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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: richardred who wrote (637)	6/14/2005 1:05:56 AM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541485

"didn't bother saving for their own retirement." IMO- They had know idea of what was to come. Most were thinking Social Security & Pension plans. Little did they know of the advances in medical technology and world business conditions. I think many put it into real estate and their kids education . Much witch has increased in value. Ignorance is not bliss. Things changed in the seventies when ERISA was passed in the US. I started saving in my IRA as soon as I could. I had access to the same information that the rest of the population had access to. Perhaps many people prefer to spend instead of saving. Empirical evidence would bear this out. I was a benefits administrator. I repeatedly tried to get former employees to keep some of the 401-k's for retirement. They looked at it as their lottery check. These are the people I am supposed to feel sorry for? Some of them quit just so they could spend their retirement money now. Not everyone is that self destructive. But a great number of those in financial need could have helped themselves, but chose not to. I don't categorize the ones who lack the sophistication to invest in stocks and bonds with those who just chose not to save for retirement. If a family invested in their children and their real estate, then they should collect the dividends from those investments before looking to society for their reward. We are a compassionate society. Even those who destroyed themselves should not be cast out into the cold. We will probably always maintain a working safety net. I think we need to positive step to ensure this scenario does not repeat in the future. We need to reform or replace Social Security.