Roughly Half of Americans Age 55 or Older Have No Retirement Savings

[arnold layne]

"Most households approaching retirement have low savings." That's the no-nonsense title of a recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) on retirement security. Here are a few of its sobering results:

About half of all households age 55 and over have no retirement savings.

Many older households don't have other financial resources to tap during retirement.

Of those households without any savings, more than half don't have a pension from a traditional pension plan, and almost half don't own a home.

The GAO's report discusses the mixed evidence on the adequacy of retirement savings in America, noting that the various studies use different assumptions about how much income is needed in retirement and what appropriate retirement ages are. These studies show that anywhere from one-third to two-thirds of Americans are at risk of falling short of adequate retirement incomes. Many older workers say they want to continue working in their retirement years, yet some studies indicate that many Americans retired earlier than they had planned.

The GAO report joins the deluge of information about the inadequacy of retirement savings in America. A quick Google search shows recent articles from a variety of media sources, including Huffington Post, Forbes, Reuters, The New York Times, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. The subtitle of the Huffington Post article certainly grabs your attention: "22 percent of Americans would rather die than retire without enough money."

These articles cite authoritative reports from think tanks and academic institutions such as the Boston College Center for Retirement Research, Employee Benefit Research Institute, Federal Reserve, National Institute on Retirement Security, National Bureau of Economic Research and Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies as evidence of their claims.

There's no doubt that some significant part of the population won't have a financially secure retirement. The main source of disagreement seems to be on the size of this group and what should be done about it. The potential solutions are easier said than done, but they include some combination of the following:

Spend less and save more today

Retire later

Reduce your standard of living in retirement

Another thing is clear: Simply admonishing people to save more hasn't worked. Somehow, individuals, employers and governments will need to find the collective motivation and will to address these serious challenges.

Some people might call this a looming retirement crisis, while others might just think it's a big disappointment because many people are falling short of their financial expectations and may need to work a long time. Whatever you call it, it's fair to say we have a problem.

SOURCE: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/more-evidence-for-too-little-in-retirement-savings/

Yeah, make fun of me about living with Grandma, but I'm packing away cash until the world goes to shit.

Edited June 5, 2015 by arnold layne

[bran]

"Most households approaching retirement have low savings." That's the no-nonsense title of a recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) on retirement security. Here are a few of its sobering results:

About half of all households age 55 and over have no retirement savings.

Many older households don't have other financial resources to tap during retirement.

Of those households without any savings, more than half don't have a pension from a traditional pension plan, and almost half don't own a home.

The GAO's report discusses the mixed evidence on the adequacy of retirement savings in America, noting that the various studies use different assumptions about how much income is needed in retirement and what appropriate retirement ages are. These studies show that anywhere from one-third to two-thirds of Americans are at risk of falling short of adequate retirement incomes. Many older workers say they want to continue working in their retirement years, yet some studies indicate that many Americans retired earlier than they had planned.

The GAO report joins the deluge of information about the inadequacy of retirement savings in America. A quick Google search shows recent articles from a variety of media sources, including Huffington Post, Forbes, Reuters, The New York Times, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. The subtitle of the Huffington Post article certainly grabs your attention: "22 percent of Americans would rather die than retire without enough money."

These articles cite authoritative reports from think tanks and academic institutions such as the Boston College Center for Retirement Research, Employee Benefit Research Institute, Federal Reserve, National Institute on Retirement Security, National Bureau of Economic Research and Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies as evidence of their claims.

There's no doubt that some significant part of the population won't have a financially secure retirement. The main source of disagreement seems to be on the size of this group and what should be done about it. The potential solutions are easier said than done, but they include some combination of the following:

Spend less and save more today

Retire later

Reduce your standard of living in retirement

Another thing is clear: Simply admonishing people to save more hasn't worked. Somehow, individuals, employers and governments will need to find the collective motivation and will to address these serious challenges.

Some people might call this a looming retirement crisis, while others might just think it's a big disappointment because many people are falling short of their financial expectations and may need to work a long time. Whatever you call it, it's fair to say we have a problem.

SOURCE: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/more-evidence-for-too-little-in-retirement-savings/

Yeah, make fun of me about living with Grandma, but I'm packing away cash until the world goes to shit.

yet people want to know why multi generational households continue to rise among every race and ethnic group across the board.

[AxlisOld]

They should probably save some fucking money then.

[wasted]

That stat I read was that 99% of people die with no money in the bank after paying for their medical bills and funerals.

[Johnny Drama]

As usual America's fascination with no government interference has them scratching their heads in bewilderment.

Compulsory superannuation paid into employee's superannuation funds by employers at 9% of wages, legislated over 20 years ago, will ensure that most will retire with something to fall back on that is more substantial than a government pension.

[AxlisOld]

If they wanted Social Security to actually work, they'd privatize it. I waved "bye bye" to receiving any of that when I found out what it was.

[bran]

As usual America's fascination with no government interference has them scratching their heads in bewilderment.

Compulsory superannuation paid into employee's superannuation funds by employers at 9% of wages, legislated over 20 years ago, will ensure that most will retire with something to fall back on that is more substantial than a government pension.

we had this in social security which started in the 1930's(IIRC) in which a little over 6% of our check is taken to go towards it, and the employer has to pay another 6+% towards it for every employee. there was supposed to be almost 3 trillion dollars in it, but somewhere along the line the government pissed it away. so in a way the US had plenty of government interference.

[Słash]

Similar case like my grandparents, once upon a time they used to be millionaires, somethings happened in which they had to sell stuff, but still they dint do proper investments nor they saved any money, they just kept on spending in on useless things, even now they don't save, they keep on spending