IS YOUR PENSION AND SOCIAL SECURITY ENOUGH?

The big question on everyone's mind is, will your pension and social security check be enough to live on when you retire?  If you are an employee who is counting on your pension to support you retirement income here is an interesting fact.  Time Magazine had an article on pensions and how many companies are looking for ways out of paying their employees their pension plans.  In addition many companies are freezing pension plans for new employees.  It seems that according to Time magazine, pensions will be a thing of the past in the next 10 to 20 years.

Social Security is running out of money and every time I check to see when the government projects the money will run out, the date gets closer and closer.  Experts feel that by 2016 or 2017 the social security fund will have been depleted.  The Time magazine article also stated that income tax would have to double or the government will be in too much debt.

Inflation causes the price of goods and services to increase.  At a 4% inflation rate prices will double every 18 years.  What does that mean to you, well if you are use to living off of $50,000 a year 20 years from now if you are not earning $100,000 a year you will not be able to maintain your lifestyle. People that say when I retire I should be in a lower tax bracket are setting themselves up for poverty.  When you retire you better hope that you are in a higher tax bracket earning more money than you currently are because of inflation or you probably will end up barely surviving because everything will be twice as expensive.

Talk to your pension planner and 401k adviser and ask them to give you a rough estimate of how much you will recieve at retirement.  Most people are shocked to find out that their pension and 401k is not even close towhat they need to live on.  If your adviser won't give you the answers you need, you should think about finding a better adviser.