As a nation, we're retiring earlier – intentionally or otherwise –and living longer. Businesses are shifting more of the responsibilities associated with retirement saving (or planning) to their workers – along with the risks. The days of company-pay-all pension plans are over; the era of do-it-yourself retirement planning is here. A privatized Social Security system retirement may soon follow.
The message is clear, as one newspaper headline put it, "Save early, save often, save more!" That's good advice regardless of age, family status or income bracket.
- Today's young people, for example, have a far greater role in planning their own financial security than their parents' and grandparents' generations did. As much as the health of the economy, the kinds of choices they make about education, careers and savings will determine how well they do and what their financial futures will hold. The best way for young single men and women to start is by putting the brakes on impulse buying, and learning to save something every time they're paid.
- For those who are older or married and raising families, managing money wisely and saving more are even more necessary. Top concerns are usually sending their children to college and maintaining their standard of living when they retire. Yet, with some Americans saving just 4 percent of their incomes each year — the lowest personal savings rate in the industrialized world – many are badly unprepared to meet those goals.
