Claire Anderson / MTN News
The last of the Baby Boomers will turn 50 in 2014, but is this large group ready financially for retirement?
The senior citizen advocacy group AARP reports that by 2030 1-in-5 U.S. citizens will be over the age of 65 - and for Montana that number will be 1-in-4.
"With the baby boomer generations you starting to see a transition toward one of two things, they're either working longer or number two they are retiring now and maybe taking on a part-time job to help supplement their income," Edward Jones financial advisor Jordan Husted said.
The University of Chicago surveyed 1,000 adults over the age of 50, and almost 50% are expecting to retire later than previously thought.
"The older people that we have coming in for them it's more of a chaos moment because they realize ‘I don't have enough saved'. So we have people who come in that are in their 70's plus they're still working because they don't actually have that money saved," says Rural Dynamics, Inc. Director of Counseling Seth Lutter said.
Financial planners say people need to start preparing for retirement earlier. "People are seeing the value of saving and that social security isn't going to supplement their whole income, so they have to set up somewhat of a nest egg for themselves," Husted told us.
AARP reports that 92% of Montanans 65 and older are receiving Social Security that, on average, provides just over $14,000 per year for each recipient. The financial advisors we talked with say that's not enough.
"Going forward, I mean you're going to see costs start to rise you're going to see people living longer, which people are starting realize that if I live longer means I'm going to have to supply income longer. So that means they have to start saving and continue saving longer," Husted said.
The message is to start saving now, so you aren't caught in a bind. "We have the benefit that we have time to start changing that, whether again it's putting 50 bucks a month away or 100 bucks a month away," Husted concluded.
I think it's sad that most Americans are not ready for retirement when it hits. I have done all I can to increase my financial state, but in today's economy it is hard to do. If you quit working to soon you will be out of luck without having enough money saved up, and you may be stuck working during your retirement. So along with working a good amount of time I think it's a good idea to diversify your investments I found a great article at http://www.mutualfundstore.com/investing-education that talks about the different options you have.
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