We're gonna need a bigger boat!

There is some interesting news coming out about the financial well-being of Americans. By ‘interesting’ I mean – ‘scary’; Scary like “We’re gonna need a bigger boat”, scary, cuz that Great White shark called Reality is about to bite us in the… well you get the picture.

The news is from sources like the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). EBRI has been conducting research on retirement plans since 1978. That’s a lot of research.

Retirement plans!?!? - I'm young with kids in school. I can't think about retirement. Do you know how much tuition costs - some private schools cost as much as college. OK OK - What does the current data suggest about retirement?

Well, that’s where the scary starts. As of April 2015, Americans do not feel prepared for their future because they are not. In the 2015 EBRI Retirement Confident Survey, only 37% of retirees felt "very confident" about having enough money for their retirement. That leaves 63% who are NOT “very confident” about their future finances with a full 14% being not at all confident.

Why? Because they haven’t been preparing for their future.More than half of workers (who responded to the EBRI survey) have less than $25,000 saved for retirement. Read that again: 57% of workers report that they have less than $25,000 saved for retirement (This excludes equity in their homes and saving plans like 401(k) etc.)

12% have between $10,000 and $25,000 saved for retirement.

17% have between $ 1,000 and $10,000 saved for retirement.

28% have less than $1,000 saved for retirement.

How do they think they will live in their “Golden Years” without any gold? 66% of American workers seem to have forgotten a simple truth: Failure to plan is planning to fail.

Fully 2/3 of workers hope to keep working during their retirement years.

Reality Check: Less than 1/4 of currently retired workers are actually ABLE to work during retirement. 3/4 of currently retired workers are NOT ABLE to work.

Several factors like health issues, competition with younger workers, outdated skill sets and a tight job market impact their ability to find and/or keep work.

The U.S. Federal Reserve also recently published some fun financial news.

As of February 2015 Americans were $11.91 trillion in debt (An increase of 2.6% from last year). Not to be outdone by its citizens, the U.S. Government has accumulated $18 trillion in debt. Of all US presidents, the national debt grew the most dollar-wise during President Obama's term. He added $6.167 trillion, a 53% increase, in six years.

I don’t know how to imagine 18 trillion anything, however, I know if you spent $1 per second you wouldn’t reach $1 trillion for 32,500 years.

$1 per second for 32,500 years?

Yep.

Someone needs to send a copy of Power Tools to Slay the Money Dragon to the White House and every state capital in the United States.

Good idea. You should read it too. The book is available now; not a moment too soon. Click here

Summary of consumer debt.

Total U.S. outstanding consumer debt:

• $884.8 billion in credit card debt

• $1.18 trillion in student loans (An increase of 7.5% from last year)

• $8.2 trillion in mortages

U.S. household consumer debt profile:

• Average credit card debt: $15,609