As we do periodically, we will now remind you that you will probably never save enough money to retire successfully. What makes us so sure of ourselves? Well, try this simple quiz: are you an American?

If you answered "yes," then congratulations: you live in the greatest country in the world! Home of the Kansas City Royals. Also, you will probably never save enough money to retire successfully. Because, if you are an American, the odds are, I'm afraid, stacked against you quite heavily. See, experts say that if you want to retire at a halfway decent age and live a halfway decent life, you probably should have, socked away in your retirement account—this is absolutely true, no joke—well over half a million dollars. And that is being modest! Do you have well over half a million dollars, in your retirement account? Don't answer that yet. Let's try to guess. First, let's look at some true facts, via this Bloomberg story about a nice 77 year-old man who will be flipping burgers for the rest of his life despite the fact that he was once a corporate executive with a six figure salary:

- "Only about half of private-sector workers were covered by an employee-sponsored retirement plan of any kind in 2011. And fewer than 40 percent of those participated." Too bad, since that is essentially the only kind of retirement plan left!

- "59 percent of households headed by people 65 and older currently have no retirement account assets, according to Federal Reserve data."

Says here that experts recommend that you deduct no more than 4% of your retirement savings per year, in order to remain solvent into your later years. So the majority of Americans will be able to deduct $0 annually, which is 4% of $0.

Only socialism will save you from a poverty-stricken death in your old age.

[Photo: Flickr]