By Clyde Noel

Town Crier Corespondent

The number of Americans who will be able to retire financially independent will shrink dramatically over the next 25 years, according to financial experts.

Marshall Serwitz, co-owner of the Los Altos advisory firm Sullivan & Serwitz, predicted last week that less than 2 percent of seniors will be able to retire with adequate financial resources.

“The golden years, for most, is tinged with disappointment” Serwitz said.

It is mathematically more difficult today to achieve financial independence than at any time in the past. Most people grossly underestimate the impact of taxes and inflation on their standard of living during retirement, he said.

Serwitz said seniors who retire at age 60, debt free and require only $10,000 a month to maintain their standard of living, will require $20,000 a month to sustain the same standard of living by the time they reach age 78, due to inflation. By age 96, they will require $40,000 a month.

He said more and more Americans are following the philosophy of “spend now, save later,” which is a poor recipe for retirement.

In a recent Association of American Retired Persons survey, 53 percent of the people surveyed said they don’t think there will be any Social Security benefits by the time they reach 65.

According to a recent survey for Scudder Kemper, most people don’t have cushy pensions plans and fat health-care packages, and about one-third of the women surveyed said they had less than $25,000 in their 401(k) plans. Of the 1,000 baby boomers questioned in the survey, the group had saved a median of $65,000 in their 401(k) plans.

Serwitz maintains that men and women are torn between knowing what they need for retirement and not knowing what move to make next.

Serwitz’s answer: throw a little money at something. But a little money won’t be enough to achieve financial independence.