Americans are accumulating more debt than savings. In fact, debt is growing faster than retirement savings. People between the ages of 50 to 65 have only about two years worth of savings for their retirement. This means that if they retire, they will run out of money in two years. Then, they’ll have to go back to work. The chance of an older American finding work is tougher than for a younger American.
In contrast, their debt is growing. They spend 22 cents of every dollar to pay down their debt. At that rate, they will never be able to payoff their debt. This is not the only age group in trouble. Forty-year-olds and up accumulate credit card, auto loan, home equity, mortgage, or other types of debt faster than savings. Their retirement savings is also small or nonexistent. College educated individuals who earn $50,000 a year do not have even three months of emergency savings! Remember that I recommend eight to twelve months in the emergency account.
Forty one percent are over the age of 50 and 47 percent are in the highest income quartile. Wage earners of more than $91,000 per year find themselves building up more debt than retirement savings. Are you in one of these categories? Do you have more debt than savings? Is your retirement account thin or non-existent? Do you have a thin emergency account or a non-existent emergency savings account?
If you do, then you need to start applying the principals shown in this site.