials are not setting up guillotines in Washington. Perhaps their support for Sanders is their way of doing that.

People make choices in life, sometimes that choice it to be stupid. Other peoples failures should never be my problem.

pensions versus 401K have made this a problem as well.

One place to start that won't make much difference but will make us all feel better is to divert the pensions of those who have caused most of the problems into the social security fund. Congress and the administration have caused it, let their pensions go to help fix it.

Ease our tax burden and we could save more.

I've always believed that once a person hits 60, they shouldn't have to pay taxes, period... they've paid an entire life time into them already...

then you have plenty of people who never contributed one thing to the economy of this nation, and spend an entire life time being supported by the government and never paying any taxes....

What's wrong with this picture? Nothing if you're a democRAT.

I've been thinking, maybe Washington Oregon and Colorado have legalized Marijuana, to give all of these old hippies something to supplement their Social Security Checks....

That's the answer.. old people need to start growing Marijuana, and get into the recreational pharmaceutical business...

When I retire I want to build a margarita cart and push it up and down the beach. I'll get exercise, meet happy people on vacation, see pretty girls in bikinis and have an all cash business with no register. What's not to like about a retirement job like that??

How's that?

Problem: pretty girls in bikinis? Where they going to put the cash? Gonna have to take debit card.

This doesn't concern me for a couple of reasons.

One......I've known for more than 30 years this is where we were headed so like an alarmist Ive been preparing even though most folks and I mean MOST now finally realize I'm actually a REALIST!

My 14 acre ranch along with everything else I have is paid for in CASH! I've not relied on bank loans ever for one dam thing. In fact I don't finance anything.

What has this done for me. Well the truth is.....most folks spend 100s of thousands of dollars in interest over a lifetime. The fact that I've never done that ever has put ME around $200,000 ahead of most of my known compadres!

That $200,000 is why I am free and clear at age 48 with a nice big garden, comfortable vehicles to drive, and semi retired, living comfortable as can be working 2 months out of the year.

If you allow yourself to get sucked into THERE line of TRAINING.....because that's what they DO! They train you, you will be a sorry SAP when there done with you. When I say they.....I'm talking about the powers that be.

My recommendation is.....live simple, work hard, pay cash!




Shod

For many folks, myself included, paying cash is just plain dumb.

So you think high interest rates are the answer?

Low to no interest rates destroy the savers.
Saving used to be a good strategy for unsophisticated people.
Now they are forced into the ponzi scheme and more than likely will be fleeced of their money,

Low interest rates allow the Federal Government to finance its enormous debt at a "relatively" lower cost - as compared to the historically higher interest rate.

Never saw the time where paying cash was was dumb for us, but can realize that it can happen.

Just happier to be set like Shod basically, all paid for, never paid a dime in interest, and so on. Not retired yet, but working hard on semi retire and just enjoy it best we can.

Paying interest instead of paying off just never made sense to me.

Of course if you could pay 10% and make 18% it would.

Why do people have to be at the mercy of Wall Street when it comes to their retirement? I don't see a problem with higher interest rates, then again I don't live my life in debt up to my eyeballs.

Elections have consequences.



I won't be here to support them. Phfffft!



It's the land of opportunity, not guarantees.



I'm not one of them. Suck it up.......



BTDT. Buy some hooks, catch a fish, stop whining.



Darwin is my hero. Besides, in 75 years $328K will be beer change. Champagne will cost a lot more.

I'm sure that would be illegal for some fuggin reason. Almost everything fun is.

Not sure way all the adversity towards wall street. Yes it dropped a lot in 2008, and it has before and will but has fully recovered. Over time it has paid off very well.
If you can set aside money in a near zero interest account, you can set it aside in stocks bonds and other such investments, and be far better off.

You do realize stocks can and do go to zero?

Many believe the bond bubble is ready to pop.

How many people in mutual funds have lost ground due to management fee's etc...

DD and Ed M should be listened to by those who would whine.

I have been financially independent since 2000. I was rescued from retirement by 9/11 and became addicted again to working w/ young people w/ a mission. I retired for good 6 weeks ago and can now enjoy it.

Anyone w/ good credit can borrow at a rate lower than what can be earned w/ smart investing. This is still a country w/ amazing opportunities and great tax shelters for those who pay attention.


mike r

Not everybody wants their future at the mercy of Wall Street. The game is setup, you're going to give your money to them to play with or plan on earning less than 1% On your money .

Of course you are correct and I have employed that very strategy myself and retired at a young age.
My point is the bigger picture and the well being of the average person.
There is little doubt in my mind the country is going economically down hill at a rapid pace.

Cheap and easy credit has a huge price, nothing is free.

Republicans love to whine about redistribution of wealth thry the tax revenue system but Wall Street was saved by dropping the interest rate which has done nothing but rape the savers and coupon clipping widows out of billions of earnings and put It in the pockets of equity investors most of them institutional investors.If that isn't a redistribution of wealth then I don't know what is.

They have an old saying that goes something like this...

"Do what the others aren't doing when you're young, so you don't have to do what they're doing when they get old."

This might include getting a good education, taking the risk of starting a business, dedicating your youth to the service of others or just saving your money.

Yeah, it goes down, and then it goes back up. Problem is, if it goes down after you've set up your draws for retirement income, you can end up living off your principal. Unless you're really well fixed or can go back to work (ugh!), it's hard to recover from that.

When I retired, I could have taken a lump sum and rolled it into an IRA, or taken a pension. I took the pension because I didn't want to dread hearing the financial news every day. Maybe an IRA would have made me a bit better off, but I sleep better with the pension. One of my friends took the lump in 2000, invested wisely, and even after drawing out a fair chunk over the years, has more money than he started with. But he also has worked for the majority of that time so his "retirement" is really in name only. He just hired out again, at age 66, just because the money's so good for what he's doing that he feels he can't pass it up. I'd rather fish and hunt.

you haven't been in some of the bars i have been in, they could do wonders with a rolled up dollar bill.

it isn't wall street setting interest rates, it's the fed.

another wrong one, during the depression many banks failed, the bigger companies survived just fine.

There is a lot of talk about how we are leaving the next generation in tremendous debt etc. however there is almost no discussion about how they will be the beneficiaries of everything we ( baby boomers) own because as they say a shroud has no pockets. The intersting thing is how all of our stuff will flow to the next generation. Will someone buy your $250,000 house for $150,000 because of devaluation, or will you spend your entire net worth on health and longevity term care as you age. Will the govt enact stringent estate taxes to pay off the debt? There are thousands of scenarios out there and none of the great financial gurus and economists have a clue or even seem to have recognized the fact that over the next 25 years there is going to be the greatest inter generational transfer of wealth in history.

If you think the low interest rates are killing retirees, wait until the ramifications of quantitative easing begin to kick in. Work, save, invest all your life and watch government steal your money's value to buy votes from shiftless layabouts.

Einstein is (arguably) attributed s saying "Compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe". Regardless as to who said it,it is a true statement. Save as much as you can, as early as you can and in low cost investments.

Soylent Green.

This. I just refinanced my home at 3% for 15 years. With my interest deduction I am looking at 2ish% money that is available to invest and make good money with. Like I said, "for many folks", not all.

Yep, house, vehicles, etc… everything is paid for. Still costs me $800/month in taxes and insurance just to live and breathe. Actually it's more than that, but I don't want to be accused of exaggerating.

Income tax runs almost $1000/month for two retired educators pension checks.

Anyone with some property within walking distance to a town water supply will be able to rent out tent space by 2050.

Alan

Ever heard of Enron?
Company's do fail everyday!
How about the haircut bondholders took on the General motors deal?

I agree that with today's home mortage rates and the interest deduction, it makes sense to have a mortgage and to put that money to work elsewhere. The key is to have that 20% down payment to avoid paying PMI.

Yep.

It will be even worse for people my age....

The Boomers arent even solvent, despite the amount of real prosperity by a majority of them.

Of course socialism has and will always be a train wreck

Many people in my age demographic (50 sumthing) feel the baby boomers have gone through the economy like a swarm of locust and left us with nothing but debt.

The Boomers will pale when it comes to the illegals and the unemployed welfare state....the .gov has opened up the treasury to the ails of the third world beyond military expenditure.

Im sure the printing press will hum even more as the can gets kicked down the road for the millionth time.

Two Irrational Behaviors That Will Ruin Your Retirement

By Steve McDonald, Bond Strategist,
The Oxford Club
Tuesday, May 24, 2016


Steve McDonald says today’s $1.7 trillion retirement crisis is largely the result of irrational behavior. Every little bit matters, yet boomers continue to overlook the power of compounding. Prioritizing the present over the future is setting the stage for disaster.

In today’s Two-Minute Retirement Solution, Steve shares the two small changes you should make right now to fix the problem.


Transcript:
We have about a $1.7 trillion shortfall in our retirement funding in this country. That’s how much we will need that we haven’t saved.

And there are two behaviors that most of us exhibit to some degree that are responsible for most of it. And thankfully, both are correctable.

The first is called “present bias.” We boomers are famous for this one.

The present bias involves putting your current happiness before your long-term needs and well-being.

You know, buying that 48-inch TV when the one you have at home works just fine and that $800 could go into your IRA. Or taking that expensive vacation despite the fact that you’re contributing only 3% to your 401(k) and you know that puts you on track for virtually nothing in your golden years.

It is a serious problem, especially in light of our longer life expectancy and the financial disgrace of Social Security. It is completely irrational – and a problem that will turn our retirement years into a financial nightmare.

The ONE Obama 'Program' Even Republicans and Libertarians Will Love
The second behavior is called “exponential growth bias” or, more easily said, failure to grasp the miracle of compounding.

It’s rooted in a limited view of how money works, and it has been exacerbated by the fact that we have been in an almost zero interest rate market for years.

It starts with the totally irrational belief that even if you can earn 7% on $100, that’s only $7 in one year. Better to spend it and enjoy it than earn a paltry $7.

What they’re missing of course is the time element. In 10 years, that amount doubles to $200. In 10 more years, you’re earning $27 a year on the original $100 you put aside.

That measly $100 is now generating 27% per year.

And if you look at the long-term returns of solid dividend-paying stocks that raise their dividends every year, the total returns are huge.

If you add a regular IRA or 401(k) contribution to the equation, which most retirement experts say should be at least 15%, the long-term magic of compounding and dollar cost averaging really kicks in.

This horrible retirement funding shortfall we have put ourselves in is fixable for most of us. Not all, unfortunately, but most of us still have enough time to correct some of the problem.

And in most cases, we don’t have a choice; it’s either change how we are doing things or spend retirement in poverty.

Shift your bias to savings and compounding now!

Folks set their priorities and most folks are not very bright. Pretty simple really.