My favorite bear, Paul Farrell, sites 8 major studies, all of them pointing to about 2/3 of Americans being totally unprepared to shoulder the costs of retirement. He goes on to say, "...let's stop the charade and admit the truth. Why does America have a zero savings rate? Because America has no savings policy. Period. For more than a decade, Washington, Wall Street and Corporate America have favored a national spending policy at the expense of a national savings policy." (I love this guy.)

Here are the major studies and Paul's rundown on them:

Fidelity Retirement Index - In a recent update Fidelity says the average boomer is on pace to replace only 57% of the income needed in retirement. That means a couple making $50,000 must survive on less that $30,000.

Employee Benefit Research Institute - Over half of American workers ages 45 to 54 have less than $50,000 saved. In an earlier study, only 35% were saving enough to retire comfortably. The rest ranged from saving nothing, to not trusting the market, to outright admitting they're grossly unprepared.

Putnam Funds - The company's "Portrait of Recently Retired: Bad News" says retirees were a "money-worried, cash-strapped group, dependent on Social Security." Scary stuff: I recall the conclusion of an earlier study that half of all retirees over 65 would be living in poverty but for their Social Security check.

Guardian Life - "Retirement Paralysis." Things are so bad that 80% are like deer in the headlights: "Baby boomers are in a state of financial paralysis. They don't know how much to save and don't understand some basic principles such as compound interest and adequate returns, so they are doing nothing!" Imagine 60 million paralyzed boomers!

Nationwide Financial - "Unrealistic Dreamers." They say 80% of Americans "are not losing sleep over their finances and 59% believe they have a plan and are saving enough for retirement." Unfortunately, "there appears to be a contradiction in what people say and what they actually do" if you look at the dismal savings rate. Worse yet, 401(k) participation is declining: Less than half our workers are covered, of those eligible, 25% don't participate, fewer that 10% contribute the maximum and many cash out when they change jobs.

Prudential Financial - "Clueless About Retirement." In their Workplace Report on Retirement Planning, "83% of the near-retirees (which included the oldest cohort of baby boomers) believe the it is 'very important' to generate an income that provides a comfortable retirement lifestyle. But barely 20% say they are well informed on how to do so." Translation: Boomers are clueless.

Allstate Insurance - "Retirement Reality Check." Survey asked Americans to identify with popular television shows a couple years ago. Only 14% said they were like Joe Millionaire, "financially secure with no worries about retirement." A mere 13% identified with The Apprentice, and 6% with Extreme Makeover. A whopping 57% identified with "Survivor They have more hope than cash.

Merrill Lynch - "Just a Third Are Comfortable." This study is on par with the others. Only one-third of those surveyed were confident they were on track to a "comfortable" retirement. Not so for the other two-thirds.

Dalbar Research - "Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior." These guys have surveyed actual performance of mutual fund investors for two decades: The average investor makes less than inflation, thanks to fees, expenses, trading costs and taxes, but doesn't know it or refuses to face the truth about how bad it is. Investors tend to focus on the deceptively optimistic "fund performance" statistics in the news.

A quick check shows 7 of those listed would benefit substantially from 2/3 of America suddenly waking up to financial planning. Still, the numbers hold water when you consider how many sources are telling the same story and in how many ways.

Makes me almost want to jump on the spending wagon since all my hard-fought savings will likely go to taxes when this all blows up.mortgage calculator