2 thoughts on “Forbes Post, “Straws, Flat-Earthers, and Retirement Planning”

  1. Jane – The complexity of creating a comprehensive retirement plan is exactly why The Complete Retirement Planner was created. It helps anyone create an individualized, year by year plan, using no assumptions or gimmicks that all other internet calculators use. The web site explains why/how it works better than any calculator on any financial site. Check it out!

  2. I feel like I shouldn’t even be on this site. Like I snuck under the fence and haven’t been caught yet.

    I have heard that 401(k)s work best for those with incomes over $200,000. But then, everything works best with incomes over $200,000. My Dad and stepmom retired at 62 (doctor’s orders) on Social Security only. No retirement account, not even a savings account.

    I have two sisters retired on Social Security only; luckily, homes are paid off… No retirement account. One sister to retire soon on Social Security, no home, no retirement account. One sister still working at 84… no retirement account. One brother passed at age 65, his widow lives on his SS… no retirement account.

    It’s not all bad news, one sister and husband (both in IT) retired in late 50s, with two homes and, presumably retirement savings plus pensions. Oldest sister and husband, self employed (farming), retired with, I hear, one or two million in land and investments.

    But for most of the family, and many of my friends, $1,000 for a financial planner is a no-go. $49.99 for “The Complete Retirement Planner”, is a tank of gas, retirement planning be damned. The good news is, they have been living on so little for so long, life on SS is a relatively simple adjustment.

    My wife and I are somewhere in the middle… pension (government) and SS give us about 75% of pre-retirement income, and after the kids moved out, we were able to fund modest IRAs. About a third of which went last year for a new roof and termite damage repair.

    Man plans retirement, God laughs.

    So the numbers in this confidence survey are virtually meaningless to me. Even stranger, the “other” opinion that there is _no_ retirement crisis, Andrew Biggs;

    •While one study found 88 percent of Americans fear a retirement crisis, another found that 74 percent of retirees live comfortably.

    •Some studies find average retiree incomes currently match or exceed pre-retirement ones.

    •Facts often get lost amid ideology, partisan politics and Beltway power struggles.

    For those in the higher income groups, if you’re smart enough and responsible enough to make that much, you should be smart enough to plan your retirement. For those of us at the median income level or lower, for the most part it’s “we’ll manage somehow.”

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