The Boulevard to Financial Independence

By Mariette

We are moving out of an age where we can assume we will be taken care of in our retirement by pensions and social security. With that movement comes a need to rethink not only our own need to save for retirement but also how we educate our children in retirement planning. Unfortunately not everyone is aware that they themselves must take charge of their own retirement much less teach their children to do so. According to the Wall Street Journal on Saturday 1/3 of people with employer-backed 401k or other defined-contribution plans are not enrolling. Clearly there is a gap in educating people about retirement options in this country.

According to Sunday’s Chicago Tribune only 7 states require high school students to take a course in personal finance, some colleges offer them, but it is mainly community colleges and public universities. This needs to change if the next generations are to fare better than Generations X & Y in saving for retirement. And our schools need to step up because parents can only teach kids what they understand themselves, and too many parents do not understand that if they want to retire at a standard living similar to the one they had while they were working, then they need to save for it themselves, because even if there is Social Security money left it won’t be enough to meet all of their expenses. I realize that most schools are failing children in far more than personal finance education, but as a life skill it is invaluable, as it gives kids the practical tools for planning their future. I know I certainly would have benefited from such a course; possibly it could have saved me from some of the debt headache I’m experiencing now.

It’s nice to think that someone will be there at the end of your life to take care of you; that your husband will take care of it for you so you don’t need to worry; that you will be rescued by the lottery, or that the government will step in. However it’s best to plan as if none of that will happen, people aren’t always there when you think they will be, statistically wives outlive their husbands, and certainly the sooner people realize that the U.S. government is not going to step in and save them, the better off they will be.

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