I’m One of Many Lifelong Missouri People Who Can Never Retire

A couple questions for you. Have you lived in Missouri most of your life? Do you think you'll ever be able to afford to retire? No? You're not alone. I'm in that boat and many others are, too.

I won't cross the sharing boundary and share things with you that I wouldn't ask you to share with me. Suffice it to say that I've been blessed to work in a wonderful career for more than 41 years and still work for a great company. How is it then that I and many I know cannot even imagining being able to retire? I have some theories.

First, let's look at some numbers. Bankrate says Missouri is one of the top 5 states in America for retirement. But, get this. Yahoo Finance has the amount of money you need to have saved by age 60 to retire comfortably in Missouri. Guess what it is? Brace yourself. It's $1,159,276.

Here's why many in Missouri like me will probably never be able to "comfortably" retire. CBS News says 35% of Americans are now living paycheck-to-paycheck. Hard to put away more than a million dollars when inflation is eating every last penny, am I right?

Don't even get me started on the cost of insurance. Have you tried to find an affordable family insurance plan lately? It can cost hundreds every single month and that doesn't include what you have to pay for your premium before the insurance even kicks in. We've had to pay out of pocket for several medical/dental things this year and that's STILL cheaper than our monthly family insurance would have been.

Here's the bottom line. I don't know anyone that has more than a million dollars in the bank to retire on, but then again, I don't get out much. I have many friends and family who have been blessed to be wildly successful and that's awesome. I fear that there are many who are in the same (sinking) boat that I am where the day-to-day struggle will make real retirement a pipe dream.

Are you also feeling that riding off into the sunset moment is unreachable in Missouri? Trust me when I say you're not alone.