Many who worked for the local or state government over the past few decades were certain they could retire in their 50s with a large pension and gold-plated health benefits. This is what they were promised. But it turns out, most of these promises were nothing but Ponzi schemes where the payments coming in would eventually not be enough to cover the payments going out.

Historically speaking, a flattening yield curve that turns into an inverted yield curve has been a pretty good predictor of recessions. Under normal circumstances, with an economy humming along the way ours has, long-term rates will be significantly higher than short-term ones, creating an upward sloping curve. The main idea here is that bond investors demand higher yields in the longer term to account for the risk of inflation, which would eat away at their returns the same way it eats away at your purchasing power.

Many Americans are playing roulette with their retirement as they don’t have enough saved for emergencies.

Let's fantasize a bit. Let's talk about lottery-winnings-type money. If you had $10 million to retire on, how long would it last? Why bother going through this exercise? Well, it's kind of fun, for one thing. And who knows, it might even actually apply to some people reading this.

Many of us know by now that the Social Security fund will not be able to pay out full benefits within 15 years. But there is news today that for the first time since 1982, the cost of the Social Security program will be greater than its inflows. This means that Social Security will need to use part of its $3 trillion fund in order to pay out benefits.