Insufficient Retirement Savings
Interesting little article in USA Today last week regarding retirement savings - or lack of. The article cites an annual survey by the Employee Benefits Research Institute (a great organization, by the way) that demonstrates a continued disconnect between what people believe they need for retirement and what they actually have saved. For example, the survey noted the following for respondents - most of whom were over 45:
- 52% had less than $25,000 put away
- 13% had $25,000 to $49,999 put away
- 11% had $50,000 to $99,999 saved, and
- 21% had $100,000 or more put away
Despite what I view as pretty dismal numbers, 65% of respondents stated that they were "very confident" or "somewhat confident" about being able to fund their retirements. With what, I ask?
EBRI sponsors a website called the Ballpark Estimate that you can use to calculate the amount of money needed for retirement. I went there and played around with some of the tools. That 45 year old with $25,000 in the bank, needs to be putting aside a lot more money every year. If I was a benefits manager doing a presentation to employees on their 401(k), I'd be talking about these tools.