News To Know: The Struggle To Reach Retirement

A lot of attention is being paid to the diminishing savings of many Americans and the challenges we face in stashing money away for retirement. In her blog for US News And World Report, Michelle Andrews talks about health care costs after age 65. She says that while many retirees believe that Medicare will cover their expenses, they should really be planning on spending as much as $500,000 or more in out of pocket health care costs. Ow! That will put a real crack in your nest egg.
Aside from the challenges that exist for those in retirement, there are many expenses that can draw away from that retirement fund of yours before you even reach an age where you can say goodbye to work. Responding to an article in Monday's Wall Street Journal, Alexis Glick describes the retirement cruch and some unanticipated costs that can strain savings that would otherwise go toward retirement. So while the costs during retirement are on the rise, so are those we face before we can even get to that point. Hopefully the 2008 election will offer some better solutions than our current strategy of crossing our fingers and hoping for the best.