According to Reuters, Fidelity will sponsor a financial services store on Amazon.

That apparently means they’ll be offering their 380+ funds and other financial services to Amazon customers - and in particular, those lucrative baby boomers headed for retirement.

It’s an interesting way to attract new clients. I’m currently reading Lee Eisenberg’s The Number, which discusses the state of retirement planning in the US and the results are pretty dismal. He states that

Of workers fifty-five and older, only one in four has invested assets of more than $100,000; one in three has less than $50,000. One out of every two baby boomers will not have accumulated enough to match their current standard of living.

The book’s a real eye opener - at least to me (a late 20-something business owner looking to understand the complexity of retirement planning) - but I can only imagine the sheer dread boomers have at looking at their looming retirement and wondering whether they’ll have enough money.

Our current spending culture - what he calls the world of ‘Debt Warp’ - encourages living above your means and footing the bill through credit cards. Perhaps, adding retirement reminders next to frivilous purchases of books, dvds, electronics, and everything else Amazon offers will start scaring them into saving for the future.

Then again, maybe Amazon just wants to sell EVERYTHING.