Unless you’re independently wealthy or you’re more than 25 years from retirement, you should be worried—very worried.
You see, the average retiree has next to nothing saved for retirement...
And nearly half of all Americans have nothing saved at all.
But what’s even worse is this:
Almost no one is even talking about this problem. And if no one’s talking about it, how is it going to get fixed?
So today I want to show you three factors that could kill any retirement plan…
Including yours.
Retirement Killer #1 — It’s Eating Up Half Your Money!
For years, we’ve been told that if we work hard, save our money, and invest in the stock market, we’ll be able to retire comfortably.
But as Matt showed you yesterday, that’s simply not the case.
Sure, at first blush, the stock market has generated decent returns over the past 20 or 30 years.
But after you take taxes, commissions and inflation into account, those returns get crushed. For example, look at inflation:
Historically, the inflation rate has been 3% per year. That might not sound like much, but at that rate, prices basically double every 18 years.
That means, by the time you retire, your nest egg will buy just half as much…
And will last just half as long as you need it to!
Retirement Killer #2 — Legal Highway Robbery
But inflation isn’t the only thing hurting your retirement…
As it turns out, the very institutions that should be preparing you for retirement are putting your retirement at risk!
I’m talking about Wall Street brokerages and financial advisory firms.
Between sales commissions and hidden fees, the folks that manage your money are earning more than you do. For example:
You pay commissions to buy or sell stocks...
You pay 1% per year to the financial advisors that “manage” your money (even though nearly all of them underperform the market)...
And don’t even get me started about funds! Those are the biggest rip-offs of all.
In fact, a recent study showed that 84% of a fund’s profits go into the pockets of the fund manager. Investors are left with just 16% of the gains.
In my book, that’s “legal highway robbery”!
Retirement Killer #3 — False Sense of Security
And now it’s time to talk about the final risk to your retirement.
Social Security.
Social Security was set up to help you… and up until now, it’s acted as a stable source of income for many retirees.
But now it’s turned on you, and it's about to come crashing down.
You see, just after World War II, there was a massive increase in the national birthrate. This period was known as the “Baby Boom,” and those born during that time came to be known as “Baby Boomers.”
Today, there are 76 million Boomers—and over the next 19 years, nearly all of them are expected to retire.
That’s 76 million people who’ll be pulling out huge sums of money from the Social Security system.
Normally that wouldn’t be an issue, but here’s the thing:
Because of the enormous number of Boomers, more people are going to be leaving the workforce than entering it. Which means there’ll be more money leaving the system than going into it.
Long story short: According to a recent report from the Congressional Budget Office, Social Security will basically be unable to meet its obligations by the year 2034.
That’s just 17 years away!
So if you’re planning on Social Security to fund your retirement, take note:
Social Security could be giving you a “false sense of security.”
If you don’t take steps now to make up for that lost income, you could be in for a rude awakening when it’s time to retire.
Your Solutions
In Matt’s article yesterday, he asked you to tell us about your retirement plans...
We were happy to see that many Crowdability readers already realize they can’t trust their retirement to Wall Street or The Government.
Many folks have already started taking proactive steps to solve their own problems.
And that’s exactly what we’ll be talking about next week:
Now that we’ve identified that there’s a problem with the current state of retirement planning, we can show you how to fix it.
So keep an eye on your inbox starting next Wednesday…
That’s when Matt will reveal one of our favorite strategies for rapidly growing your nest egg.
Until then, click here to tell us more about your plans for retirement and wealth-building.
Best Regards,
Founder
Crowdability.com
