Most Americans Cannot Retire; insufficient funds top reason

Most Americans Cannot Retire; insufficient funds top reason

At age 58 and less than a decade away from retirement, Nancie Eichengreen, found herself having to start over from scratch. It was 2012 and she had been laid off for the second time in 10 years from her job as a legal secretary. She spent a few years collecting unemployment benefits and dipping into her meager 401(k) savings to fill in the gaps.

“It’s kind of scary because I don’t envision a retirement for myself,” Eichengreen told Yahoo Finance. “I’m just going to have to keep working.” 

Two years ago, she decided to start over completely, going back to school for a Masters degree in social work at Yeshiva University in New York. Today, Eichengreen now 60, is living off of student loans and says it’s unlikely that she’ll be able to pay off her $200,000 student debt, which includes what she borrowed for her first Masters studies in broadcast management. Full Story

We spoke of this phenomenon years ago, when the sun was shining, and it was time to make hay.  More and more individuals are going to find themselves in this hole.  This recovery will come to be known (officially) as the recovery that never was.   The rich will become richer; the middle class will vanish, and the poor will become even poorer. 

The solution has always been the same:

Live below your means, do not purchase crap you do not need with money you do not have.   Put the money you save away and wait for good investment opportunities to present themselves.  Previously, we suggested that if you had kids, you should have attempted to teach them Chinese.

Now if you have kids, instead of sending them to college, you might be better of sending them away for 6 months to year to travel the world (preferably Asia and South America). Doing so will give them new insights and possibly provide them with ideas on how to open a new business without the need of a college degree or if a degree is needed how to leverage that to get out of the 9-5 rat race. The real growth is now in Asia and South America. If you are adventurous there are some great gains to be made in Africa, but you need to be adventurous and extremely open minded.

Other Articles of Interest:

Margin trading comeback could propel Chinese Markets Upwards (April 1)

Yuan surges past Canadian dollar for Global Payments (April 1)

Central Bankers declare War on Cash; Time to act (March 31)

Federal Reserve existence based on Fraud (March 30)

Economic Crisis; Subprime Auto loan disaster ready to strike (March 28)

China Punishes 300,000 Officials for corruption & U.S.A punishes none  (March 28)

Fossil Fuel Era over: End of Crude oil (March 25)