Financial Feature: Retirement Becoming the Unattainable Goal

Trivia time: define the ‘American Dream.’ In a past life, the right answer would be something along the lines of the privilege of combining hard work and perseverance to create a life for yourself, a family, and assets for next generations, earning you the chance to spend your final years in complete leisure. Today, the American Dream is defined simply: a dream.

As much as we hate to face the music, the numbers do not lie. Some of us will be lucky to live as long as we need to work to earn sufficient retirement funds. In an article featured on Yahoo! Finance, data outlines a bleak future for today and the next generation’s workers.

New data show that powerful financial and demographic forces are combining to squeeze individuals and companies that are trying to save for the future and make their money last. Here’s some harrowing statistics:

• 57% of U.S. workers surveyed reported less than $25,000 in total household savings and investments (excluding homes) – Employee Benefit Research Institute. Only 49% reported having so little money saved in 2008.
• 28% of Americans, higher than ever previously reported, lack any confidence they will have enough money to retire comfortably
• Rising life expectancies could add as much as $97 billion to corporate pension liabilities in coming years, an increase of up to 5%. – Society of Actuaries
• The percentage of workers who have saved for retirement, once 75% in 2009, not a startling 66% – Employee Benefit Research Institute survey.
• Only about half of the workers and retirees surveyed thought $2,000 if an unexpected need were to arise in the next month.

So, what are we working for? All that is left to be attained is survival. Americans now earn enough money to barely make their house and insurance payments while they continue to rack in debt. At what point did the American Dream, once a promise, become a life sentence?

Wherever that point can be found, we found the fork in the road. The UnFranchise® system changes the way you earn and save money, unveiling the path to a different future that starts today.

Maybe your business is still building and you look around and wonder when the miracle will ever happen. Think about how you once fully committed to a life-time plan without any legitimate ending. Scratch that and picture a few more years until financial freedom.