Shepherd preyed on his flock

“So the disappointing bottom line is, in any given quarter, one-fifth of those earnings reports that investors and analysts doing their due diligence are poring over might just as well be copies of Great Expectations for all the useful financial information they will provide,” wrote Dan Radovsky. “Then again, for the optimists out there, that leaves 80 percent or earnings reports that could be helpful.”

If those reports don’t give you reason to be concerned about whether we regular investors are being played, then read a recent New York Times opinion column by Teresa Ghilarducci, a professor at The New School of Social Research.

The professor argues that the do-it-yourself pension system is flawed.

“Basing a system on people’s voluntarily saving for 40 years and evaluating the relevant information for sound investment choices is like asking the family pet to dance on two legs,” she writes.

Ghilarducci point out that in 2010 75 percent of Americans nearing retirement age had saved less than $30,000. She also reports that almost half of middle-class workers will be poor or near poverty in retirement subsisting on a food budget of about $5 a day.

“I hope that fear can make us all get real,” she writes. “The coming retirement income security crisis is a shared problem; it is not caused by a set of isolated individual behaviors.”

Ghilarducci has a plan. Read it and then tell me what you think?

Send your comments to colorofmoney@washpost.com. Put “Retirement Reservations” in the subject line. Please include your name, city and state.

Saving on School Supplies

GreatSchools.org offer some good tips on how to save on school supplies.

Here are a few.

• Take inventory and make a list. Before you begin shopping, make sure you go through what’s left from the last school year.

• Buy in bulk. For some items it makes sense to buy large quantities at a discount such as pencils, pens and paper.

• Recycle last year’s supplies. Instead of purchasing new things, spruce up the old ones. Add some pizzazz to last year’s plain notebook with stickers or photos. Or set up a scrap paper bin so that paper with writing on just one side can be reused.

Responses to “Back-to-School Spending”

For last week’s Color of Money question, I asked: “What’s your best way of saving for back-to-school shopping?”

Readers had some good tips.

“I buy my kids clothes when they need them, not when stores say I need to buy them, although I do tend to get them a new outfit for the first day of school,” wrote Eileen Adams of Fairport, N.Y. “Second, I use a rewards credit card and turn my rewards into gift cards to office supply stores and clothing stores. Of course, I pay off my credit card every month and never pay finance charges.”

“Garage sales are full of children’s clothing and backpacks, and they are sometimes new,” said Brad of Lakeville, Minn.

Katrina Morris of Fairfax, Va. said that saving on supplies takes some planning. She wrote: “I get my school supply list at the end of the previous school year, then subscribed to the local supply stores’ weekly ads. I purchased school supplies weekly according to what’s on sale each week.

By the end of the summer your shopping is done. I’ve made this part of my routine in the summer and I’ve been able to save tremendously on supplies for my kids each year.”

Tia Lewis contributed to this report.

You are welcome to e-mail comments and questions to colorofmoney@washpost.com. Please include your name and hometown; your comments may be used in a future column or newsletter unless otherwise requested.