Here are two typical stories that panic folks.

— America isn’t saving enough for retirement. Can that be fixed before it’s too late?

Are we scaring people not toward saving, but away from it with terrifying proclamations that if they haven’t amassed, say, $1 million or $2 million or even $3 million by the time they want to retire, they won’t be able to survive?

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If we frighten folks too much, many may just throw up their hands and stop saving and investing, believing that they will never be able to save enough, so why even try?

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That was the general sentiment from some of my Twitter followers after I passed along a story by my colleague Jonnelle Marte: Millennials may need to double how much they save for retirement

Marte wrote an interesting story about investment professionals projecting that lower market returns in the years to come might mean people won’t have enough for retirement. And they think millennials will have an even harder path to saving enough.

“While it’s impossible to predict exactly what the stock market will do, investing pros over the past several months have been reducing their expectations for what they think the stock market will return, not only in the next year, but potentially over the next couple of decades,” Marte wrote. “If those gloomier outlooks hold true, workers saving for retirement today may not get as much from their portfolios in the long term as previous generations did. Advisers say that millennials, who are decades away from retirement, will need to save more — in some cases twice as much as they were saving before — to make up the difference.”

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In response to my posting, Micah Hauptman, a financial services counsel at Consumer Federation of America expressing his personal opinion, wrote “These predictions are so speculative, they’re almost worthless. Let’s not scare people based on such weak evidence.”

He also made a good follow-up point: “Also, early years of savings are much more dependent on contributions and not rate of return.”

“We don’t know what market returns are going to be tomorrow, much less for the next 10, 20, 30, or 40 years,” Hauptman said. “I think people should have reasonable expectations and save as much as they can.”

I agree. So here are some stories that may offer you some retirement saving relief:

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— Do you really need to save $1 million to retire?

“That’s only true, though, if your only retirement income is money from savings and investments,” writes David Slade for the Post and Courier. “About one out of five workers still have pension plans.”

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And don’t forget many people will be receiving Social Security, he also points out.

I was the guest on a radio program recently, and several callers announced that they were ready to retire.

Two callers in particular were very confident that they had saved enough to stop working. One woman was in her mid-50s.

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“How much do you have saved,” I asked.

She had about $100,000.

I took a long breath. I don’t believe that woman, based on other things she said, will be able to stretch that money for what could be decades in retirement.

So on one hand, we do have to be careful about alarming people. But folks also have to be realistic about how much it takes to live in retirement.

Color of Money question of the week

Do you feel experts are frightening you about how much you’ll need for retirement? Send your comments to colorofmoney@washpost.com. Please include your name, city and state. In the subject line put “Retirement.”

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Live chat today

I was out sick last week, but I’m back. So this will be my first chat for 2017. Let’s talk about my new financial challenge for this year, #NoDebtNoMess. Join me live at noon (ET). To participate in the chat click this link.

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Family Fraud: Would you press charges against your baby?

A Michigan teenager allegedly stole personal information from her father and got a credit card in his name. The 18-year-old used the card to book a $1,200 flight to Germany on New Year’s Day to see her boyfriend. The teen’s father found out from his bank about the fraudulent charge on the morning of said flight.

Dad calls the police and initially tells them he wants to press charges. Eventually the teen’s parents didn’t ask that she be charged.

Still I wanted to know what you would do in such a situation.

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If your child or a relative stole your credit card and made fraudulent charges would you file charges?

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Cheryl Johnson of Asheville, N.C., wrote, “I think family fraud is like church theft where the victims know the perpetrators. Most people just want to forget about it and put it behind them as soon as possible and pretend it didn’t happen. Saving the relationship is more important than holding the perpetrator accountable for the crime.”

Hold up. Wait a minute says Lorna Gilkey of Alexandria, Va.:

“Not only would I file charges if a family member made fraudulent charges, but I would prosecute to the fullest extent of the law,” Gilkey said. “We have to get away from allowing children and others to get away with criminal acts.”

Kathy of Las Cruces, N.M., wrote, “Our very rebellious 18-year-old stepdaughter stole my checkbook and wrote a $5,000 check to herself and then tried to cash it at the bank where I worked. My co-workers knew that was not my signature and also knew I would never have written a $5,000 check to our daughter. They called me on my extension and asked what they should do. I told them to proceed as in any case of fraud. Our many attempts to get her help, including years of counseling, had failed to make an impact. Maybe some jail time would wake her up. She was found guilty of the felony and went to jail.”

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Jenny Aus of Reisterstown, Md., wrote, “Would I press charges against a family member for defrauding me or stealing my identity? Child, sibling, parent, cousin, aunt or uncle? You’re darned tootin’ I would! It’s called CONSEQUENCES.

Wilhelmina Jones of Los Angeles wrote, “I would reserve the right to have charges filed at a later date (within the statue of limitations) if she did not pay back the money I was not refunded. I would also want her in some type of diversion program with certain conditions such as complete school, get a job, a curfew, counseling, and restitution. Her behavior was planned and calculated.”

In the end, the dad in this case felt like the following reader.

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“I suppose much would depend on the circumstances and size of the fraud,” wrote B. Hudson St. Louis, Mo. “I have never bailed any of my children out of trouble if they got themselves into it, I’d like to think I would press charges. But as stated in the article a felony is a life-changing negative. It stops you from getting certain types of jobs, that’s providing you can find anyone who can give you a job to give you a chance. You can’t vote. Felony is just a black mark that follows you through life, and I really wonder if anyone who would commit a crime thinks of that.”

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Color of Money Retirement Newsletter Coming Soon

Starting next month, I’ll be taking over the Monday retirement newsletter. I’m going to make this your forum. It will be a chance for you to get your retirement questions answered.

I plan to assemble a team of retirement experts who will take turns joining me once a month for a live online chat about retirement. The following Monday, I’ll recap some of the questions. We will also answer questions left over from the discussion.

Whether you’re 21 or 81, retirement is an important financial issue.

Retirement isn’t just a senior citizen’s issue. In fact, the folks who really should be reading about retirement are young adults because they have more time to correct money mistakes that may prevent them from saving enough to retire.

Color of Money columns this week

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