Will you be okay when it's time to retire? Here's what to do

Originally Posted by Dien Rice

Hi Tom,

I'm really curious... You'd have an insight into this. Why, in your experience, is the number (that is, the total "assets" the person "right in the middle" has, if you line up everyone in the US from richest to poorest) not higher?

Best wishes,

Dien

Attitude of the person doing the saving. Here is an example from my stock broker days.

I was forced to cold call every day except Sunday for new clients. I was pretty good at it and managed to bring into my office approx. 2000 people. Of those 2000 only 20, 1%, had an actual personal money management program.

The others knew such a thing existed or were gonna look into it or a dozen other excuses. I'll never forget one of the people who showed up. He was a California Highway Patrolman.

I always asked the people to bring a copy of their household budget with them so we could look at the numbers together. Plus it gave me a stupendous insight into their money knowledge.

Anyway, this guy and his wife show up and he lays out his hand written budget. To make a long story short, he had exactly $5 left over at the end of the month that he could call his own.

Mind you he also had a bad attitude brought on by his debt and the fact that he was forced to work overtime, his words, every week to pay his bills. It never once dawned on him that he was holding his answer in his hand.

He was the most extreme case. Like I said, the others had great excuses. Now the clients I did put into a portfolio were money savvy. They knew where it went and how they got it in the first place. This is the group of people who are far above the 44K number. They were the ones I wanted but didn't always get.

By the way, I was in the top 10% of money earners among my class mates (guys who came on board the same time I did).

Regardless, it's like my mother used to tell me: Put something aside for a rainy day. I guess nobody ever told these people it WILL rain on your parade so be prepared.

Hope all that makes sense.