Study: Many Boomers Lack Retirement Fund

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.

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.

....."But the rampant consumerism among younger people is frightening."....

I have a theory about that. Remember when I said I wasn't happy with the social changes boomers brought. One of them was women working. I'm not a knee jerk, "jerk", but I thought long and hard about it. My wife did work some during our 36 year marriage, but decided to stay home when my daughter was born. We even ended up home schooling her. The problems I observed with surrounding families was usually because the children were brought up by Day Care. I found very quickly you can't pay someone to "love" your child, just like you can't pay someone to "love" your money for you. Most financial advisor's made money whether you did or not. Your children grow up believing that work and money are more important than they are, and then the trouble begins. Many divorces are a blatant example to the children that they can be "bought", but even in tact families end up telling their children they can't be with them or take them somewhere, or whatever, because mom's working or dad's out of town or working overtime. Then, to make up for it, the parents buy John or Jenny an IPOD or an XBOX 360 with all the bells and whistles, just to prove how important they are to the parents. They go through life wishing dad would have seen them making the touchdown or teaching them to bait a hook, but end up with a $3000 carbon fiber bike.

As they move on themselves, if they aren't living the high life, they turn to drugs, crime, and even suicide, because they can no longer afford what mom and dad gave them out of guilt.

Now people say I am just trying to "hold women down" or some such thing, but when both parents have to work, the fact is, you are most likely spending too much, and paying too many taxes. The government loves working women. Instead of one blue collar male making $60k a year, they get an extra $30k-$60k from the spouse. That puts them in a higher bracket. I showed my wife on paper that she would have to make $18 an hour to make up for the extra car, the day care, the extra taxes, new clothes, ect, that her $12 an hour job would require. We did just fine by her SAVING ME MONEY, and me as breadwinner. I wasn't that highly paid, but we did just fine. If your new car has to be a Hummer rather than a Toyota Corrola, it's pretty tough on 1 salary. I found that after 15-20 years of saving however, I was making thousands, not hundreds, but thousands per month in interest and capital gains. I was able to live pretty good and have a home life. It's always better to get your money to work for you than your wife. I just believe God made it work that way. Working women are a big cause, IMHO, for the confusion kids have today. I understand divorce, and disabled husbands, and many other reasons a woman must work. I'm just saying it's not ideal. I have seen divorces before BECAUSE the woman wanted to stay home with the kids and the man said she was a deadbeat. Most of the time when the man was finally sent to college by the wife, or he got his new Harley, or he was finally able to buy his business, the woman was discarded like a soiled napkin anyway.

just stop bragging about all the degenerate things they did back in the 60s I would be happy.

Very few are bragging anymore: only the Jane Fonda's who are, indeed, degenerate.

However, many are now talking about how they screwed up. It's largely the boomer generation who has worked extremely hard to give us a couple decades of a roaring economy to support all those who have been raking in social security...plus, as I said they voted in RR and George Bush. More than a slim minority are now doing the right thing.

The so-called "greatest generation" wasn't so great in my opinion. Tom Brokaw is wrong. They initiated, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, etc. I don't know that they had true "christian values"; I think they were only talking the talk, not walking it. Proof is...they didn't raise their kids right IMO.

My brother (love Southerners!):

I am a boomer and I am feeding my retirement account as much as I can. I live like a Spartan now in the hope that I will be able to bank all of my Social Security money and leave it for the next generation (my 3 children). But if I am unable to save every cent of that money, please try to remember that the government stole it from me for years and years and years like they are stealing it from you.

Which brings me to my next point. Boomers should be taking care of their parents and our children should take care of us. That’s the way it used to be in our country. There’s plenty of room in those McMansions for 3 generations. How much money will be wasted by splitting up families and generations?

would you like all of your generation to be known by the likes of Anna Nicole Smith and Brittany Spears, rap crap, the NBA ilk, etc.....????

I was a young person during the 60's and I can tell you......MOST young people were NOT involved in the drug/anti-war/free love scene( although, which generation of men wouldn't want free love?...LOL)

a small elitist group of boomers somehow got a hold of our generational vision and it is bad, I agree....

but most of us are hard working,child raising, church going and parent appreciating type people....oh, and did I mention TAX-PAYING as well......

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.