Retirement Income Obsession

Is it just me or are you also amazed by the blizzard of information directed at us about how much savings we will need for retirement? One look at the little charts and tables and your amazement turns to depression. Who are these people that have a million or two in the bank? Did they have any kids? Were they ever sick? Did they have to care for their aging parents? Did they rob banks?

The next thought that occurs to me is that there are way too many retirement income experts. Whether it’s Parade Magazine on one end or Forbes on the other, I have never seen the same expert quoted more than once. That means there is a surplus of these experts and that, in turn, means they have to come up with completely different income projections in order to differentiate themselves from the next expert.

My favorite statistic was from a survey of baby boomers in which 90% or so of the respondents had savings of $30,000 or less, but 75% thought they would have enough money in retirement! Enough to live under the official poverty level maybe! You could drive a Class A RV through this reality gap. Those who perpetually bash baby boomers (and there are quite a few bashers around still), would chalk this up to the fact that we are genetically unrealistic, and that this may often be combined with fatal doses of optimism. We think we are going to be okay. And why not? We lived through the sixties without overdosing on drugs, we haven’t damaged our hearing as much as the iPod generation is doing right now, and our music, fashion, and art have all come back for a second or third go around. That’s reason to be optimistic.

Jay Harrison is a graphic designer and writer whose work can be seen at DesignConcept and at BoomSpeak. He's written a mystery novel, which therefore makes him a pre-published author.