Reply #8: Try saving for retirement on the salary of a sales clerk at Walmart.

[JDPriestly]

Some years ago, I did research on the ERISA, which is the law governing employee benefits. I was horrified to read how little money the average person has saved for retirement. It is appalling. The reality is that Social Security is all that most people have. ERISA has let many people down. It provides loopholes that employers use to get out of their promises of pension benefits.

In addition, many people have lost their jobs and their retirement funds to outsourcing. Those in their thirties may still have some time to learn new skills and get new jobs. But if you are in your 50s and your job is outsourced, it is unlikely that you will find another job that pays decently. You end up taking "early retirement" forced of course, and the money you thought you were saving for timely retirement is soon gone. Then you sell your house, live off that and finally you are old enough to qualify for diminished Social Security benefits. This is happening more and more to people who have worked hard all their lives. I'm not even going to talk about the many people who are in fact disabled but not enough to qualify for disability. The baby boomers are going to feel this squeeze very soon. There will be a lot of misery.