Info about pensions

[Pah]

The article is focused on British pensions but has relevancy to America.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9560-1500121,00.html

The harsh truth is that you can’t rely on the State, but saving for a private pension income is not cheap. If you would like to retire in 2010 on a relatively modest income of £20,000 a year, you need a lump sum of £330,000 set aside. Today’s typical pension pot is just £35,000.

Building this sort of sum is going to be a gargantuan task for most of us. Few come anywhere near meeting Legal & General’s rule of thumb that we need to save a percentage of our income equivalent to half our age to achieve a pension of two thirds our final salary. This means that, at 40, you should be setting aside one fifth of your salary.

 

[desi]

Noone retires. We go back to the time before social security where people worked til they died, unless they got rich of course.

 

[Quoth The Raven]

Noone retires. We go back to the time before social security where people worked til they died, unless they got rich of course.

If people were more financially educated when they were young and were prepared to do without the latest gadget, the whole concept of a financially secure retirement wouldn't be so far fetched.

 

[Quoth The Raven]

(US -> )
What do you mean? Ditch the whole consumer society? Invest your retirement in the stock market and see it crash, so you have done your whole life without the latest gadget, and still end up with nothing?
Doing without loaning a lot of money to go to college in order to get an education to be able to compete with other lower picking order members for a hamburgerslamming (Manufacturing.) job? And then being in debt for the rest of your life, since the job you were educated for has been transported to a lower wage country/state? The alternative is serving in the armed forces and trying to survive 4 years of Bushes insanity.

Unless you are in a family with (old) money. You will have a hard time getting into the levels were you won't have to care for a secure retirement. There is a reason why some people have 2 jobs to be able to support a normal family when they aren't in their retirement age yet.. You think that when they reach their retirement age, life is going to be cheaper? Maybe you should inform yourself what it would cost to get an medical insuerance when your on age say 65.
( <- US)

Note, I said educate people, when they're young is best, becausethey can start with a clean slate and it's a quicker, easier road.
How many people in the US (well, anywhere, actually) actually save any money? Is it because they can't, or is it because they think they can't? Is it because they think, well, we really NEED a 3rd DVD player. Educate, educate, edu-bloody-cate!
People **** money up against a wall on a daily basis because they don't even consider where it's going or where it would be better spent. And then they moan that the rich get richer and the rest of us will never be any better off because it's all a big 'boy's club.'
Do I think life is going to be cheaper in retirement? No, because I have - here's that word again - EDUCATED - myself. I know exactly how much we need to have in a well balanced investment portfolio to be able to retire on the equivalent of $40,000 a year.
Instead of people *****ing about all the reasons they can't get a break, more of them should take responsibility and get out and make their own breaks.
Explain to me why - if a 15 year old kid can look around himself and see what his friends are buying with their pocket money, and be smart enough to say,'Bugger the Gameboy, I'll buy Nintendo shares' - anyone can't do the same.
It's an old saw but true: It's not how much money you earn that counts, it's how you spend it.