Monday, January 31, 2011

Dead Or Broke By Age 65?

As an IBO, one thing I constantly heard was that 98% of people will be dead or broke by the age of 65. I recently googled this subject and while it appears that tragically, in the US, almost 10-11% of senior citizens live in poverty. I do find that a sad statistic, but it is a far cry from uplines who convince their downline IBOs that everyone will be dead or broke at retirement age. Here are some excerpts from my research:

http://seniorjournal.com/NEWS/SeniorStats/2008/20080826-USSeniorCitizensInPoverty.htm

" ● For people 65 and older and those 18 to 64, the poverty rate remained statistically unchanged at 9.7 percent and 10.9 percent, respectively. For children younger than 18, the poverty rate increased from 17.4 percent in 2006 to 18.0 percent in 2007."

One reason also given was that people are living longer, thus their resources dry up and they end up having to live on social security or some kind of government assistance. While it's true that there are quite a number of people in this situation, the question is how can becoming an Amwa IBO change this?

Since most IBOs never earn a net profit, I fail to see how you could avoid becoming a statistic by joining Amway. The average IBO, including crown ambassadors, and excluding IBOs who "do nothing" earn an average of $115 a month gross income. Dedicated IBOs who attend functions and purchase other training materials are nearly guaranteed to end up with a net loss.

I know many retired people and most have their homes paid off, and they live rather comfortably. My mother is 68 years old, with no mortgage and she received social security income along with a pension. She also has investments that she draws on when she needs to. She travels several times a year with friends who are also retired and living approximately the same lifestyle. While there are some struggling seniors, many are comfortable in their golden years.

So why do uplines use this tactic? I believe they want to scare people into thinking their best hope is to join Amway and earn residual income. Sadly, most people end up with less time and money as a result. By writing this post, I am hoping that people will plan for their golden years. Save and invest, and perhaps work for a company that has a retirement plan or pension to supplement your retirement years. Now I cannot tell you what the "best" way to prepare for your retirement years, but it is my hope that this post will provoke some thought.

Good luck!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

When will you turn 65 Joe? I hope you're dead or broke.

Anonymous said...

Hey Joecool! How ya doin? It's me - mlmscam from the old quixtarblog forum. I actually haven't posted there in about 5 years or so. I just had some friends over this weekend and the conversation had briefly turned to the Quixscam business, which got me to check out the qblog forum after many years. I noticed that nobody seems to post much on there anymore. The reason is simple - there really isn't much to discuss there anymore as the Qbiz, as well as mlm in general, is now dead in the water. Word got around too fast about their shameful ways once the industry tried to fully grasp the internet and the concept of online marketing. What a shame, NOT! LOL

Take care, buddy.

Joecool said...

Thanks for visiting. Hope to see you around if Amway flares up again! I think we are seeing a slow death in the US.

Anonymous said...

amway desparately needs people to be dead or broke by age 65. It's all they've got.

Well, that and CASSETTE TAPES.

Anonymous said...

cassette tapes are already dead. looks anon #1 is next. DANG.

Anonymous said...

Im 37 and social security will NOT be around and my pension is a 401k which is im loosing money on being the stock market took a huge drop. So what alternatives are there for someone wanting to retire and being able to keep up with inflation

Joecool said...

Anonymous @December 19,

I don't give financial advice but joining Amway where you are nearly assured of a loss isn't going to help your retirement plans.