The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) has published its annual Retirement Confidence Survey which confirms what virtually all such surveys have concluded: 1) that Americans are living longer; and 2) that they do not have anywhere near enough saved for retirement. The sad truth is, Americans do almost no thinking about what kind of retirement they want. They mistakenly assume that Social Security is a retirement program, when in fact it is a supplemental retirement program. The three "stools" of retirement-Social Security, a pension, and private savings-have all seen some shrinkage in the past few years. For Social Security, all baby boomers know the truth: We are going to be working longer, into our 70s, paying more and getting less. Pensions are going away: International Business Machines (IBM) stopped providing pensions to new employees a couple years ago, and many are facing reductions in their benefits. (Read More: Cities That Are Most Prepared for Retirement ) And private savings? Let me quote from the EBRI survey: 57 report having less than $25,000 in household savings and investments (excluding their home and pension benefits). This is for all workers, so older workers would have more money, but other surveys show the … Continue reading →

The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) has published its annual Retirement Confidence Survey which confirms what virtually all such surveys have concluded: 1) that Americans are living longer; and 2) that they do not have anywhere near enough saved for retirement. The sad truth is, Americans do almost no thinking about what kind of retirement they want. They mistakenly assume that Social Security is a retirement program, when in fact it is a supplemental retirement program. The three "stools" of retirement-Social Security, a pension, and private savings-have all seen some shrinkage in the past few years. For Social Security, all baby boomers know the truth: We are going to be working longer, into our 70s, paying more and getting less. Pensions are going away: International Business Machines (IBM) stopped providing pensions to new employees a couple years ago, and many are facing reductions in their benefits. (Read More: The US Cities That Are Most Prepared for Retirement ) And private savings? Let me quote from the EBRI survey: 57 report having less than $25,000 in household savings and investments (excluding their home and pension benefits). This is for all workers, so older workers would have more money, but other surveys … Continue reading →

Wanda Ferrin fills her husband's prescription for the generic antibiotic doxycycline at a Target in Simi Valley. For years, the medication has cost her $6 a month. In February, however, the price tripled to $18 for 30 pills. And this month, it skyrocketed to $133. This is noteworthy enough. But what happened next makes the entire business of drug pricing a study in lunacy. "A pharmacy clerk at Target suggested running the prescription through the company's discount program," Ferrin, 61, recalled. "After a minute at the computer, the clerk I'd been dealing with came back and said my price was now $8." That's right: A $6 drug turns into an $18 drug and then a $133 drug. But with a little retail hocus-pocus, it can be changed to an $8 drug. Talk about a trip through the looking glass. I heard a number of stories similar to Ferrin's after writing recently about a CVS customer who saw her bill for generic doxycycline jump from $4.30 to $165. One reader told me about a doubling of the price of the generic gout medicine colchicine. Another cited prices for the generic version of the blood-clot blocker Plavix that ran from $21 to … Continue reading →