That's my plan! No retirement.

American Family Financial Statistics. Ouch!

I'm afraid I have the lack of trust problem. My greatest fear is not being able to keep health insurance until I can get on Medicare.

Well, I have this sage advice for any couple thinking of waiting until they're "a little older" before starting a family:

Be sure to add 21 years to your present age and make certain that your plan won't result in your trying to accelerate the payoff on your home, while making "catch-up" deposits to your retirement accounts, while footing some or all of those costs for your college students! And don't forget that their cars/car insurance/car repairs become part of your budget right about then, too!

The mister and I love our kids, but it would have been swell to have had them ten years earlier. We were ages 37 and 40 at the birth of that second one...

Curious to know just how atypical the mister's and my parental experience is, I just found this 2009 report, Age of First-Time Moms Going Up.

Excerpt:

...the proportion of first births to women 35 and older has increased nearly eight times since 1970, the researchers say.

We were ages 32 and 35 with our first.

From NBC News ...

The United States ranks 19th worldwide when it comes to retirement security, according to a new analysis of worldwide economic and other data.

The Natixis Global Retirement Index puts U.S. retirees in a more precarious position than retirees in Western European countries including Norway, Switzerland and Germany, which have strong social programs providing health care and retiree benefits. But the analysis finds that the U.S. also lags countries including Israel, Japan, Slovenia and the Czech Republic.

Want more retirement security? Move to Slovenia

More on the incidence of kids living with a grandparent (which may or may not mean that grandparent is "raising" the kids), this time from a 2011 U. S. Census study reliant on 2009 data (pdf page 4):

In 1991, 5% of white kids, 15% of black kids, and 12% of Hispanic kids lived with at least one grandparent.

In 2009, 9% of white kids, 17% of black kids, and 14% of Hispanic kids lived with at least one grandparent.

These higher percentages reported by the Census Bureau are closer to what my personal guesses might have been, based just on folks I know.

Provided each generation is carrying its own weight and the situation isn't one of one generation taking advantage of the other generation's kindness, I think it's kinda cool that multi-generational families are on the rise.

Used to be the rule rather than the exception?

The Wall Street Journal on a report released by the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

57% of U.S. workers surveyed reported less than $25,000 in total household savings and investments excluding their homes. Up from 49% in 2008.

Only about half of the 1,003 workers and 251 retirees surveyed said they were sure they could come up with $2,000 if an unexpected need were to arise in the next month.

The portion of private-sector U.S. workers covered only by so-called defined-benefit plans fell to 3% in 2011 from 28% in 1979

State of Tennessee's pension plan named best run plan in the country.

I am not sure of the exact income levels, but for example, if you are a family of three with a household income of say $36k or less, it seems like the existence of a 401k isn't particularly helpful. And only gradually beneficial as the income level rises. Depending on their circumstances.

Tennessee has a avg household income of around $43k and 3 in the household (2.5 on the US Census fact sheet).

I think Ted Benna uses a too extreme example regarding the single mom. There is much less extreme of circumstances and a larger number of people that will not benefit from 401k's adequately, if at all, to supply a reasonable amount of income in retirement.

Ted Benna, inventor of 401k in US News article ...

The group that really benefits from a 401(k) are those earning from $30,000 to $200,000. The top people will get taken care of regardless. The bottom group—a single mom earning $20,000 with two or three kids and no health insurance—a 401(k) isn't going to work for her.

401k's father wants to hit reset

Tennessee Living Wage calculator