The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College released surprising figures from a recent study. They found that Americans will need to rely on their 401(k) assets to fund 25 to 50 percent of their re-tirement income. The average income replacement rate will be 73 percent. To meet that average in-come replacement rate, the average household must save 15 percent of its annual income for retire-ment. Unfortunately, only about half of workers are saving sufficiently to meet their future needs.

Over 45 to 50 percent of first marriages in America end in divorce. The primary reason is money. 60 percent of Americans have taken anti-depressants for two years or longer, 14 for ten years or longer. Eight out of ten Americans report being stressed. The top ten reasons Americans report for being stress are job related, starting with low pay and ending with the fear of job loss.

The common thread among these issues is money.

Someone we know is going through an ugly divorce. The final straw was infidelity. What has come to light through the divorce proceedings is another kind of infidelity; a financial one. One spouse spent much of the couple’s savings and racked up a mountain of credit card debt, as well a spent the children’s college funds, while the other was saving and cutting back, and though they were in good financial shape. Not surprising, the spouse who cheated was also the spouse who was financially dishonest.

A reader of our blog emailed us for advice. Here’s the situation:

“My spouse and I sold our house. Once we close, we’ll use the profit to pay off all our debt. That will leave us with leftover money and extra money each month. My question is how do we proceed from here to prepare for retirement?”

We want to give you an adjustment. The adjustment is with your understanding of home equity. You see, many of us have been led to believe one thing about home equity when the reality is acutely different. This misinformation, if not an outright lie, puts you and your family in a precarious situation that could lead to financial disaster.