More at risk of missing retirement goals

A greater number of U.S. households are at risk of falling short of money in retirement because of the housing and financial crisis, according to a report.

The Employee Benefit Research Institute recently released a new report that found that between 4%-14% more U.S. households are at risk of not having enough income to cover basic expenses in retirement.

Those at-risk households are primarily those who had smaller 401(k) plans and/or individual retirement accounts or had significant exposure to fluctuations in the housing market.

The good news is that early-boomer households can ensure they have adequate income in retirement by saving an additional 1%-4% more of their salary between now and retirement age.

Yet becoming at-risk depends on many factors, including the size of account balances and exposure to the equity market; proximity of the household to retirement age; the relative level of pre-retirement income; and the desired probability of adequate retirement income.

"The impact of the 2008/2009 financial crisis affected people in many different ways, and this study helps to show which groups were affected and how much more they’ll need to save in order to recover," says Jack VanDerhei, EBRI’s director of research and author of the report.


Ruthie Ackerman is the online editor of Financial Planning magazine, a SourceMedia publication.Follow EBN on: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Podcasts

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