My sis found this on FB: "Now that the Dow is at an all time high ...

[JDPriestly]

99. You should save. You have to understand that right now, seniors who are saving in

conservative investments (which is what seniors are told to do when they are no longer working and receiving paychecks) are earning only maybe 1% on their savings. That is per year.

That means that if you have $100 save, you get $1 per year. If you have $1,000 saved, you get $10 per year. If you have $10,000 saved, you get $100 per year. If you have $100,000 saved, you get $1,000 per year. If you have $1,000,000 saved, you get $10,000 per year.

If you are getting 2% per year, which is not that common on the kind of investments that brokers encourage seniors to make, you will receive $2 on every $100 you save. If you have $500 saved, you will get $5 per year.

You can figure out how much your own savings would supplement Social Security at this time. If the economy improves, maybe banks and conservative investments will pay more, but right now looking to savings or investments on the amounts you save on an income of $40,000 per year is pretty much a joke.

Remember, you cannot always save when you are working, not every year. People have setbacks. There are health emergencies, times of unemployment, bad investments. Businesses go bust. All kinds of things happen. So most people do not manage to save millions of dollars for retirement. That is especially true of people in their 50s right now, people who are unemployed or on the edge, people who have lost their homes or businesses.

People who have children to educate may be faring worse than those who are single.

Another group that faces great difficulty in retirement is widows and widowers. Two really do live cheaper than one once you retire.

And yes, the alternative to Social Security is relying on your children for hand-outs. That's what Social Security is supposed to help prevent.

Ask yourself, based on your current income, how much would you have to save for it to add up to a couple of million at age 65? Remember that while your savings increase in value some years, they lose value in others. Most people overestimate how much money they will earn on their savings or investments.