American's Lack Confidence When It Comes To Retirement Planning by Pat Melfi

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EBRI's in 1997 Retirement Confidence Survey found that 51 percent of current workers anticipated that personal savings would serve as their "most important" source of income in retirement. But, in 1998, that statistic dropped sharply to only 39 percent. Attempting to explain what may have changed, the authors of EBRI's 1998 Retirement Confidence Survey suggested: "One possibility is that, as more people focus on retirement, determine what they will need, and consider what they have already put aside, their confidence in their ability to save enough for retirement decreases." Consistent with this theory, the 1998 Retirement Confidence Survey found that "only 25 percent of workers are very confident that they are doing a good job of preparing financilally for retirement, compared with 32 percent in 1997."

Despite waning confidence, Americans today are more focused than ever before on retirement planning. Nearly half of all working Americans--45 percent--have attempted to calculate how much they'll need to save for retirement. In 1997, only 36 percent had tried to do that calculation. In 1996, only 32 percent made the attempt. Nevertheless, almost 60 percent of women and 51 percent of men have not yet tried to figure out how much they need to save for retirement.



According to EBRI's 1998 Retirement Confidence Survey, members of "Generation X"--generally those born from 1964 to 1980--are more confident that the members of any other generation about their retirement prospects. One in three is "very confident" they'll have enough money for a comfortable retirement, compared with 18 percent of older Baby Boomers and 22 percent of younger Baby Boomers. Experts estimate that 55 tp 64 percent of Generation X have already begun to save for retirement, primarily because of "the prevalence of 401 (k)s in the workplace today, which makes it easier for young people to start saving for retirement, and concerns about the future of Social Security as a source of retirement income.

The Changing Environment by Pat Melfi

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Americans Are Living Longer and That Gets Costly

Life expectancy fo Americans is generally on the rise. Many retirees can expect to live twenty years more in retirement, and with the rapid medical and scientific developments we see today, the trend is likely to continue. In 1998, only 40,000 people were 100 yeards old or older. But experts predict that by 2050 nearly one million people will live to be 100.

This is certainly a sign of progress. Yet longer life, with its added years of retirement, requires greater financial assets. Retirement can be a time of deteriorating health. Insurance and other medical safety nets will often cover a portion of these costa. But in many cases, the remainder can only be defrayed by the retiress's personal resources.

According to a 1999 study of saving across generations, nearly half of all Americans in their 50'2 or early 60's---49 percent--believe strongly that they should have begun to save for retirement much earlier than they did. When asked to identify the ideal time to start retirement planning, the "group picked age 22...eight years earlier than they themselves began to plan."

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Education Is The Answer, What's The Question !!!

THE WORLD HAS CHANGED !!!

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We have witnessed sweeping global changes in the last few years. The world has been transformed on almost every front. Politically, governments and national boundaries have come and gone. Through technology, we routinely communicate with the farthest corners of the earth in a matter of seconds. Economically, events in far-flung stock markets across the globe impact every market.



But not only governments and economic markets are affected. These global changes also bring about new financial realities on an individual level. The widespread availability of credit cards and automated teller machines makes spending much easier today than in days gone by. And the proleferation of at-home and on-line banking and investing services allows individuals to act more quickly--and sometimes more rashly--than ever before when making financial decisions.



These changes affect virtually everyone in the United States--from our youngest workers and students to our eldest retirees. Yet most youngpeople in America begin their financial lives unschooled in the basics of saving and investing and unaware of how quickly "easy credit" can add up to big debt. For example, in its 1999 Youth and Money Survey, the American Savings Education Council (ASEC) found that forty percent of students are likely to buy a pair of jeans (or something similar) they really want even if they do not have the money to pay for it. And 70 percent would pay for it with a "credit card."



And while most adults have high expectations for retirement, many will fail to maintain the lifestyle and standard of living to which they have become accustomed because they failed to plan and save. According to an August 1998 study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), more than half of American workers--55 percent--have no idea how much they will need to save to save to make their retirement dreams a reality.



Planning for future financial needs--especially for retirement--has also changed. In the past, the burden of planning for the future fell primarily on such external forces as government (through Social Security and Medicare) and employers (through pension plans directed by the employer). Today, however, the responsibility for one's financial future has shifted to the individual.



Over the years I have made incredible amounts of money at my day job in sales of entertainment, real estate and mortgage origination. And, as most Americans, I lived in the day, a boy with his toys, had the cars, the time shares, the big houses yada, yada, yada. In a recent meeting with my business manager, he produced reports from these various incomes. It was simply amazing to learn that the benefits of my own business and investments in real estate were in in fact saviours of our family's retirement. We can make it happen in the next five years, despite our carelessness in financial planning, as we all can. EDUCATION IS THE ANSWER, WHAT'S THE QUESTION?



Let's get together as an American people and start to change our ways, our education system and our lives.