Growth

It might not come as a surprise to you, and you might even fall into this group, but one out of every five people who are near retirement age have zero money put away for their retirement. That means that 20% of Americans who are about to retire might not be able to do so because they simply can’t afford to do it.

The financial growth that comes from starting early and saving a little bit at a time has been missed out on by one-fifth of the people out there who would much rather be doing what they want to do than doing what they have to do to get by.

Since the end of World War II, the American worker has been investing in wealth management plans that have made retirement something to look forward to. Before that time, people worked until they couldn’t anymore and hoped that they had some family to take care of them. Now, the options are there for all working Americans to set aside a little bit of money to build a nice nest egg for their futures.

The most recent numbers provided by the United States Department of Labor show that there are presently 638,390 defined contribution retirement plans in the United States alone. The type of financial growth that is possible over the long haul is quite encouraging to many who invest wisely. Even in a volatile market, generous yields can still be possible.

Every day, 8,000 Americans turn 65 years of age, and every day a growing number of these Americans are considering pushing back their retirement. In fact, 18% of Americans who make over $1,000,000 per year are thinking about not retiring at all. Their longer life expectancy along with their current lifestyle might not be able to be sustained with the money from their retirement accounts. Continuing to work might be the only way to assure financial stability if not financial growth. But for most American workers, turning 65 is the plateau they have decided to reach and when they do, retirement is the way they want to go.

A recent survey that polled Americans between the ages of 18 to 29 found that only 59% of this demographic ever even thought about retirement. This is not good news for them and hopefully, they will get the message that they need to start planning or they will end up seeing retirement in their near view with nothing saved.

Financial planning does not have to be as painful as many make it out to be. Very often, savings can be deducted from paychecks before it’s even missing. If a 25-year-old did that at her job every week for the next 40 years, the wealth she would accumulate would be quite substantial.

When it comes to government workers here in the United States, 80% of them have access to some kind of employee-sponsored retirement plans and, fortunately for them, 80% of these employees take advantage of the opportunity for financial growth.