What’s Happening To Your Money
An associate of ours, Kim Barmann, in New Mexico sent this report. I wanted to share it with you to emphasize the importance of staying vigilant in saving money.
$ People Are Saving Less
- The Commerce Department reports that Americans are saving at the lowest rate since the Great Depression.
- Personal savings stood at a national level of negative $6.2 million in January.
- About 40% of Americans say they are saving nothing for retirement. One reason: Over the past year, inflation rose 4.3% while salaries rose only 3.4%.
- One in four Americans told the Employee Benefit Research Institute that they have no saving at all.
$ Retirement Is Coming Later and Later
- The percentage of Americans 55 or older working full-time increased from 54.2% in 1993 to 64.4% in 2005.
- Nearly one in four people between 65 and 74 was still in the labor force in 2006, compared with just one in five in 2000.
- A recent study indicates that 17% of workers have suffered a reduction of retirement benefits offered by their employers in the last two years. Of these, only one-third say they are saving more for their retirement as a result.
$ Student Debt Is Piling Up
- Tuition cost have climbed 60% since 2000, and the average graduating senior now owes more than $20,000, according to the National Center for Education Statistics-twice as much as graduates owed a decade ago.
- Nearly a quarter of recent grads owe in excess of $25,000.
- While student debt rose 8% from 2005 to 2006, starting salaries rose only 4%.
These are the statistics. Break away from the crowd and do NOT be one of the statistics. Call us if you want to stand out from the crowd.