Posted on 07/30/2007 7:31:07 PM PDT by traumer
Study Says Nearly One-Third of Older Baby Boomers Haven't Saved Enough for Retirement
NEW YORK (AP) -- Nearly one-third of baby boomers ages 51 to 61 are at risk of not having enough in savings to finance a comfortable retirement, according to a study being released Tuesday by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.
With its analysis, the center has joined the national debate over how much savings is enough -- and has done so on the side that says there's a shortfall.
"We just don't believe people are saving too much," Alicia H. Munnell, a professor of management sciences at Boston College and director of the retirement research center, told The Associated Press.
A recently published academic study looked at the retirement preparedness of Americans who were in their 50s in 1992 and concluded that at least 80 percent had more than enough assets for retirement. Other scientists have argued that Americans may be saving too much.
The new Boston College study evaluated the same 51-61 age group, but looked at their finances in 2004, and found 32 percent to be "at risk" for not being able to maintain their preretirement standing of living in retirement.
The difference between the results, the center said, has to do with changes in the financial environment. For one thing, Americans now must wait until they're older than 65 to collect full Social Security benefits; meanwhile, lower interest rates mean they'll probably collect less on annuities and other investments. And many of today's workers do not have pensions like the earlier generation but must rely on worker-funded 401(k) retirement accounts, the center said.
Munnell said Americans have two choices -- to save more or to work longer.
For older people, "working just two years more ... can make a substantial difference" to retirement preparedness, she said.
"Working longer has a powerful effect because it shortens the period over which you have to support yourself and ... lets you put off tapping your 401(k) and collect higher Social Security benefits," she said.
The study was done using the center's National Retirement Risk Index, developed with funding from Nationwide Financial, the long-term savings and retirement product division of the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co.
Keith Millner, senior vice president and head of Nationwide Financial's in-retirement division, said "there is a retirement crisis" because people are living longer, health care costs are escalating and workers aren't saving enough.
"The No. 1 issue is inertia -- people aren't doing anything," he said. "They need to get educated, get engaged."
Young workers especially can benefit from saving more because of the impact of compounding, he said.
Center for Retirement Research: http://www.bc.edu/crr
Nationwide Financial: http://www.nationwidefinancial.com
“Shop till you drop” will become WORK TILL YOU DROP...
Baby Boomer retirement plan: Tax their children!
They all believe Hillary when she promises that social security will be there to take care of you in your old age. They are counting on old people not being able to shoot straight.
duh...gotta have that vacation every year, a new car, cable TV, a cell phone and saving is... well... hard. Plus the government will take care of me.
Some folks can’t resist living for now. They were born broke and that’s the way they’ll die too.
The article says retirees don’t have enough saved to keep their pre-retiree lifestyle. Well double duh.
And don’t forget the lardasses who run to the buffet 3X per week.
its awesome i have no lifestyle im bulletproof
Sell the multi bedroom, multi bathroom home.
Why 1 or 2 people in 3 - 4 bdrm homes
Sell one of the cars or better yet all of them.
Put the money in savings or invest a small part of it.
Folks create their own problems.
Everybody seems to forget “Senior Discounts” at Denny’s.
Retirement? I know of twenty-somethings with $25k to $40k on credit cards. That maybe a hole too large to dig out of...
Retirement funds,come on huh? We the boomer generation have been the most TAXED generation in the friggin history of the country. True there have been opportunities for some but we’ve also been expected to carry the financial water for a country that’s gone big time socialist with welfare,disability as well as education,highway system cost,foreign aid and tons of other special interest expenses.Save me the BS of retirement funds huh !!!
“Study: Many Boomers Lack Retirement Fund”
Those of us that have a retirement plan will not have it long... if the hildebeast gets in!
LLS
I’m waiting for the Super Anti Oxidants that scientists are promising so I can live to 140 and work till I’m 132. Won’t that be great?
The "lardasses" are not likely to put off the cardiac arrests long enough to need that retirement income.
Ditto and don’t forget about AMT.
Xer Ping
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.
You bet. And they've come at us with every tax in the past 30 years. Ironic, they call the boomers lazy, stupid, greedy, spoiled etc, yet my non-boomer parents bought their first home in about 1951, it was brand new for like $4,000. Mom never had to work, and good ol Dad and Mom raised our entire family on one income..We had two cars, TV, campers, vacations, great affordable health insurance etc. I remember Dad going to the gas station and saying, "gimmie a bucks worth or regular".
My folks first home is still there, and I'd bet if purchased today, the first 3 months of mortgage payments would equal what they paid for the home in 1951.
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