There has been much written about the fact that the majority of Americans are not saving nearly enough to finance their retirements. On average, the typical working family headed by someone 55-64 years of age has only about $104,000 saved. More than half of all families will run out of money at some point during their retirement years, or else be forced to drastically change their living standards in order to make the money last longer.
But it’s not fair to lay all the blame on savers. Wall Street, in their quest to earn fees anywhere they can, has been bleeding savers dry. Most money managers and financial planners at large banks push their clients into mutual funds and other “expensive” investment options that carry large management fees and commissions. That means that savers, who think they’re doing the right thing with their money, are not seeing a fair share of the market returns their money is getting. For the full story, click here.