Retirement: How Much Have You Saved?

The most recently concluded informal myMotherLode poll asked “How much have you saved in your retirement account?” 32 percent said under $25,000 and 29 percent said over $100,000. Given that saving for retirement takes time it is interesting to look at the demographics of Tuolumne. There is no correlation to the poll results because our poll question can be answered by anyone in the world, but Google Analytics estimates that 98 percent of visits to myMotherLode are from California.  According to Tuolumne County’s  2013 Community Data report over 37.5 percent of residents are age 55 and older, compared to 22 percent statewide. There has also been a of adults in Tuolumne County age 20-54 decreased by 7.4% in the last ten years, as did the percentage of children, by 13%

The other recent poll question was “Should the US expand offshore oil drilling?” 68 percent Yes and 32 percent said No. Last month Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell, said “There are currently over 100,000 wells on federally managed lands across the country, with close to 3,000 new wells drilled each year. Of wells currently being drilled, over 90 percent use hydraulic fracturing.” On April 11th Secretary Jewell announced that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will open a public dialogue on potential changes to federal onshore oil and gas regulations.

Another Question asked this week was “Should the government decrease military spending?” The results were No by 72 percent. As reported last week 59 percent of the votes in an informal myMotherLode poll were against subsidizing US farmers, 41 percent of votes were for them. The Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry budget which manages farm subsidies, is 3 percent of the $3.8 trillion federal budget, or $152 billion, and military spending is 15% or $585 billion.

The Department of Defense budget provides $561 billion in base discretionary funding for national defense—$38 billion above sequestration levels—and $58 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations. The Obama Administration says the budget will “provide the resources needed to sustain the President’s national security strategy, protecting the country’s security and well-being both at home and abroad.”