[quote=Americano;1100703] "I wonder what America's youth is doing just standing by as their economy and currency declines in their most productive years. I read further and there it is, they're all depending on 401k and other controlled equity investments in markets that have a 5% historical ROI for the little man. Pretty sad".

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I enjoyed reading and agree with your analysis of the road we travel and where it can end up.

The die is cast in my case and what remains is concern for the bulk of our population "still living" and lacking the fundamental awareness of future needs or resources to arrive at a satisfactory reirement.

One way is of course is to amass enough money and place it in the safest possible spot to draw interest that regardless of inflation and passage of time will be adequate for ones perceived needs. Not fool proof and extremely difficult but but affording comfort and less strain. (Still dependent on a financially stable government to cover catastrophic loss such as major health problem costs and bank failures)

Another requires an accumulation of risk capital for investment in the market used in such a fashion as to arrive in the same position as the first illustration without the protection afforded in respect to C,D s in banks on the way there.

From reviews of IRS reports on income brackets each year it is hard to forecast the possibity of more than just a few of the young who will be successful in reaching either of the goals illustrated above considering the moves to exclude many "company" benefits from the menu including shedding retirement plans through mergers and bankruptcies and the exporting of American jobs and importing of cheap labor.

Not insurmountable but it will require some extreme sacrifice IMO to get there.