According to the latest retirement advice, the average American household has just $55,000 saved for retirement. Many people continue to believe that social security benefits or their companies will take care of their retirement financial needs. However, the fact is that social security is at risk of insolvency and many corporate retirement plans are vanishing along with their companies. The bottomline? Individuals must start taking personal responsibility for and control of their financial futures RIGHT NOW!
Are you aware that when the U.S. Social Security Administration was originated back in 1935 that the United States Government expected benefit payouts to be minimal at best? And with good reason! At the time (1935), the average American's life expectancy was just 62 years of age.
At what age do you think an individual became eligible for social security benefits back then? The answer is 62 years of age! So, you can see why the government was pretty confident that their financial liability for this program was limited at that time.
But guess what? The age for social security benefits eligibiliy is still 62 years of age. However, the average life expectancy in the United States is now 78 years of age! This is the source of the financial crisis that the Social Security Administration is faced with. We are living longer, and as a result, millions of people are now qualifying for benefits at an alarming rate and cost.
Somehow, the government never really saw this coming before it was too late. Based on the original design in 1935, social security benefits are funded from the government's annual budget. And, we all know by now that the total U.S. budget deficit is now in the 10's of TRILLIONS of dollars.
The result of this situation is that the government has been and will continue finding ways to shift the costs of retirement benefits back on me and you. For example:
- Pension Reform Act of 2006
- Lifetime Savings Accounts
- Lifting the $110,000 AGI cap for Roth IRA participation in 2010
- Solo Roth 401k plans
- Increasing FDIC insurance to $250,000 and extend through 2013
- etc.
Retirement Advice:
Please take the following retirement advice very seriously. If you are one of the folks who continues to believe that social security benefits or your company's retirement plan is going to take care of you through your golden year -- review the facts. This situation is real.
We all need to take responsibility and control of our financial futures RIGHT NOW. This is a big step for many people, but there is FREE retirement advice & help available if you will just seek it out.
John Hanlin is an Independent Investment Consultant and author. He offers FREE independent financial advice for retirement on his website. Please visit: http://www.JohnHanlin.com).
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