????現在/馬上/以后。這也是著名作曲家斯蒂芬?桑德海姆為音樂劇《小夜曲》（A Little Night Music）第一幕創作的三重奏的名稱（先分奏，再合奏），《小夜曲》中最廣為人知的著名歌曲是《小丑進場》（Send In The Clowns）。當我坐下來寫這篇專欄的時候，我想到了這些歌曲。為什么？談到錢，我們通常都會有很多事情計劃馬上要做，太多事情我們告訴自己以后要做，但我們現在采取的行動卻不夠多。

????以下是本周我閱讀兩份最新研究報告的收獲。

????第一份報告是《富國銀行中產階級退休調查報告》（Wells Fargo Middle-Class Retirement Study），這是該行第五份年度報告。報告發現在50歲至59歲的美國中產人士當中，40%的人當下還沒有進行退休儲蓄。半數以上的受訪者表示，他們計劃日后進行退休儲蓄，以彌補當下儲蓄不足。富國銀行機構退休和信托總監喬?瑞迪表示，這一策略的問題（或不足之處）是推后的時間越久，就越難實現。他說：“生活日后會變得更加艱難，當你一拖再拖時，你將進入緊縮時期、面對年邁的父母和子女進入大學等問題。”

????這就涉及到了第二項調查。這項調查由美國金融理財師標準委員會（Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards）進行，調查當今父母為子女上大學進行儲蓄的狀況，結果發現三分之二的父母還沒有開始為子女未來的教育支出進行儲蓄。為什么不呢？當前的生活費用是個障礙，其中一個令人吃驚的事實是，很多父母仍在償還他們自己的學生貸款。

????此項調查讓人憂慮的一點并不是這些父母將自己的應急儲備和退休基金放在比子女大學儲蓄更優先的位置上（雖然來自得克薩斯州凱勒的財務顧問簡?基納表示，你的確應該這么做），讓人憂慮的是這些做法背后種種奇特的想法。

????當被問到他們將如何為子女教育籌資時，45%的人表示，他們預計將獲得助學金和獎學金；13%的人表示，他們預計子女將獲得運動員獎學金；16%的人表示，他們預計孩子的祖父母和外祖父母將給予資助。

????“就我看來，這些都不是特別現實，”金融理財師標準委員會的消費者維權人士埃莉諾?布萊尼表示。她說得對。據美國大學生資助研究（The National Postsecondary Student Aid Study）顯示，每年僅8%的大學生獲得獎學金（平均獎金3400美元），不到1%的學生獲得運動員獎學金（平均10200美元）。從祖父母和外祖父母處獲得資助的可能性看起來要高一些；據富達投資（Fidelity Investments）的調查顯示，超過半數表示，他們正在或計劃進行儲蓄。計劃資助的金額中值不低，為25,000美元。但近三分之一的父母甚至根本沒有想過子女上大學的事。就算他們可能仍只有二三十歲，不是四五十歲，但筆者作為過來人，目前有一個孩子在上大學，另一個很快也要上大學，我敢保證你很快就會面臨這個問題。

????如果你從這兩份或其中一份調查報告的受訪者身上看到了自己，接下來你該怎么做呢？還是做點什么吧。開始將你收入的2%存起來；將這部分錢自動存到一個指定的地方。正如基納指出的一樣：“有一點要知道。讀到這篇文章的人可能會想‘這對我而言太遲了。’但你不用一下子做出所有的改變。看看你的長期計劃，圍繞長期目標開始一點一滴地做出改變。”（財富中文網）

????譯者：早稻米

????審校：Lina

????Now/Soon/Later. Those are the titles of a trio of gorgeous Stephen Sondheim songs – performed separately, then all at once – from the first act of A Little Night Music (the show known best for giving us Send In The Clowns). I thought of them (and you can listen to them here) as I sat down to write this column. Why? Because when it comes to our money there’s often a great deal that we’re planning to do soon, and all too much that we tell ourselves we’ll do tillater, but not nearly enough that we attack now.

????That’s the takeaway from two new pieces of research I got my hands on this week.

????The first is the fifth annual Wells Fargo Middle-Class Retirement Study. It found that four in 10 middle class Americans between 50 and 59 years old are not currently saving for retirement. Moreover, more than half of the pool of respondents say that they plan to save later for retirement in order to make up for not saving enough now. The trouble with this strategy (or lack thereof) says Joe Ready, Wells Director of Institutional Retirement and Trust, is that the longer you put it off, the more difficult it gets. “Life gets bigger and harder later,” he says. “When you keep delaying, you run into crunch time, aging parents, kids in college, etc.”

????Which brings me to the second survey. This one, from the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, took a look at the viability of saving for college among today’s parents and found that more than two-thirds haven’t started socking away money for their children’s future education expenses. Why not? Current living expenses are getting in the way – including, surprisingly, the fact that many are still paying off student loans of their own.

????What’s troubling about this study is not the fact that these parents have put both their own emergency cushions and retirement funds ahead of saving for college for their kids – that’s exactly as it should be says Jean Keener, a Financial Advisor from Keller, TX – but rather the sort of magical thinking that’s going on behind the scenes.

????When asked how they expected to finance their children’s education, 45% said they expect to get merit aid and scholarships; 13% said they expect their children to win athletic scholarships, and 16% said they expect the grandparents to kick in.

????“It appears to me that they [are] not being entirely realistic,” says Eleanor Blayney, Consumer Advocate for the CFP Board of Standards. She’s right. According to The National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, only about 8% of undergraduate students receive scholarships each year (they average $3,400) and fewer than 1% receive athletic scholarships (which average $10,200). The prospect of help from grandparents looks better; more than half say they’re either saving or planning to start saving, according to research from Fidelity Investments. The median amount from planning to participate is significant: $25,000. Yet, nearly one-third of parents haven’t even thought about college for their kids yet. Granted, they’re more likely to be in their 20s and 30s than their 40s and 50s, but as someone with one child in college and another on the way, I can attest, it creeps up on you very quickly.

????So what to do if you can see yourself in one or both of these pool of survey respondents. Something. Start by trying to save just 2% of what you’re bringing in; put the contributions on auto-pilot to be sure they actually make it into the designated pot. As Keener notes, “Here’s the thing. Someone is reading this and thinking, `It’s too late for me.’ But you don’t have to make these changes all at once. Look at your long-term plan and trim around the edges to start supporting all that you want down the road.”