Experts have worried for some time about the impact millennials' historically high levels of student debt (currently averaging $31,000 at graduation) could have on their retirement savings. In a paper released this week, the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College calculates what it calls the National Retirement Risk Index (NRRI), an estimate of how many households won’t be able to maintain their standard of living after they retire. The index has been rising steadily since the early 1980s, starting at 31% in 1983 and peaking at 53% in 2010. As of 2013, the most recent year available, it stands at 52%. That’s alarming enough. But if you factor in student debt, the center says, the percentage would rise to 60.1%. Put another way, six Americans out of every 10 might not be able to support themselves in the style they’re accustomed to when retirement rolls around. http://time.com/money/4208380/is-todays-student-loan-crisis-tomorrows-retirement-crisis/
Why is that a crisis? Surely it is simply a wake-up call to Americans that they are currently living beyond their means if they wish to maintain their lifestyle into retirement. All they have to do is accept that they need to spend less and save more (or earn more) if they want to maintain their lifestyle. If they think they have a right to an unsustainable standard of living then they should think again. I certainly won't pity them when they retire and can't keep spending the same levels of money, just as I expect no one to pity me if the same happens to me. The only crisis would be if they can't afford a minimum standard of living that everyone should be entitled to, not some arbitrary standard that they feel they are owed, or an artificially high standard they make for themselves without planning for the future. Crisis? What crisis?
Some more news about the retirement prediction. New York has the dubious distinction of being the worst state to retire in, according to consumer website Bankrate.com and its 2016 report on the best and worst states for retirement. The best state? Wyoming, which had the overall highest score based on the report's six measures: cost of living, taxes, health care, crime, weather, and the overall well-being of residents. Regardless of which state you call home, if you're a woman, your chances of living in poverty when you pass 65 are alarmingly high, according to a study released by the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS). And a third report, this one a survey, reveals that, man or woman, East Coast or West Coast, it just doesn't matter: Most Americans are nervous about what quality of life they'll have in retirement. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-01/retirement-is-looking-even-worse-for-americans
