(Obama read this) Reluctant Retirement Savers May Be Scared Straight by These Stats

[ckramer]

Source: mw

There are nearly 100 million Americans age 21 to 64 working full-time, full-year. But of that number, just 60% or 58.4 million work for an employer that sponsors a retirement plan, and only 52.7%, or 50.8 million participate in a retirement plan.

That means roughly half of all working Americans don't participate in a retirement plan or don't have an employer-sponsored plan in which to participate. It also means that a huge number of adult Americans -- by my estimate 150 million of a potential 200 million -- aren't saving for retirement in any meaningful way, if at all.

The average total income for those 65 and older in America is $25,610, and the median was a meager $16,770, according to EBRI Notes. That means retirees are living on roughly one-third of their preretirement income. And that's a far cry from the 70% to 80% income replacement experts suggest Americans need to maintain their preretirement standard of living.



Read more: http://finance.yahoo.com/focus-retirement/article/104108/Reluctant-Retirement-Savers-May-Be-Scared-Straight-by-These-Stats?mod=retirement-preparation

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Mr. Obama, let's talk about this issue in your campaign trails.

[Vincardog]

1. How the hell do you expect them to save for retirement when they are spending all they make to stay

even?

[pokercat999]

3. Ding, ding, ding we have a winner!

We have got to institute a fair living wage in America with FREE health care and pay at the pump car insurance. With a MAXIMUM wage for CEOs.

[Vincardog]

4. a fair living wage in America with FREE health care and pay at the pump car insurance.

With a MAXIMUM wage for CEOs.
Limit who can be on the board and make sure some real people (non millionaires)are on them too.

[killbotfactory]

5. Easy, just eat ramen, beans, and rice

Never eat out again. Live a spartan lifestyle, and rely on the library for internet access and entertainment.

Also, avoid banks entirely, so you don't have to pay for all the little and big fees they hit you with no matter what you do.

Then pray you don't get any illness which will wipe our all your saving entirely no matter how much you scrimp and save.

Easy!

[Kolesar]

10. Sell the car. Move in with family.

I like your banking idea.

[ckramer]

21. Do you know there is something called free checking account?

I have a free checking account with Eastern Bank Massachusetts.

It's really free. Cost me nothing to have that bank account.

[killbotfactory]

22. I've had one of those too!

It's great if you like fees upon fees upon fees.

I especially liked it when my bank put a hold on my paycheck all weekend after depositing it, meanwhile I had debits go through where they stacked them so that the biggest one went through first, despite being my last charge, to clean out my account, and then let a dozen small charges I made throughout the previous week go through racking up 30 dollar fees each time. That was a fun way to spend nearly 200 dollars on absolutely nothing.

[Bitwit1234]

2. What makes me so mad is his slamming and flaming of HIS

so called old people. Flaming Ted Kennedy, Ted Kennedy who did more than Obama has ever done for his race. Ted Kennedy who supported and fought for Civil Rights for black and the poor. And he has the nerve, trying to make himself look oh so important calling Ted Kennedy old and telling him to leave. HE IS GOING TO REGRET ALL HIS JUMPING AND BUMPING ON STAGE. America, the real America is going to vote for him. And the kids he's playing to will soon forget. Since they had the retention span of 10 year olds. What's he gonna do then. He must remember...THEY CAN'T PHONE IN THEIR VOTES. There ipods won't take them.

[sallyseven]

6. Obama is not ready for Prime Time

Kuchinich should mind his own business. What the hell is doing with on your second ballot vote for Obama. You people wet your undies about Hillary but she doens't come up with crap like those two do. Kuchinich should either run or get the hell out. Obama should be a democrat and not a pseudo democrat like his mentor lieberman. Keep your ears and eyes open.

[avaistheone1]

7. Obama is in Wall Street's pocket

Obama has been taking big bucks from Wall Street.

[Massachusetts]

8. Bingo again!

Obama isn't the person to lead OUR country for the next four years.

[Kolesar]

9. What da' f does this have to do with Barack Obama??? ... eom

[hedgehog]

11. Ahem......

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/socialsecurity/#retirement-savings


The Problem
Insecure Retirement Savings: Retirement savings are near a historic low and 75 million working Americans lack employer-based retirement plans. Too many companies have dumped their pension obligations, leaving workers in the cold.

Income Security: With skyrocketing health care, energy and housing costs, and the risk of being defrauded by insurance companies, too many seniors do not have the resources to live comfortably.

Strengthen Retirement Savings
Reform Corporate Bankruptcy Laws to Protect Workers and Retirees: Current bankruptcy laws protect banks before workers. Obama will protect pensions by putting promises to workers higher on the list of debts that companies cannot shed; ensuring that the bankruptcy courts do not demand more sacrifice from workers than executives; telling companies that they cannot issue executive bonuses while cutting worker pensions; increasing the amount of unpaid wages and benefits workers can claim in court; and limiting the circumstances under which retiree benefits can be reduced.
Require Full Disclosure of Company Pension Investments: Obama will ensure that all employees who have company pensions receive detailed annual disclosures about their pension fund's investments. This will provide retirees important resources to make their pension fund more secure.
Eliminate Income Taxes for Seniors Making Less Than $50,000: Obama will eliminate all income taxation of seniors making less than $50,000 per year. This will provide an immediate tax cut averaging $1,400 to 7 million seniors and relieve millions from the burden of filing tax returns.
Create Automatic Workplace Pensions: Obama's retirement security plan will automatically enroll workers in a workplace pension plan. Under his plan, employers who do not currently offer a retirement plan, will be required to enroll their employees in a direct-deposit IRA account that is compatible to existing direct-deposit payroll systems. Employees may opt-out if they choose. Experts estimate that this program will increase the savings participation rate for low and middle-income workers from its current 15 percent level to around 80 percent.
Expand Retirement Savings Incentives for Working Families: Obama will ensure savings incentives are fair to all workers by creating a generous savings match for low and middle-income Americans. His plan will match 50 percent of the first $1,000 of savings for families that earn less than $75,000. The savings match will be automatically deposited into designated personal accounts. Over 80 percent of these savings incentives will go to new savers.
Prevent Age Discrimination: Obama will fight job discrimination for aging employees by strengthening the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and empowering the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to prevent all forms of discrimination.

[avaistheone1]

12. This really doesn't address why Wall Street is supporting Obama.

What does Obama have to say why Wall Street is filling his pockets with money?

I think Obama will comprise our Social Security system to Wall Street. That's my belief.

[hedgehog]

13. I didn't see any mention of Wall Street supporting Obama in the article.

What does "Wall street supports Obama" mean, anyways? If a lot of stock brokers support Obama, are we to assume that all stock brokers are ass hats who want this country to go down in flames while they line their pockets? What about the possibility that some of them see big trouble coming unless someone with a sound policy takes the reins?

[high density]

14. Our current economy isn't geared toward saving

The Fed has made it clear with the interest rate environment that it wants people to continue spending instead of saving. That's not surprising given that consumer spending is the main thing fueling our economy right now. Savings accounts are paying around 4.25% if you're lucky and the overall stock market for the past year wasn't much better in returns.

[avaistheone1]

16. People can't afford health insurance or

even housing in many cases. So how are people supposed to save for retirement?

[End Of The Road]

15. The Gov't doesn't WANT you to save

They make it damn difficult to get money into a retirement account.

Got a 401(k)? The limits on employee contributions (matched or unmatched) are ridiculous. And you can't put money into an IRA if you've got a 401(k) (or your spouse can't).

Are you putting money into savings monthly? Unless your savings account is pretty damn big, the interest is pathetic.

Putting money into a brokerage account monthly? Again, unless you've got a big balance, your return is shit. They pay much better interest on the big accounts than on the little.

It's frustrating, to say the least.

[high density]

17. You are not restricted from putting money into an IRA if you have a 401k plan (depending on income)

Don't forget the Roth IRA. You don't have to be a big player, either. Vanguard lets you get started for $3,000 with well diversified mutual funds that have rock bottom expense ratios. If $3,000 is still too much, they do offer entry into their "STAR" fund for as little as $1,000. Fidelity lets you get started with $200/mo.

I put enough into my 401k plan to get the match, and then everything else goes in my Roth IRA at Vanguard. If I'm ever at the point where maxing out the Roth is easy, I'll increase my participation in the 401k plan.

[Johnny Noshoes]

19. The people who need help

sure as hell don't have $3000, a $1000 or hell probably not even $200 a month. A nationwide amnesty or ONE TIME debt forgiveness for all credit card debt with the proviso that if you have a large amount of credit card debt to forgive you voluntarily agree to not get any new cards for a certain period of time. Yeah banks would take a huge hit but a lot of people would have a chance to breathe again and get their life back together and stop being a debt serf.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

18. Hey, that's why we have the lottery! we ALL win!

I hate what this president has done to our country.

[sendero]

20. Half of all Americans..

... are not so poor they could not save anything. They simply choose not to. Period.