3 out of 5 of us will go broke in retirement

Plus no booze, no cigs and no STDs, so they'll outlive the rest of us.

 

Sounds like a freakin' party, where do I sign up? :

 

Build an emergency fund in a high-yield savings account at ingdirect.com or something similar (3-6 months expenses, more or less depending on your spouse's job/lack thereof). Pay off your credit card debt. Retirement earnings won't mean squat compared to what you lose to interest on credit card debt. Open a Roth IRA and/or max out your 401(k).

Start now. Compound interest is a wonderful thing.

Sounds obvious, but sometimes people (like me) need a little direction.

 

Savings rate currently does not even cover inflation + taxes on that account.

 

Dig a hole in the backyard, I say.

 

That's why it is for your emergency fund and not your investment vehicle. You want the emergency kitty to be liquid.

 

Put the emergency fund in a one-year CD and you can get 3.5 percent-plus in the right bank. If you've got the need, which hopefully won't occur, you can hit the CD when it comes due. Worst-case scenario you can cash it in and pay the penalty or charge your emergency expenses on the lowest-rate card you have and pay them off when the CD matures.
It's not a huge gamble, because odds are much greater you'll be rolling over your CD than you are to be cashing it in for emergency.

 

I've heard the "save for retirement" lecture from every single person in my family over 50 in the last six months since I just graduated (and let me tell you, that is a LOT of aunts and uncles).

The thing is...I have the feeling if I retired, I'd pretty much go crazy. I need to have SOMEthing to do every day. I might slow down but I don't see myself completely retiring anyway until I'm in the nursing home.

 

That and you won't be able to afford to do so.

 

Or you'll die of dysentry long before that

 

Jeebus, our other income is a doctor's salary, and I can't imagine achieving that without living in a cardboard box for a decade. Kudos to you.

 

You're six months removed from graduation and you don't think you'll ever want to retire? Talk to me in 25 years. And if you haven't saved squad for retirement in those 25 years, don't ask me for a loan.
Your family knows what the heck they are talking about.