Retirement Education In America

Except it has become challenging to pay for the education those people want. “More than 3 quarters of Americans say it has become more difficult to pay for college in the past few years”(Marello). The American dream has become almost impossible for those who are in debt. With the cost of college increasing people turn to work so that they can have some sort of income to be able to support themselves. Even for those who move to America to achieve the American dream.

Some people think that getting a college education is not really a good idea anymore. According to Abel and Deitz, “In recent years, students have been paying more to attend college and earning less upon graduation—trends that have led many observers to question whether a college education remains a good investment” (2014, p. 1). If the student cannot find a job that pays a decent amount of money, after graduation why should the government ‘fund it?. College costs are rising each year. Future generations may not be able to go to college because tuition will be too high. But Abel and Deitz

During the “Baby Boomer” era, following WWII, America underwent one of the largest demographic shifts and population growths in history. Huge amounts of home construction on the outskirts of America’s largest cities, known as “levittowns” became the new staple of the American dream, with the houses sporting two car garages, and white picket fences. These low density, predominantly middle class residential districts, were America’s first true suburbs. These suburbs were constructed mainly in response to the new postwar consumerism that enveloped the parents of the baby boomers. With the new economy, affordable housing, and most families becoming single income dependent, families grew bigger and bigger. The 1947 passing of the bill that lead to the interstate highway system, only added fuel to the fire of suburbanization. With the new interstate highway system, more affordable and fuel efficient automobiles, and the government aiding in the financing of new suburban homes, the choice seemed elementary. All of these factors pushing to the suburban movement, only spurred the baby boomers on, and between 1940-50, there was an 835% percent increase in living births with nearly 4 million children being born every year. In 1940, 19.5% of the United States population lived in what would be considered to be suburban areas outside of large metropolitan areas, however, by 1960; the number was pushing nearly 40%. The postwar suburbanization of America during the baby boomer

College is a dream that almost every American wants to come true, however, with the extreme rise in the costs of tuition it is a dream that has quickly turned into a nightmare. “Tuition at a private university is now roughly three times as expensive as it was in 1974, costing an average of $31,000 a year; public tuition, at $9,000, has risen nearly four times,” (Davidson). “For the average American household that doesn 't receive a lot of financial aid, higher education is simply out of reach,” (Davidson). That is why many students have begun questioning the worth of a college degree and if the amount of debt that is received upon exiting college is all for the better. And considering that costs have risen much faster than the rate of inflation, many are starting to believe that college just isn 't necessary any more. However, according to White, economically, the answer would still be a yes. “While unemployment rates for new grads and experienced workers alike have fluctuated throughout the recession and recovery, the earnings premium that college-and advanced-degree holders enjoy over their peers who didn 't attend college has remained relatively stable, and in some instances, grown, according to the report that was released this week,” (White). A study was shown that many college grads are able to get earnings that are significantly higher than those who did not get enough education or only hold a high school diploma (White). Even

To make money, you need to have a job. To have a good job, you need and education. To further your education you need money to pay for college. It’s an oxymoron. In the 1950’s sending a child to college would on be 18% of the parent’s annual income. While today it would be 79% of their gross income (mybudget360). In the 50’s, tuition of the University of Pennsylvania was $600 a year compared to the current tuition at $40,000 (2). This supports that anyone attempting to succeed at their version of the American dream, whatever it may be, could ultimately fail because of the massive amount of debt they would be in. Whether they achieve this dream or give up because of the impossible standards.

The price of college isn’t going down anytime soon, and neither is people’s interest in making money, supporting themselves, and being able to make it in life. For some

The problem for this still exists, and as young adults are growing up, many drop out of college or do not attend college at all because they enter the workforce at an early age. With this, the American Dream for

It will leave my generation, our children and grandchildren, with back breaking taxes, which will have its own domino effect of causing ever increasing inflation. To be eligible for Social Security, which once was at age sixty-two for full benefits and now is age sixty-six and soon will be sixty-seven and as the years go by who knows what the retirement age will be for us. Social Security is paid through payroll taxes which pay for the benefits of today’s retirees. Money in excess of what is needed to pay today’s benefits is invested in special treasury bonds. This system works well when there is a rather high ratio of workers to beneficiaries or retirees. For instance, in 1960, there were 5.1 workers for every Social Security recipient or retiree, but the demographics are changing because Americans are living longer and are having fewer children. Today, there are 3.3 workers paying Social Security payroll taxes for every one person collecting Social Security benefits. That number will drop to 2 to 1 in less than forty years. At this ratio there will not be enough workers to pay scheduled benefits at currents tax rates. The last reason why social Security is unstable is because the government does not guarantee the benefits. According

This week’s article was about whether baby boomers retiring has effected wage growth or not. Basically, work and wage is about seniority and however long people have been with the company the more they are payed. With that it is proposed that with a multitude of those baby boomers retiring that the average wage that people are payed will go down. The only thing that would prevent wages from going down would be if there is someone ready to immediately replace the position; however, they are not being replaced at high employment rate, but rather lower wage earning people that are younger in age. The good news is that those who have continued to work have not lost any growth in wages, but have stayed consistent. So, the main problem with wages

My very last financial problem why the american dream is dead is because college tuition is crushing a generation of non-wealthy Americans. Education for every American who wants to get ahead? Forget about it. Nowadays you have to be rich to get a college education; that is, unless you want to begin your career with a mountain of debt..tuition at a private university was projected to cost at an average of $130,000 on average over four years, and that’s not counting food, lodging, books, or other

The average debt suffered by every 2013 college graduate was a staggering $35,200 (Roos p. 2 par 1). According to experts, this is the worst the economy has been in 80 years (Thompson, par 4). There are so many things working against the generation of today from an economical standpoint. The housing market crash of 2007-2008 took a toll on the economy as a whole, but in turn managed to affect millenials more so than any other generation. Throughout American history, every generation has had one of the same major goals; get rich quickly and be more prosperous than the generation before. Even today as the country has grown richer, Generations X and Y (people up to the age of about 50) have amassed less wealth than their parents had when they were the same age. If this is not harrowing enough, the average net worth of a person aged 29-37 has been lowered by 21% since 1983 while the average net worth of a person aged 56-64 has more than doubled since the same year. It is depressing to think that millenials will almost indefinitely suffer more instability in their retirements than their parents or even their grandparents (Lowrey, p. 2 par 5). Someone at the age of 30 in 2013 was worth 21% less than someone at the age of 30 in 1983, meanwhile the net worth of an average 60 year old in 2013 was more than twice as high as a 60 year old in 1983. In other words, young people are getting poorer as older people becoming richer

When you are young you always hear people saying it is never too early to start saving for retirement, but at that age the last thing you want to do is put your money towards ending the career you are just trying to start. It is hard to imagine a time where you won’t have to go to work on a daily basis, to make a wage, in order to pay your bills, but the ultimate goal is getting to that time in your life where you don’t have to go to work and the bills are already taken care of. The hope for everyone is that the bills are taken care of and you are able to focus on leisurely things you did not have an opportunity for while employed. What we fail to realize is that the longer we wait to save the more we have to be concerned with the pressure of time running out and not enough money saved. Not to mention the sooner you start saving the more time you give your money to grow.

Planning for retirement should not be based on Social Security alone, but rather by saving portions of personal earned wages and putting finances into long-term investments. Depending on Social Security as the only income after retiring is an unsafe and undependable way to prepare for retirement. People who contribute to Social Security are mandatorily putting money into the Social Security Reserve; this money is used for older generations that will file for these benefits before the younger people working, in the early 21 century, ever receive a chance. Money controlled by other’s hands will never be a guarantee for a secure future, yet money saved by an individual to put toward personal goals will reward greatly. By taking the time to

Growing up, as Tim Urban stated in his article; Why Generation Y Yuppies Are Unhappy “, we were raised “with a sense of optimism and unbounded possibility” (par 6). Moreover, what our parents didn’t tell us, is that we have to devote most of our entire life to achieve those possibility. However, our parents’ generation - the baby boomers, born in the 50s, raised by our grandparents. Were raised to “build practical, secured careers” (Urban par 4) But another for them to get to stable career they have to go through hard time, bad decisions and loss of love ones.

The trick to retirement is making the savings and investment part of that formula last as long as you do. “Traditionally, experts have advised you to invest your savings in stocks and bonds, with the ratio of stocks to bonds gradually decreasing as you get older. The rule of thumb was to have 65% of your investment dollars in bonds by your 65th birthday.” (aol.sageonline.com) This rule of thumb has changed recently in order to take into account the increase in life expectancy. Now that your retirement money has to last longer, the experts are beginning to lean toward investing more of your money in the stock market and keeping it there further into retirement than you normally would. The most important notion that retirees must learn is that the longer you can go without dipping into your principal, the longer your money will last for you due to the rule of compounding of interest. There are numerous different techniques for people to use in order to retire comfortably and remain comfortable until their deaths. Since deciding how much money you need for retirement is obviously a highly personal calculation, individuals must explore the many different instruments for retirement. So how should people invest today for the future and their retirement?