There was news this week that another big corporation...IBM...was going to be discontinuing their pension plan. In its place would be a 401K retirement plan instead...one that employees would manage themselves. This continues the trend away from companies providing a fixed retirement benefit along the lines of Social Security and moving more to a market-based system where people control their own destiny.
People are alarmed. They expect government or some company to take care of them when they retire. After all, a poorly managed 401K could lose money. People could retire with nothing! Looks like a little personal responsibility might be called for here and we can't have that. No way, no how!
But even more alarming are the results of a survey out yesterday from something called the Consumer Federation of America and the Financial Planning Association. When asked what the most practical way was to accumulate several hundred thousand dollars, respondents answered:
--21 percent said winning the lottery was the way to do it. Government loves that answer.
The answer also gives us a read on just what percentage of the American public is stupid beyond fixing.
--3 percent said a big insurance settlement was how you got rich. The trial lawyers are happy about that one, but 3 percent is a bit low.
--11 percent said inheriting money was how you accumulated wealth.
--And thankfully, 55 percent said saving money each month was the answer.
Now that means about half of those surveyed have no idea how you get rich in America today. Score one for government schools. By the way, according to the study, the poorer people were, the more likely they were to believe the lottery was how they would retire. I guess that's how they get and stay broke!
http://boortz.com/nuze/200601/01102006.html
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