WORDS.

"...By definition, a retirement crisis begins with a savings crisis. Consider: According to research summarized recently by the New America Foundation, “nearly half of Americans (43.6%) do not have enough savings to cover basic expenses if they were to lose their source of stable income. These 132.1 million ‘liquid asset poor’ Americans include many members of the middle class and upper middle class: more than a quarter of households earning between $55,465 and $90,000 per year — the entire range of which is above the median household income of $50,054 — have less than three months of liquid savings. Over 30% of all households do not have a savings account at all.”

Let’s emblazon these facts on our collective psyche. Millions of families who earn more than the median income have less than three months of savings put aside. Millions of people with less money are living paycheck to paycheck. Families who at least owned their own houses have had their net worth eviscerated by the housing meltdown, which blew out the backstop on which countless Americans depend..."

THE WASHINGTON POST: Dow 15,000 and the retirement crisis ahead