"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."…Winston Churchill

How about we try to teach actual fiscal responsibility as our children are growing up? I agree with a previous poster – in fact I would go a step further to state that there should be required learning for these topics on our educational curriculum:
Personal Credit 101 – How to Save Tens of Thousands of Dollars in your Lifetime by Simply Paying Your Bills on Time
Personal Finance 101 – How to Budget – That's Right – Spending Less Money Than You Make
Personal Finance 201 – Saving for a Rainy Day – How to Build a Fund For Those Tough Times
Personal Finance 301 – The Power of Compounding Interest

Now, I will personally make sure that all of my children understand all of these things – because they are all cornerstones of a successful financial adult life.

For those that never received the financial advice and talks I did growing up, it needs to be part of our formal education process so the same information is available to all. If people get the required information and still choose not to save, or budget, or take care of their credit – I have no sympathy for them.

And it is NOT the governments place to step in and do anything more than ensure there is equal opportunity (key word there – equal opportunity, not equal results).

TC

On a separate note, the truth is the average American is an idiot. The will not save for retirement and they will blame someone else for their problems. Bottom Line..I say no more loan mod's, no bailout, nothing. Let the people who made the mistakes pay the price. I will continue to buy their real estate and stocks and bargain basement prices and I will have a very comfortable retirement.

It's not forced, good, so how's that different than right now? Do you people THINK about what the government is doing?

They force us to pay Social Security then they tell us not to count on it, so they want to "encourage" us to save, well stop stealing my SS!!

The democrats said it was too risky for us to keep our SS and invest it, and now what do they want…us to invest our money.

On another note, what about instead of making 401k / IRA 100% tax deductible, what if the tax savings is added directly to the account. Almost a "government match" if you will. It wouldn't cost tax payers more, because this tax break already exists, but this would force the tax break to be used for retirement purposes.

I can tell my kids: "When I was your age, I was continouslsy employed for 30 years. AND on top of that I was earning credit for a pension (that in the end might have to be paid out by the Federal Pension Guarantee Fund, at the same rate regardless of how the stock market is doing).

If the average person is so short sighted that they won't save for retirement, then they have decided their financial fate.

I do my part by educating my young family members who are entering the workforce. I show them articles, and graphs and let them know they don't have to be poor like their parents are.

I can lead them to the path of wealth building, but I can't make them save.
I can show them how to become a millionaire by saving regularly beginning at an early age.

Financial literacy should be a required Math Credit in Middle and High School. If you don't pass the class, you take it again until you pass (just like Math and English).

When I was in high school, we were shown an example of a personal check and we practiced filling it out one time. That was the extent of our formal financial training to prepare us for life. Gee, thanks.

We must do better at teaching young people the importance of saving.

Understand that, and you will take care of your own retirement.

The character of today's average American virtually nonexistent.

Let's pretend this is a good idea. Every time there is a good idea many Americans think "yeah, the government should do that."

The government should not be telling us to wear seatbelts, save our money, buy new cars, tie our shoes.

WHETHER OR NOT IT IS A GOOD IDEA!!!

The only reservations I have are (1) if you have any kind of investment where *you* are responsible for picking the funds, a lot of research should go into your decisions before you enroll. I feel that there are a lot of "passive" investors out there who may not really know where their money is. and (2) I am not sure that this will really help the 40% of people without a formal work retirement plan. I'm guessing most of these are probably small business employees or workers who are not eligible for full benefits. Would the government pay for the infastructure? (i.e. the website, managing the logon/logoff, the security, etc.) Large companies pay a partner to manage retirement information, with portal access from the company HR page.

I suspect that the next guy (or gal) won't even try. He or she will just tangle it up even more.

It is interesting, and kind of horrible, to watch how these messes eventually fail. It's kind of like watching a drunk or junkie increasing the dose. The abuser just keeps going, trying more and different drugs, until he or she can't do it any more and hits rock bottom.

We're not quite there yet, but its coming closer.