Not just in America. I don't have any saving at all, and a lot of people around me neither, and I'm in France.
Now theoretically, we all pay regularly to the state for that. But in practice, none of us believe we will see the color of it when we grow old.
Last week a dear and poor friend of us said she wanted to go to school again, but that the one she wanted in cost 5000€/year and she didn't have the money.
We secretly discussed to create a common money pot to pay the tuition for her. I suggested that we all put 500 € each and solve the problem.
All the participants were all above 30, none of them had children, all of them were working. Half of them don't even own a car, as in my city it's a useless expense. Yet it was a rude awakening: most of the people at the table could not afford such an amount. Even once in their life for a very old friend.
So we discussed a bit, and it turns out most of us don't have any saving and just live by the day. Comfortably, granted. They are not poor, they eat well, they have clothes and can afford pleasures. But if anything happen to any of us, we are screwed. We have no buffer of any kind.
The cost of life is, of course, part of the cause of this. But also the fact that our lives are very instable : breakups, job changes, moving in/out, make it hard to save. It's also a cultural problem: enjoying ourself have been more important that savings.
But there is also another issue: individualism. The thing is, most of us could probably find 500 € to give away. But the solidarity is not strong enough for this effort.
So if friends won't get out of their way to do that, I have little hope that society will solve the retirement puzzle. People care about _their_ retirement, not about everybody's retirement, not how society will find a balance or how their neighbor is going to survive.
Now theoretically, we all pay regularly to the state for that. But in practice, none of us believe we will see the color of it when we grow old.
Last week a dear and poor friend of us said she wanted to go to school again, but that the one she wanted in cost 5000€/year and she didn't have the money.
We secretly discussed to create a common money pot to pay the tuition for her. I suggested that we all put 500 € each and solve the problem.
All the participants were all above 30, none of them had children, all of them were working. Half of them don't even own a car, as in my city it's a useless expense. Yet it was a rude awakening: most of the people at the table could not afford such an amount. Even once in their life for a very old friend.
So we discussed a bit, and it turns out most of us don't have any saving and just live by the day. Comfortably, granted. They are not poor, they eat well, they have clothes and can afford pleasures. But if anything happen to any of us, we are screwed. We have no buffer of any kind.
The cost of life is, of course, part of the cause of this. But also the fact that our lives are very instable : breakups, job changes, moving in/out, make it hard to save. It's also a cultural problem: enjoying ourself have been more important that savings.
But there is also another issue: individualism. The thing is, most of us could probably find 500 € to give away. But the solidarity is not strong enough for this effort.
So if friends won't get out of their way to do that, I have little hope that society will solve the retirement puzzle. People care about _their_ retirement, not about everybody's retirement, not how society will find a balance or how their neighbor is going to survive.