MIDLOTHIAN, Va. (WTVR) – The Pew Research Center found that 53 percent of adults, aged 36 to 40, say they have little or no confidence they’ll have enough money for retirement.
The data in this new survey is more than double what it was four years ago.
“The economy just stinks,” says Wendy Isham. Not only does she not have a job, her checking account is depleted.
“It`s really horrible. I don`t even see me having a retirement at all,” she said.
“The way things have been going lately, we`re not even sure if there are going to be benefits around for us later,“ said Maurice Blunt. He has a job, but still worries.
Both Blunt and Isham are in their 30s. It’s an age group the Pew Research Center says are most worried about their retirement.
“In that particular demographic there`s a combination of factors,” said Certified Financial Planner John Clair, with Leahy and Clair Financial Management in Midlothian..
Clair agrees that the 36 to 40 age group has suffered the steepest losses in household wealth in recent year, because that’s where most of it was tied up.
And, he says when the stock market went down to almost 40 percent in 2008 and 2009, most of the folks in this age group had their money tied up in stocks.
“And, then towards the bottom, they tended to take to pull it out because they couldn`t take it anymore, and therefore didn’t get the benefit of riding it back up to where we are today,” he said.
Clair says the best thing anyone worried about their nest egg can do is to find a financial advisor. He says a good one will sit down with you for a free 15 minute to 30 minute consultation.
“Talk to them about what your fears are,” he said. “Figure out where your investments are today and where you need to go,” he said.
Clair says gone are the old days where people worked for a company for 30 years and retired with a pension. Nowadays, we have to take care of ourselves.
If you don’t want to go to a financial advisor, he says several websites can help you with an investment strategy. He suggests http://napfa.org/, and Kiplinger.com.
