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Thirty percent of workers have more credit card debt than retirement funds

Filed under: Cards, Retire

eat now pay laterThe John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development has recently released a report titled, "The Anxious American Worker" which addresses the state of American employees. This report not only looks into the satisfaction that workers have with their jobs and with health care, but also who the workers blame and who they believe should fix the current problems facing employees.
The director of the Heldrich Center describes the findings of the report as a decade of un-addressed concerns, and a call for help from American workers.

Perhaps the most shocking portion of the report dealt with debt and retirement. The report found that almost a third of American workers had more credit card debt than funds in their retirement accounts!
Even more surprising was that this was not limited to only lower income workers; one in five high income employees carries more debt on their MasterCard than invested in their retirement. Statistics like this are one of the biggest arguments against any kind of debit card linked to worker's retirement accounts.

I find it very troublesome that so many individuals have more debt in credit cards than they do in retirement accounts, especially due to the reality that Social Security won't be enough to support many of these people in retirement. If 25% of workers are dissatisfied with health care now, imagine how high that number will be when broke retirees begin to strain the system in the years to come. I can only hope that the presidential candidates are paying attention to these figures as they plan how they will run the country next year.
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