Brian Edwards

I started doing production work in 1991.  So, it’s coming up on 20 years.  And I’ve been freelance, doing it as self-employed, for the last five years. 

Well, I have a 401(k) from a previous job that I had.  I have a 401(k), but, now that I’m self-employed, nothing else is getting put into it.  It’s basically sitting there.  I haven’t checked it since the stock market crashed, so I have a feeling there’s not much in it right now.  So I’ve just been kind of letting it go and haven’t touched it.  But, other than that, I have no savings whatsoever.

Sure I worry about retirement.  I have a lot of things I would like to do, besides just working myself until the day I die, but that’s probably what’s going to happen.  As the way things are going right now, I don’t see myself really being able to save enough to, one, get myself out of debt right now.  I have a lot of debt that I took on as I started my business.  So I’m trying to get that paid off.  Every year when tax time comes around, I have to go further into debt to pay the taxes, so it’s a never-ending cycle to try and get out of. 

Yeah, I want to retire, I want to stop working, I want to sit down and fish, and spend time with family and friends, but without an actual way to do it, it’s not going to happen.  Washington needs to pay attention, not just to the big corporations, not just to the people who have money that don’t have to worry about retirement.  They need to listen to the people that are struggling, that make up the bulk of the country.