In today's Sunday Indianapolis Star. on the Personal Finance page was an article titled: I'm on a fixed income, How can I stretch my money in 2009? Three so-called financial advisors gave suggestions. My feeling was all three were totally naive of the real problems Americans are facing. Briefly: Grace Worley centered of distingushing "needs and wants"; Chris Baker talked about "being responsible" to monitor spending; and Christopher McCauley listed ways to save that were so hackneyed that I wanted to scream. You can link the article at www.indystar.com then click on the "What do you want to find" and give the name of this article. Please respond to the Indianapolis Star with what you think. Below the fold is the response I wrote.
I'm a child of the Great Depression. Senior Citizens on fixed incomes, like me, grew up with Depression Era parents who insisited we save every penny. The naive suggestions made by Grace Worley, Chris Baker and Christopher McCauley are practices I've done all my life. I've never been late with a morgage payement, credit card payment or any other bill, yet find my fixed income is killing me. In the waning days of the Bush administration I saw my retiment saving whisked away and now Republicans in Congress and their radio gurus want the same Wall Street Investors and Bankers who gutted Retirement Funds be given unlimited funding with no accountability.
Additional suggestions the STAR' missed:
Never quit work, no matter what your age;
Elect Congress persons who will listen to voters, not radio gurus;
If you listen the Worley, Baker and McCauley-- stand by to die quickly for Baby Boomer's convenience.
What do you think? Am I being too cynical? The idea that saving for Retirement seems like such a joke now. Following all the rules and doing the correct things seems foolish. In the retirment home where my Mother lived until she was 99, she lived in the self-pay and retirement income wing(the old wing). The new wing was reserved for Medicaid residents, who had not saved for retiremet, and whose bills were totally paid my the government. Help me make sense of this whole mess.