BY RUSSELL TURNER
THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON
The midterm election is just a little over 3 weeks from now. We humans often get into a sort of hero worship when it comes to politicians, it is easy to make the mistake in believing that one politician or the other has all of the answers to life’s problems. It constantly amazes me to see the same problems resurface every 2 or 4 years. Today some of the main topics include Social Security, Medicare, education, etc. Recently I was watching some old VHS tapes that I had recorded several years ago and the political ads of that day could have been inserted into today’s commercials.
Politicians from all parties have made promises to fix the problems, but for the most part the problems still remain. According to a recent study 8 out of 10 Americans are concerned about having the ability to have a comfortable retirement and nearly 2/3 are afraid of outliving their savings. At the same time they are losing confidence in Social Security and Medicare.
I have found that many people only live for today and don’t want to think about a time in the future when they will be unable to work and have a steady income. Whether that attitude stems from refusing to admit we are indeed mortal or simply not wanting to worry about the future I am not sure. There are some serious facts that we need to be made aware of. One in 5 Americans (21 percent) has no savings at all. One in three baby boomers (33 percent) only have less than $25,000 in retirement savings, and they are the generation closest to retirement. We Americans are fortunate to be living longer, but that also creates a situation where more money will be needed. More Americans are anticipating retiring at 70 years or older instead of 65-69.
Too many of our people have got into the mentality of looking to the government to solve our problems. I have come to the conclusion the government cannot take better care of an individual than when that individual takes an active role in their own retirement planning. The problems I listed above are for the most part self inflicted; granted anyone can have a streak of bad luck or sickness, but that does not add up to the percentages in the article. The art of living within your means is a dying art in America; even people with big salaries are not immune. Fortunately it is never too late to learn to live within our means. With the election just around the corner we need to remind ourselves of who the most important person is. The most important person is not the current crop of politicians, it is you. In a free society self responsibility is the best defense of the problems we will face in life.
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