DOLLARS AND SENSE

FUTURE DEMISE OF SOCIAL SECURITY IS WAKEUP CALL

by Joe Plemon             

             If you read your annual Social Security Statement, you are aware that the future funding is in trouble.   This statement tells us that  the Social Security Trust Fund will be exhausted by 2041 unless substantial changes are made.

              What should this mean to you?  If you are going to be alive in 2041 you need to make your retirement plans assuming that Social Security pension will not be available.  This is not being pessimistic; it is being realistic.  If these “substantial changes” get made, consider the benefit a bonus.  If not, you have planned well.  The problem is that most of us aren’t making any plans at all.  According to USA Today, 56 percent of Americans do not systematically invest for retirement.  And yet, according to Wealth Builder’s Magazine,  80 percent of Americans believe that their standard of living will go up at retirement.  If 56 percent do not make plans for retirement, how can 80 percent believe they will be better off when they stop working?  How many of us are drifting through life with a foggy notion that “the government” will somehow take care of us?  It is time to wake up.  You WILL grow old, whether you plan for it or not.  And unless you want to buy that cookbook, “98 Ways to Prepare Alpo and Like It”, you need to make plans now for your future.

            Assuming you would like to retire with a $50,000 annual income, you would need a nest egg of approximately $800,000 at that time.  What do you need to be doing now to achieve that nest egg? 

           If you are 20 years old and want to retire at age 65, you need to start investing $37 a month.  If you are 30, plan on $124 a month.  40 years old?  You need $426 monthly.  And at 50, you need $1600 each month.

              Don’t rely on Social Security.  Get started today with your own plan.