Social Security cuts, shrinking employer-sponsored pensions, low savings rates, and longer life spans have raised fears of a looming retirement crisis. But other trends point to better retirement outcomes, such as women’s increased employment and earnings, longer working lives, and economic growth that raises wages.
— Read on www.urban.org/features/nine-charts-about-future-retirement
Dire jeremiads about America’s looming retirement crisis are so common that it seems “retirementcrisis” is one word. The doom-and-gloom narrative goes something like this: Spendthrift Americans aren’t saving enough, so their living standards will plunge in retirement, and Social Security will buckle from the financial strain of too few workers supporting too many retirees.
Dark visions about retirement in America may be somewhat understandable considering the following: the nation’s deeply flawed retirement savings system; the forecast that Social Security’s reserves will run out in 2035 and the fact that local government retirement systems’ obligations to public sector retirees are increasing faster than the assets set aside to pay for them.
Depressed? Then take a moment to learn about a new report by the nonpartisan Urban Institute think tank: “Nine Charts about the Future of Retirement.”
— Read on www.marketwatch.com/story/how-grim-is-the-future-of-retirement-2019-08-06
The coming ‘tsunami of poverty’ for retirees — and what to do about it.
The wealthiest 10% of households own 84% of all stocks—and that includes pension plans, 401(k) accounts and individual retirement accounts (IRAs) as well as trust funds, mutual funds and college savings programs like 529 plans. That means 90% of American households own the remaining 16% of all stock.
— Read on www.marketwatch.com/story/the-biggest-bull-market-ever-yet-disaster-looms-for-millions-of-retirees-2019-07-18
apple.news/AOxVuMtczSUqfRtqlUP58dA
Though average account balance is often cited as a gauge of Americans’ retirement savings health, the numbers can be misleading.
If your information was compromised during the massive 2017 Equifax data breach, you could be entitled to up to $20,000.
On Monday, Equifax agreed to pay nearly $700 million to settle federal and state investigations into how it handled a massive data breach that affected nearly 150 million people.
— Read on www.cnbc.com/2019/07/25/how-to-claim-your-compensation-from-the-equifax-data-breach-settlement.html
Develop A Millionaire Mindset…Truly wealthy people develop the habit of “getting rich slow” rather than “getting rich quick.” To assure this, they have two rules with regard to money.
Wealthy people spend much more time thinking about their finances than people who remain poor. For example:
This millionaire mindset, the very act of focusing on your money, will dramatically improve the decisions you make with regard to it. People who invest more time planning their finances invariably make better decisions, get better results, and achieve financial independence.
Develop The Habits Of Wealthy People
With regard to your growing bank account and goal of achieving financial independence, millionaires develop a series of other financial habits to assure that they don’t lose money, and that their money grows steadily over time. During the cultivation of a millionaire mindset, one of the best financial habits you can develop is the habit of getting good financial advice before you do anything with your growing account. Ask around and find a financial advisor who is has already achieved financial independence by investing his or her personal money in the areas that he or she recommends to you. Your ability to choose excellent financial advisors can be the critical factor in making good investment decisions.
Develop the habit of investigating before you invest in anything. The rule is:
“Spend as much time investigating the investment as you spend earning the money that you are thinking of investing.”
Fast financial decisions are usually poor financial decisions. Develop the habit of taking your time, of moving slowly, of finding out every detail of the business or investment before you ever think of writing a check. Never allow anyone to pressure you into an investment decision. Never allow yourself to feel that a financial investment decision is urgent and must be made immediately. A wealthy man I worked for once told me, “Investments are like buses; there will always be another one coming along.”
Sometimes, the best investments are the ones you never make at all. Make a habit of thoroughly understanding the investment before you ever think of parting with your hard earned money. If there is anything that you do not understand, or which seems too complicated for you, do not put your money in that area at all.
Capitalism has created extraordinary opportunities for American citizens, opportunities that would have never occurred within a Socialist or any centrally managed economy. Yet, there are many challenges with Capitalism. Essentially, the proverbial rising tide of Capitalism has not equally or fairly lifted all boats. The yachts have risen faster and higher than the row boats. In fact, the disparity in incomes and wealth between the top ten percent relative to the bottom fifty percent as a result of capitalism in the U.S. has never been greater.
The major challenge of Capitalism in 2019 is that it rewards specialization and skilled labor over generalization and unskilled labor. The high paying, low skilled manufacturing occupations of the 20th Century that lifted millions of Americans out of the working class to middle class have all but disappeared in the U.S. The manufacturing jobs of our parents and grandparents have been replaced with low paying, unskilled service related occupations.
Within Capitalism, there is little economic incentive for those few controlling and benefiting from the means of production to assist the working class majority who are not benefiting fully and who are falling further behind. John Hope Bryant, during an interview on CNBC, stated that America’s Capitalism must create incentives for the privileged few who control the means of productions to create more opportunities and more widely distributed benefits of capitalism, through internships and training for the working class majority. He stated that we need more qualified opportunity zones and entrepreneurship schools in the inner cities and rural areas.
Further, he stated to ask any majority kid working an internship at a Fortune 500 how they got their opportunity. More than likely, their response would be that they received the opportunity because they or their parents had connections and knew someone. Non-majority kids, especially those living in the inter-city, do not necessarily have parents or friends who know someone and have connections.
European Social Democratic nations, those few who appear “socialist-like” such as Sweden follow a philosophy of “create it like a capitalist and spend it like a socialist”. However, what works in Sweden cannot be scaled to work in the U.S. Socialism, throughout history, has proven unable to effectively and productively use resources to create wealth. To create societal wealth, human ingenuity must be encouraged and released. History has shown consistently that the private sector has more successfully use the means of production than the public sector.
On CNBC recently, Ray Dalio, head of Bridgewater Capital, the world’s largest hedge fund, commented that Capitalism is not working for all Americans. A fact that most Americans would agree. However, several media commentators have misrepresented his comments implying that Ray Dalio stated that “Capitalism is broken”.
In today’s global reality, it is Socialism that is and has always been “broken” around the world in countries such as North Korea, Venezuela, and Cuba. Socialism is essentially where the state owns the means of production of goods and services and determines how the wealth is distributed. In most of the world, Socialism has come to mean “shared misery” to the populace who are unfortunate to live underneath the system.
But, Capitalism should not get a pass. In many Capitalist countries across the globe, the citizens and economies of those capitalist economies are suffering. Look no further than the failed economies of Haiti.