This is a website devoted to teaching the basics of personal money management.
Take a look around. Let us know what you like. If you have any question drop us a note.
Hopefully you can learn a thing or two that can not only change your life but that of
your family for generations to come.
Welcome to HelpingMiddleAmerica.com
How Much Will I Need to Retire?
This is the question almost everyone wants answered when they start thinking about retiring. We all know we should plan for our retirement but for most of us, that event could be many years down the road. What we don't realize is when we do decide to retire, we might need to provide an income for many years and we need to start planning for this right now if we are going to reach our retirement dreams.
Just a little food for thought
- Average cost of a meal - $10.00
- 3 meals per day times 365 days per year = 1095 meals in one year
- Average length of Retirement - 20 years
- Total number of meals - 21,900
- Assuming your spouse wants to eat
Number of meals times 2 - 43,800 meals for the both of you during retirement - Meals times Cost for the two of you to eat - $438,000
- And that's just the cost of eating.
That doesn't include gas, electricity, medicine, etc...
Are you saving enough to retire?
The use of credit cards by students is at an all-time high.
A survey of college students by Nellie Mae published in April 2004 found
- 76% of undergraduates in 2004 began the school year with credit cards. This is an 8% decrease from the 83% with cards reported in 2001.
- The average outstanding balance on undergraduate credit cards was $2,169, a reduction of 7% from 2001 when the average balance was $2,327, and the lowest average balance reported since 1998.
- As students progress through school, credit card usage swells. 91% of final year students have a credit card compared to 42% of freshmen.
- 56% of final year students carry four or more cards while only 15% of freshmen carry that many. Final year students carry an average balance of $2,864 while freshmen carry an average balance of $1,585.
- Students double their average credit card debt - and triple the number of credit cards in their wallet- from the time they arrive on campus until graduation.
- The average student has 4.25 credit cards.
