More and more Baby Boomers are filing for bankruptcy, and one in seven people who file in the US are now 65 or older, which is a fivefold increase over just 25 years. This is alarming. In 1991, people over 65 years old made up just 2% of people filing for bankruptcy, but that figure… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Financial Planning
Almost 80% of Americans Live Paycheck to Paycheck
We are now in day 34 of the partial government shutdown, the longest in US history. While most Americans have seen little or no disruption in their daily lives as a result of the shutdown, many of the 800,000+ government workers who have been furloughed find themselves in a financial crisis. The reason: Almost 80%… Continue Reading
Healthcare Cost For Typical Family Hits New Record
The annual cost of healthcare for a typical American family – two parents and two children covered by an average employer-sponsored preferred provider organization (PPO) – will be $28,166 this year on average, according to the 2018 Milliman Medical Index released earlier this month. That’s over $2,300 a month. Healthcare costs have risen every year… Continue Reading
One-Third of Adults Have Less Than $5,000 Saved
American adults, as a group, have shockingly little saved for retirement. Northwestern Mutual’s 2018 Planning & Progress Study surveyed over 2,000 adults and found that 21% of Americans have nothing saved at all for their golden years. Another 10% have only $1 to $4,999 saved for retirement. That means nearly one-third of Americans have between… Continue Reading
How Wealth is Allocated Among Net Worth Levels
In Tuesday’s Forecasts & Trends E-Letter, I focused on how our national savings rate has plunged to only 2.9%, the lowest in a decade. I included a chart showing how the Top 1% of income earners save 38% of their income, whereas the rest of the Top 10% save only 12% of their income. I… Continue Reading