The NY Post reports that while bankruptcies are still nowhere near Great Recession levels, they are rising noticeably. John Aidan Byrne writes: New York state’s bankruptcy filings, for instance, have risen steadily the past three years, hitting 34,711 in 2018, up from 30,112 in 2016, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI), based on data from Epiq Systems. More consumers nationwide are falling behind on their payments and filing for bankruptcy to resolve overwhelming debt loads. And low unemployment, an uptick in average wages and the latest Fed interest rate cut have not … [Read more...]

A poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 23% of Americans don't expect to stop working during their lives. Andrew Soergel writes in The Washington Times : “The average retirement age that we see in the data has gone up a little bit, but it hasn’t gone up that much,” says Anqi Chen, assistant director of savings research at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. “So people have to live in retirement much longer, and they may not have enough assets to support themselves in retirement.” When asked how financially comfortable … [Read more...]

Running out of money during retirement is the greatest risk people take when they decide to stop working. The World Economic Forum has published new research that shows Americans aren't saving enough to cover the last decade or so of their retirement. That pales in comparison to the Japanese, who fail to save enough for the last two decades of their retirement. The only problem here for Americans though is that a big portion of that savings disparity comes because Japanese people are living so much longer, not because Americans are simply saving that much more. Bloomberg's Ben Steverman … [Read more...]

According to a report from the TransAmerica Center for Retirement Studies Americans are concerned with their retirement, but they're not actually doing much about it. I urge you and anyone who hasn't already taken action toward planning for retirement to not wait, get to work now. FEDWeek reports: The report, based on polling samples of the baby boom, generation X and millennial generations, found that majorities of all three expect to have a harder time achieving financial security for retirement than their parents’ generation, with the younger two generations agreeing more strongly; and … [Read more...]

A scary statistic was recently uncovered in a survey conducted by LendEDU. Nearly 40 percent of Americans fear they will never save enough money to retire. Bloomberg reports: That’s despite nearly one in five Americans who said having enough money saved to be able to retire is their most important financial goal, according to a survey of 1,000 adults conducted by LendEDU in May. More Americans said saving for retirement is more important versus those that indicated paying off credit card debt or building an emergency fund, according to the survey. However, slightly more respondents said … [Read more...]

Yesterday I explained to you how even frugal retirees can have their savings sunk when unexpected health care costs arise. Running out of money in retirement is not something anyone wants. Many Americans end up working through what should be their retirement years because they failed to plan properly. If you want to better formulate a plan that includes provisions for health care costs in retirement, read through this guide from Fidelity. If you are like most Americans, health care is expected to be one of your largest expenses in retirement, after housing and transportation costs. But unlike … [Read more...]

Americans tend to work hard their entire lives, saving pennies and dimes wherever they can to build a retirement nest egg. When they finally do retire, Americans are generally frugal, with retired couples having just an 80% spending-to-income ratio on average, according to research just released from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). Where things go bad for retirees though, is usually when healthcare costs rise. According to Rebecca Moore at PLANSPONSOR: EBRI found housing expenses were by far the largest item in all groups’ budgets. For the average single retired household, … [Read more...]

Today, Bloomberg's Stephanomics podcast analyzes a theme I've been writing about for a while, the question of How Many “Retirees” Will Keep Working? The podcast discusses the plight of many Americans who are old enough to collect Social Security, but can't live comfortably on the amount of money they receive, along with what they have saved. So, these older Americans just keep working. Scott Lanman described the podcast here: Many older Americans are living longer and are happy to keep working. Others can't afford to retire. Those are just a couple of the reasons why people over age 65 are … [Read more...]

Across America, parents are spending their retirement savings to pay their children's bills. Student loans, insurance, credit cards, and healthcare costs are just some of the bills Americans are paying for their adult children. The extra burden is forcing parents to reduce their savings each month, or even dip into their nest eggs. Megan Cerullo reports at CBS News: Half of American parents have cut back on their retirement savings to help pay their children's bills, a Bankrate.com study shows. Parents are putting their kids' car insurance, cell phone bills, credit card debt and health … [Read more...]

Americans aren't saving enough. That's not all their fault. The Fed has kept interest rates low, depriving savers of decent rates of return on their savings. And a decade of misguided monetary policy hasn't managed to get wages growing very much. So many Americans who would prefer to retire, cannot. They are being forced to work into old age, and today elderly Americans are twice as likely to be working as they were in 1985. Bloomberg's Suzanne Woolley reports: Just as single-income families began to vanish in the last century, many of America’s elderly are now forgoing retirement for the … [Read more...]