So many headlines about retirement aren't encouraging. Here’s a sampling of some from a Google search:
“Forty percent of the American middle class face poverty in retirement, study concludes”
“The Majority of Americans can’t afford to retire”
“Survey finds 42 percent of Americans will retire broke”
“There is a retirement crisis. And workers can’t fix it alone”
Recently, when WFAA hosted a Facebook live discussion with experts to discuss retirement, many comments from viewers were equally discouraging.
“Looks like I'm working full time until dead," said one person in the comments.
“I will never ever get to retire and be jobless," said another. "I know that I will have to have an extra job when I’m 60, 70, 80 to make ends meet."
Retirement savings, or lack thereof, represent a crisis for many Americans. Statistics published this year by the Federal Reserve show the extent of the problem. The study examined the savings habits of non-retirees, and found that instead of nurturing promising nest eggs, 25 percent of Americans have a big goose egg—nothing at all saved for retirement.
Angela Tacco, a financial advisor with Edward Jones, sees the problem often.
“When you think about retirement it is the longest vacation you are ever going to take in your life," she said. "And people plan more for a one week vacation than they do for this.”
Ahh vacations.
“Australia and Ireland—Ireland because I am part Irish, and Australia because I love that place," said Robert Shivell of his dream retirement trips. ga
But he's given up on those dreams.
In the last recession, he lost his job. He had a heart attack, which set him back. And he took out thousands of dollars in student loans to learn new skills to make himself more marketable. Yet, he had to search six years for steady employment.
Without his faith, and a lot of assistance from his church and his family, Shivell said he would've been homeless and hopeless.
“You think when you’re in it that there is no end to it and that it will keep going and that you are never going to be where you were," he said. "But you are, and I am living proof of it. It does end”
Unemployment finally ended. Shivell found a job at a North Texas store.
“Right now I am working full time," he said. "I am considered full time. It’s a very big deal. It’s keeping me going.”
But there's no end in sight. At 67 years of age, Shivell is part of another discouraging headline—the one that reads “One out of every four Americans expects to never retire."
Shivell is among a staggering number of people whose only retirement plan is to never stop working.
“I heard somebody say once that they are going to be working right up until lunchtime the day of their funeral," he said. "I think that is what I am going to wind up doing. I really believe that. I don’t think I will have enough finances to be able to retire.”