Its Never Too Late. Essays - Personal Finance, Retirement

It's Never Too Late. It's Never Too Late Imagine getting out of high school and being faced with the grim responsibility of having to get a job. If you're one of the fortunate, you have the option to continue your education and postpone the reality of growing up. Now let's assume you've found that so-called dream job, paying your dues with hard work and late nights, not to mention weekends and holidays. After twenty to thirty years you're up for retirement and it sounds inviting. Now most employers offer a retirement package that allows you to stop working and still bring home seventy percent of your current income. As stated, ?Five Steps to a Great Retirement? (Money Magazine 1999), ?No matter how far you are from retirement, you know that the alternative to work is no longer napping on the verandah. Back in the days when it was, financial advisers routinely said you could retire comfortably on seventy percent your working income - figuring you were thirty percent dead.? So how much money will you need when you retire? In the following pages there is some helpful information you will need to make the ?Golden Years? truly golden. Education is the single most important tool in planing for your future, the earlier the better. This is a validity supported by the facts stated in the article ?Saving is Fundamental? (Black Enterprise 1999). ?As part of it's 1999 ?Time to Save Education? campaign, Merrill Lynch polled 500 boys and girls, ages twelve to seventeen, about how they obtain, save and invest their money. The survey found that seventy percent of them currently have savings accounts (up from sixty five in 1998) and eleven percent own stock (vs. seven percent last year). Nearly one third of the teens consulted parents or relatives for guidance. Fifty six percent (vs. forty four in 1998) of the students had taken a class on saving or investing.? The article also points out, ?Despite the fact that teens who take such classes are more likely to manage their money wisely, the number of states offering personal finance, dwindled from fourteen in 1989 to only seven last year.(See Diagram) 9 .(See ram) It is essential that children take these classes. Sixty percent of high school students have access to these personal finance programs but a meager twenty-one percent have signed up. Even though some schools offer these personal finance type classes, if you were to compare the kids who haven't taken the classes to those who have, you would discover that they have the information needed, yet their spending habits, are very similar. Considering that nearly thirty percent rely on credit card budgets, this could pose a problem. Considering that most of the card holders carry a debt from month to month.? 9 As a direct result, Arthur Levitt, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, is sending regulators into classrooms nationwide to ?Get students and young adults excited about saving for tomorrow.? Some find it hard to believe that one lecture from a expert will have any impact on the kids today. The kids want to learn but who is going to teach them? Hence, this is where parents must education their children. What better way to teach your children then by example. We all know that kids learn more by doing rather than listening. Fortunately, there are some basic fundamentals you can teach your kids. In ?Kids and Money? (Money Magazine 1999), by following these guidelines you can instill the skills so many Americans lack today. (1) ?Set a regular payday.? An allowance should come the same day every week to help kids budget. (2) ?A chance to earn more.? Other than everyday chores to earn some extra money. (3) ?Set up a bank account.? Many banks still have low minimum-balance passbooks accounts which allows your kids to see the interest grow. (4) ?Room to stumble.? Kids need to learn that money is finite. That is why, when they blow their budget, and they will, you need to be strong enough not to bail them out. In the article named ?Five steps to a Great Retirement? by Lisa Really Cullen, Beverly Goodman, and Henry Weil (Money Magazine 1999). ?There is helpful information from getting started to withdrawing wisely. Let us take an overview of the suggested five steps involved in planning your retirement. Step one is to see where you stand. To figure out where you're going you need to know where you are. It's not