How Many People are Actually Saving for Their Retirement?

[epiphany]

I would love to but I can't. There just simply isn't money for anything but necessities right now. If this economy would turn around and people would start buying again, my business would be doing better and I could save for retirement.

Can't wait for that to happen. Everytime it looks like the economy is going to bounce back, another shoe drops. We don't have any money, but we got plenty of falling shoes.

ep

[Exployer1234]

I was auntil I loat my job a year and a half ago. I will start back soon. I was setting aside 5% each week. My former company matched the amount I put in. I did loss a lot of money when the economy tanked, but hopefully soon I will be able to set money aside again.

[jdcat]

Up until a few months ago we were contributing between 8% - 12% to hubby's 401K. We're only contributing 1% right now because we're broke but plan on upping the percentage again when our first 401K loan is paid off in March '11. I think our 401K balance was at $140K when we checked last month. We're in our late 30's and are hoping to have a nice nest egg when hubby retires.

[BNKRPTinNC]

I consider myself quite fortunate as I am under a civil service retirement plan which was exempt. The only thing with filing for bankruptcy was having to work another 5 years instead of being able to consider retirement. The silver lining to having to work an additional 5 more years is it does increase my percentage of retirement pay when I do decide to go.

[helpmeout]

Right now I am contributing 4% to my 401K at work. Once the bank forecloses on the house and I have to pay rent, I will have to lower that amount. Before I declared bankruptcy, I was only contributing .5% because I needed the money. Needless to say, I will be lucky if I can retire when I am 80.

[tobee43]

the ONE and only thing that has saved us through this bankruptcy is the fact that we were "savings" poor our entire married lives...

i was a strong believer in pension contributions...when we were young we both took out double the minimum amounts from both our jobs. we didn't have a dime to our names. also one of had the chose to contribute to social security or not...but we did..so we double dipped on both of our salaries...that was 40 years ago.

after one of us had retired (took an early payout), began a "new" career...and began the max on the 401 which was matched 100% by the employer so we took as much advantage as we could...however, when times got difficult took it ALL out to pay bills not understanding at the time it was exempt...oh well.

i stick to this lesson with both my kids....pay yourselves FIRST...period...end of story...no excuses...NONE!!!

after our bankruptcy has now been completed we will absolutely fine with our SS and pension funds...actually i just redid the budget and will be able to save at least 1500.00 monthly now. of COURSE we had to made many changes, but we are too old to recoup what we lost and now just have to do the best we can to save.

[chiwawa]

WannabeFree, Our situation is similar like your. Waiting to file CH7 given up the up side down mortgage. Want to retire end of story

[LadyInTheRed]

I'm contributing 4% of my salary to my 401k. No discipline necessary when it comes out of your paycheck! When I get a 401k loan paid off in 3 more years, I'll be able to increase my contribution to at least twice that. I also increase the contribution when I get a raise, assuming the trustee doesn't want it. My raises are usually around 2%, so that is unlikely,

[tobee43]

I'm contributing 4% of my salary to my 401k. No discipline necessary when it comes out of your paycheck! When I get a 401k loan paid off in 3 more years, I'll be able to increase my contribution to at least twice that. I also increase the contribution when I get a raise, assuming the trustee doesn't want it. My raises are usually around 2%, so that is unlikely,

remember the days when a raise was 5-7%. nowadays one is lucky to even get the 2%.

our poor son in law is a teacher and they just dropped their pensions and dropped his salary 2.5%...if my daughter wasn't working with, and keep in mind this poor kid has a double masters and teaches special ed, well, now with that cut, they could apply and get welfare. (if she wasn't working). how sad is that?

i feel very badly for the kids starting out with student loans, it's so difficult to save anything after paying just essentials. of course, changing and readjusting your budget will always help, but, if jobs are not paying enough to allow for savings for our young folks, it's going to be a tough go for them.

and just an added special punch for dumb me...i used ALL MY 401 in attempt to catch up...and knew better but the guilt just got to me. i still can't believe i did that. ahhhh..

[HRx]

Continue to invest whatever you can in a 401k/403b and/or IRA account or some other sort of high interest account. The reality of the matter is the majority of people will need to work until they die just to make ends meet.

[keepsmiling]

Our retirement is a cup of hemlock.
How much does one cost?

[tobee43]

Continue to invest whatever you can in a 401k/403b and/or IRA account or some other sort of high interest account. The reality of the matter is the majority of people will need to work until they die just to make ends meet.

i think if you're young that's an excellent outlook. however, for us "older" (but in excellent shape) kinda sorts, we can't afford to gamble or take any risks whatsoever at this point.

i use to like the corp. bonds (of course rated AAA)...one would purchase them at par, they would yeild high interest until they were called. it worked at well when one was getting 8% for 5 years (it could have been a a 10 year bond, but they can always call them in at a certain point), and then when the bond got called you not only rec'd all the interest, but you get back your intinaial investment. those bonds...i laugh now, were usually, fanny mae, ford motor, b of a...etc. i haven't even looked at the bond market!

i do think though, it depends on what time you are in your life. we need income and not savings or to put it better income from our savings immediately, since we can't be in for the long haul, (unless we live another 20 years or more), which may not be the case.

i'm just getting ready to roll over some CD's for our HOA, i couldn't believe they were getting 0.05%...i just found them 2.5% which is a bit better. i was hoping for 3%. i have seen some come on's but they haven't een realized. then i saw 4.5% and called and then couldn't even give me a direct answer on what how where or whom...scary. so, i guess we also need to be careful nowadays as well. these online banks seem to pay the best interest, but i like to go into my bank ...that's just me. i can't jump into my puter!! LOL!!!!

[IamOld]

Until recently - nothing - all used to pay unsecureds...now, hopefully - say by end of year...goodly amount.

[jetsfan2010]

5 percent to my 401 which my company matches. Plan on upping that 1 percent a year over the next few years until eventually I increase to 10 percent.

[chp13]

What is the rule of thumb (%) for contributions made to a retirement plan while in chapter 7 or 13?