One in four Americans are not saving at all for retirement 🔻🔻🔻 no money? Not exactly‼️

According to MarketWatch:

The latest COUNTRY Financial Security Index released Thursday showed that one in four Americans, across all age groups, is not saving at all for retirement. A majority of respondents (55%) said they either are not participating in a workplace sponsored retirement plan like a 401(k) or they don’t know if they are in a plan.

In certain age groups, nearly half of respondents no longer believe it’s possible for a typical middle-income family to save for retirement.

What are they thinking‼️ 🙀

I guess Americans don’t have any extra money to save. No doubt there are far more important things to spend money on. But at least they don’t have to worry about paying for birth control pills anymore, we wouldn’t want that taking away from tattoos, pet Halloween costumes or ringtones. And no, it’s not the wealthy who are spending their money on this stuff … okay, maybe toilet paper‼️

Let’s do some math. If Americans over age 14 stopped spending money on romance novels, Twinkies, ringtones, 📱sports events, 🏀 fast food, 🍟soda, video games, taxidermy, tattoos, gambling, 🎲 pet costumes and 1/2 of what they now spend on beer 🍻 (a beer now and then is essential) they would on average have $1329 a year to save for retirement [and I didn’t even count inflatable lawn decorations or manicures]. After 30 years at 6% return that equals $110,497 of which about $70,000 is interest. Save that in an employer 401k plan with a match and you are talking a decent retirement. Plus the $1329 is barely 3% of average income … three flippen percent‼️

What’s the point you say❓The point is that, as is the case with affording health care deductibles and co-pays, saving for retirement for many, many Americans is not so much affordability as setting priorities on how they spend their money‼️ If all this were not so serious, it would be hilarious … gotta go, my phone is playing the 1812 overture … but I’m already retired.

I know, in this context averages are quite meaningless, but that doesn’t change the fact frivolous spending often takes priority over sound financial planning and responsibility. Pay yourself first and then spend on whatever floats your boat … without charging it. That’s your true standard of living.

How Americans spend their money.

Source: Mentalfloss.com

Beer: $96 billion—enough to make 199,937,239 barrels!
(Brewers Association)

Pretzels: $550 million
(Reuters)

St. Patrick’s Day: $4.14 billion
(National Retail Federation)

Over-the-Counter Teeth Whiteners: $1.4 billion
(MSNBC)

Sinus Treatments: $5.8 billion
(Centers for Disease Control)

Pet Halloween Costumes: $310 million (The pet industry hauls in a total $50.96 billion!)
(National Retail Federation/American Pet Product Association)

Easter: $16.8 billion
(National Retail Association)

Romance Novels: $10 billion
(Romance Writers of America)

Engagement and Wedding Rings: $11 billion
(Knot Market Intelligence)

Valentine’s Day Flowers: $1.7 billion
(National Retail Federation)

Chocolate: $16 billion dollars (we eat 2.8 billion pounds of it!)
(IBIS)

Perfume: $4.2 billion
(Research and Markets)

Gambling: $34.6 billion
(American Gaming Association)

Coffee: $11 billion ($1.4 billion is organic!)
(Franchise Direct/North American Organic Coffee Industry Report)

Tattoos: $2.3 billion
(INC.)

Tattoo Removal: $66 million
(IBIS)

Golf Balls: $500 million
(Forbes)

Girl Scout Cookies: $800 million
(Girl Scouts of America)

Taxidermy: $800 million
(Breakthrough Magazine)

Video Games: $17 billion dollars
(NPD Group)

Soft Drinks: $65 billion
(National Soft Drinks Association)

Bottled Water: $11 billion
(Beverage Marketing Corp.)

Groceries: $478 billion
(USDA)

Fast Food: $117 billion
(Fast Food Marketing)

Professional Sports: $25.4 billion
(WR Hambrecht)

Dollar Store Purchases: $30 billion
(Security and Exchange Commission)

Alternative Medicine: $33.9 Billion
(Consumer Reports)

Toilet Paper: $2.6 billion
(NY Times)

Ringtones: $5 billion worldwide
(NY Times)

Baggage Fees: $3.36 billion
(Bureau of Transportation)

Credit Card Late Fees: $18 billion
(RK Hammer)

Lawn Care: $40 billion
(Bloomberg)

Child Care: $47 billion
(IBIS)

Twinkies: Approximately $500 million
(WSJ)