American Consumer News » wealth http://www.americanconsumernews.com News for Consumers in Changing Times Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:06:28 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Why Some Millionaires Don’t Even Have Enough For Retirement http://www.americanconsumernews.com/2007/12/why-some-millionaires-don%e2%80%99t%e2%80%99-even-have-enough-for-retirement.html http://www.americanconsumernews.com/2007/12/why-some-millionaires-don%e2%80%99t%e2%80%99-even-have-enough-for-retirement.html#comments Sun, 30 Dec 2007 19:40:03 +0000 ACN Staff http://www.financeispersonal.com/2007/12/why-some-millionaires-don%e2%80%99t%e2%80%99-even-have-enough-for-retirement.html Why Some Millionaires Don’t Even Have Enough For Retirement was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

]]> one million dollarsMost people retire with less than a year’s worth of income in their savings accounts and investments. They never get around to planning for their later years, spend all that they make and think nothing of it until age 65 comes around. Senior citizens have to try to make due on their meager Social Security checks or work a part-time job during retirement to make a living. What if instead of not doing much for retirement planning, you instead saved diligently and have all sorts of money in your savings and investments? Would you be okay? What if I told you that even having one-million dollars in savings and investments might not be enough to pay for your retirement?

One million dollars seems like it’ll be a lot of money to retire on, but a million dollars simply does not buy what it used to, and when it comes time for you to retire a few decades down the road, it’ll be worth even less. This money has to last you for the rest of your life, which could easily be 25 years after you say goodbye to work for the last time. The typical life expentency for someone in the United States is around 70 to 75 years, but that statistic factors in individuals who died when they were very young. If you make it to 65, you have a very high likelihood of making it to age 85 or 90.

When it comes to planning for retirement, you have to expect that you’re going to live quite a while after you retire, potentially 25 years. You don’t want to underplan and then find yourself being 85, have no means to provide yourself an income and be flat-broke. For someone in their thirties and forties in the middle of their working lives, one million dollars simply will not be enough to retire on.

Let’s look at some numbers. The median family income in the United States is approximately $40,000 a year and most financial planners recommend that you only spend 4% of your nest-egg each year, so with the value of today’s dollar, you would need exactly $1,000,000 to retire on. Unfortunately, you’re not retiring today, so you’re going to need a lot more than that. If you’re 35 right now and plan on retiring in 30 years, you’ll need a lot more like $3.25 million to retire on to live the same type of lifestyle someone retiring with $1,000,000 would today.

This assumes that your living expenses don’t increase as you age. Most people think that their living expenses will decrease as they retire, but sometimes medical issues and additional lesiure activities such as vacations actually cause seniors to spend more than they when they were in their working lives, so potentially you could need even more than just the 25 times your income that most financial planners recommend.

The moral of the story is that you have to be very serious about planning for retirement. To live well in your golden years is not an inexpensive proposition. You need to be intentional about saving and investing so that you have plenty of money to retire on when the time comes.

Why Some Millionaires Don’t Even Have Enough For Retirement was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

]]> http://www.americanconsumernews.com/2007/12/why-some-millionaires-don%e2%80%99t%e2%80%99-even-have-enough-for-retirement.html/feed 2 Four Ways to Give Yourself a Raise http://www.americanconsumernews.com/2007/12/four-ways-to-ge-yourself-a-raise.html http://www.americanconsumernews.com/2007/12/four-ways-to-ge-yourself-a-raise.html#comments Sun, 23 Dec 2007 16:00:20 +0000 ACN Staff http://www.financeispersonal.com/2007/12/four-ways-to-ge-yourself-a-raise.html Four Ways to Give Yourself a Raise was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

]]> Getting a raiseA good share of us think we’re underpaid. We think our salary isn’t high enough, that we don’t have a good enough benefits package and that we just don’t get enough time off. Many of us gripe about it but never end up doing anything about it because we think our efforts to get a better compensation will be fruitless. Did you know there are ways you can give yourself a raise and put more money in your pocket at the end of the day without having to beg your employer? Here’s how to give yourself a raise.

Adjust Your Monthly Services – Re-evaluate your cell-phone plan, your cable plan, and telephone plans. Make sure you use all of the services that you’re paying for, and if you’re not, downgrade your plan to something more affordable that you’ll get better use of. Many people pay for 1000 minutes a month on their cell-phone provider and never end up using any more than half of that. By sending less out each month, you’ll have more money in your pocket for other things.

Be Smart With Your Utilities – Almost all of us are paying too much for our utility bills because of inefficencies in our homes or in our usage habits. The EPA produces several publications and websites that will help you optimize your electrical, water, and natural gas usage which will end up saving you money.

Be a Smart Shopper – Whenever you go shopping, there’s almost always a cheaper way than just going into whatever seems to be the best store to go to and picking out what you want. Use coupons, compare prices, and research the products you buy thoroughly. Compare major purchases amongst several retail stores as well as retailers online to make sure you’re not paying too much.

Avoid Unnecessary Waste – Many people stop at a coffeeshop or coffeestand each morning and grab a beverage on the way to work, it’s so much cheaper to make it at home. Many of us buy namebrand clothing and foods when generic versions do the exact same thing for less money. Consider the parts of your life where you spend money on a regular basis and ask if there’s a way to do it for less money.

If you’re truly undercompensated, it’s worth it to fight for a raise, but if you just want more money in your pocket at the end of the day, it’s a lot easier to be smarter with the money you already have than to go and try to get money from your employer that you haven’t proven that you deserve.

Four Ways to Give Yourself a Raise was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

]]> http://www.americanconsumernews.com/2007/12/four-ways-to-ge-yourself-a-raise.html/feed 0 You Shouldn’t Care What Other People Think, Period. http://www.americanconsumernews.com/2007/11/you-shouldn%e2%80%99t-care-what-other-people-think-period.html http://www.americanconsumernews.com/2007/11/you-shouldn%e2%80%99t-care-what-other-people-think-period.html#comments Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:52:07 +0000 ACN Staff http://www.financeispersonal.com/2007/11/you-shouldn%e2%80%99t-care-what-other-people-think-period.html You Shouldn’t Care What Other People Think, Period. was created by and is property of American Consumer News.

]]> Imagine you’re walking down the street, and someone from work drives by in a very nice looking new vehicle. Most of us have the instant reaction that, “Wow, that person’s probably doing pretty well for him/her self!” Most of us associate wealth with having nice things as one in the same, but that’s simply not the case. We often buy nice cars and fancy stuff, not because they will provide us some amazing value, but rather because other people will recognize that we spent a lot of money on the purchase and think that we are very well to do. The problem is that most people who have a lot of nice things are flat broke. They buy all sorts of nice things on credit and want you to think their doing well, but the reality is that they’re just as broke as you!

We need to stop caring what other people think about our financial situations. There’s no reason to buy nice things just so other people think we’ve got it made. If we play the game of “keeping up with the joneses” we’re just going to keep buying stuff that we cannot afford and never build up any significant amount of wealth. You’ll have a lot of stuff that won’t be worth anything in 5 years, but that’s about it!

Instead of buying things based on others perceptions of us, we need to base them off the value that they will provide us. Buy things because you have a genuine need for the item, because you got a great deal, and because the product will give you an extremely good value for what you pay. I use an 8 year old television, 6 year old car, and 2 year old computer even though I have plenty of money in the bank to buy nicer things. The items that I have now are still giving me all sorts of good usage left, so there’s no reason to go out and buy anything new!

Before you make a purchase, carefully examine what your motives are. Are you buying the product because it will provide you a genuine value or are you more concerned about making sure others know that you made that purchase?

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