401k

9 Pages 2327 Words

One of the most overlooked parts of growing older would be planning for the future, including retirement. Younger people take this situation lightly as it seems so far off into the future for them, thus it is an area that is subject to procrastination. I myself have had two jobs at different guitar shops, where I paid into their respective retirement plans. However, to date I have no clue what happened to my contributed funds, as I no longer have employment with those companies. People are expected to have longer life expectancies now more than ever before, this is another reason why young adults and teenagers are not worried about saving for their retirement. The seventy-seven million people that were born between 1943 and 1960, also known as the baby boomer generation face an entirely different situation all together. As they age and began to retire, these people are starting to think that there will be no money left for them and this will turn into a huge crisis of overwhelming proportion. What will happen when the seventy-seven million baby boomers start to want or need the money they paid in throughout their long and hard working careers and there is no money left for them?
“From a CNN/POLL: Financial Condition of Social Security Crisis 31% Problems, not a crisis 55% No problem 10% Asked of all Americans Will Social Security go bankrupt before you retire? Yes 54% No 42% Asked of Americans under age of 65 if Social Security did not exist, could you save enough to retire? Yes 44% No 52% Asked of Americans under age of 65 who should control Social Security Investments? Individuals 80% Government 14% asked of all Americans” (http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/04/10/polls/social.security/)
There are some retirement provisions available to the masses, such as Social Security and 401(k) plans that are there to help when deciding how to properly save your hard earned cash. Social Security began more than seventy years ago, in the...