I saw an eye-opening statistic this week from a retirement confidence survey done by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, a survey they do each year, in which they learned that 60% of U.S. workers had less than $25,000 in savings and investments. That means the total value of their household’s savings and investment, excluding the value of their home and defined benefit plans like pensions, was less than $25,000. Retirement confidence was low, with only 14% being “very confident” and 38% as “somewhat confident.” The survey consisted of 20 minute interviews with 1262 people age 25 and older. 1,003 were active workers while 259 were retirees.

$25,000 is not a lot of money when you count savings and investments for people over the age of 25 and it’s a unfortunate to see that only 40% of respondents had that much. I won’t try to guess why the number is so low, I’m sure there is a variety of factors (the last few years has not been good on investments and job prospects, so it’s not incredibly surprisingly the percentage is so low), but I’m curious what the breakdown is among Bargaineering readers.

I’m 32 and I, thankfully, have more than $25,000 in savings and investments.

Do you have more than $25,000 in savings & investments and how old are you?

The weather this week was amazing here in Maryland, with temperatures reaching into the 60′s, but unfortunately those numbers are set to drop to around 30 degrees over the weekend. But that little taste of warm weather has sparked my interest in wandering the various hikes in the area and how it’s one of my favorite frugal weekend experiences. A short little hike through the wilderness, dodging other hikers and mountain bikers, followed by some nice rest and relaxation sitting around doing nothing.

What’s your favorite frugal weekend idea? (doesn’t have to be frugal, but it does have to be fun)

(Photo: meaganjean)

Right about now, you should have every document you need to file your taxes (or you will very shortly), but some of you will wait until the tax due date before filing your taxes. Some of you have already filed (good for you) because you knew you had all the forms you needed. It makes sense for anyone who is expected a refund to file as soon as possible but many people still wait… mostly because filing taxes is not exactly fun stuff.

So, today’s Your Take is simple – are you generally proactive about filing your taxes, getting it in way before the deadline, or are you a procrastinator, waiting until the very last day to get it in? And why?

Experian distributed an interesting infographic about debt that was a little light on statistics (there’s more at their new site) but interesting nonetheless. It compared the debt load on each of four generations, starting with the Greatest Generation and ending with Generation Y.

One interesting takeaway from the infographic is that debt is highest in the Baby Boomer (Age 47-65) and Generation X (30-46) generations, with $101,951 and $111,121 respectively. Greatest Generation (66+) and Generation Y (19-29) have much lower levels of debt, $38,043 and $34,765 respectively. Remember that this is a measure of total debt, to include all loans and lines of credit. The average debt is $78,030.

If I were to guess, I think it has to do with how the generations have felt about the future. Baby Boomers and Generation X lived in periods of relative prosperity, knowing that tomorrow will be as good or better than today (and today was pretty good). The Greatest Generation lived through several world wars and the Great Depression while Generation Y has suffered through the dot com bust and the Great Recession. When you aren’t as secure and sure about the future, you save more than you spend because you don’t know what will happen. (this is all, of course, a guess)

Does this match what you’d expect?

So, I have a few friends who like to gamble (did my Super Bowl betting post about my friend who won $1500 on the Giants’ safety give that away) but, surprisingly, that hasn’t translated into many games of credit card roulette. There are a few varieties of the game but the basic gist is that you go out, get some food, and when the bill comes, everyone throws in a credit card. The server takes out cards, one by one with a lot of drama, and the last one in there pays the bill. The last time I played was a few weeks ago at a local bar, it was only four people, it was really really exciting, and it was really really awesome when my friend Drew lost.

Hey Drew – thanks for the oysters, beer, and dinner!

What do you think about credit card roulette? Stupid and silly? Or should I have to claim that win on my taxes?

(Photo: stoneflower)

Tell a few personal finance bloggers that you keep cash in your house and you will invariably be asked why. Why keep cash in your account when you can put it into a high yield savings account and earn a percent of interest? What if there is a fire? What if you get robbed? Why not put it in the warm embrace of FDIC insurance at th ebank?

I don’t keep much, usually only one or two hundred dollars, and the reason I do so is so I can get cash easily if I need it, whatever the reason. I don’t keep a lot, I don’t see the point given credit cards, but I do want to keep a little for those times when cash is king and credit can’t be accessed. I’m talking about those rare cases, like a black out or a big snowstorm (like the major snowstorm a few years ago in the Baltimore Washington metropolitan area), where you need some cash but just can’t get to a bank.

To be perfectly honest, the number one reason I do this is because I’m lazy. I don’t really think that there will be a calamity where I won’t be able to get to an ATM or use a credit card, but sometimes I’m going out somewhere and I need cash but don’t want to make a trip to the ATM. It’s nice to have a few bills at home so that I can tap that reserve instead of make that trip. That’s why I keep some money stored away at home, instead of earning a few pennies at the bank.

One final bit of warning, cash is usually not completely insured by your homeowners or renter’s insurance. So if you are robbed and they take cash, or there is a fire and the money burns, you may be limited in how much cash is covered – that amount will be listed in your policy. I don’t recommend keeping thousands of dollars at home, but a few hundred will probably be covered by your policy.

Do you keep cash at home? If so, why?

(Photo: amagill)

The WSJ Wealth Report blog talked about a Pew Research Center study that attempted to find the origins of the conflict between rich and poor, which has been playing out in the headlines lately. While the main story talked about the impression of significant conflict between the rich and poor, the part that interested me was the same one that caught Robert Frank’s eye – did the rich get rich from hard work or their social network? That poll showed that 46% of respondents thought they were born with money or knew the right people, while 43% thought hard work, ambition or education was the root reason.

There obviously isn’t a definite answer, there will probably never be, but the question is an intriguing one. My belief is that both are necessary and the more you have of either, the higher your probability for finding success. Whether that success comes in the form of money or in the form of achievements, it’s hard to argue that you can be successful without hard work, ambition, education, or knowing the right people. Whether you’re rich depends on where you point yourself. You can be a successful philanthropist and not have a high net worth, you’d still be seen as very successful, you just chose a different path.

What do you think?

A recent Gallup poll asked, among other things, respondents how much income they would need to earn a year in order to feel rich. 70% of the respondents that gave a number (10% didn’t give a number) said they would need to earn $100,000 or more with the median number being $150,000. 4% said over a million dollars and 11% said a million dollars. Compare this to 2004, the last time Gallup did a similar poll, and back then $120,000 was the median number, which happens to be $147,665.87 if you adjust for inflation (BLS CPI calculator). The median annual household income, according to the US Census, is around $50,000.

What’s interesting about this poll and the answers is that the median result didn’t change much despite everything that has happened since 2003. In 2003, we were still working out aftermath of the dot com bubble and 9/11 but the stock market was improving after hitting its lows in late 2002. Hopefully we’re going through the same today having seen the lows already.

Here comes the obvious question… how much income do you think you’d need to earn to feel rich?

(Photo: nowhere77)