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- Lessons Learned and Why You Need This Book
- The Tough Realities of Modern Retirement
- Why Dividend Investing?
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
The Tough Realities of Modern Retirement
If you want to retire comfortably, you need to take the lessons contained in this book to heart. Retiring is more difficult than ever, and some startling data has come to light in recent years:
- A recent study by Towers Watson found that the value of total retirement benefits provided to new salaried employees between 1998 and 2008 in the eight industries it surveyed declined by 19%. Increasingly, both public and private sector employers are cutting costs by slashing workers' benefits—making it harder and harder to count on a pension or 401(k) to pay for your retirement.
- Since 1983, Social Security cost-of-living increases have averaged only 3.27% per year. In 2010, Social Security benefits were not increased at all, for the first time in the 35-year history of the cost-of-living program—despite an estimated 6.2 % increase in the everyday expenses of most Americans! Unfortunately for many, the government announced there will be no Social Security benefits increase for 2011, either.
- People's faith in the Social Security system is rapidly dwindling, according to a Gallup Poll in July 2010. Some 60% of nonretired U.S. adults do not believe the Social Security system will ever pay them a single benefit when they do retire. Meanwhile, 56% of current retirees believe their Social Security benefits will be cut.
- As a country, we are getting older. In 2010, around 16% of the population was 62 or older—and most were eligible for Social Security. By 2020, though, 20% of the population will be 62, and that number will swell to 30% in 2030! Where is the money going to come from to pay for the retirement benefits of so many additional seniors?
I'm bringing these statistics to your attention to help you realize just how important it is to take control of your own financial future. Retirement is no longer an issue you can leave in the hands of your employer, or the bank, or the federal government. The handwriting is on the wall – in the years to come, it will be expected that people make most, if not all, of their own retirement arrangements. The personal finance and investing lessons I'm going to share with you will give you a head start on this process.