Jul

31

Fidelity Research Institute On Boomer Retirement Savings

Posted by cameron

July 31, 2007 |

The Fidelity Research Institute is an organization funded by Fidelity Investments. According to the Institute boomers have a median household retirement savings of $45,000 in their 2007 report on America’s retirement readiness. It would be easy to say that boomers are far from ready with half being below $45000 and half being above that in household savings. I believe the median age of boomers is somewhere between 50 and 55 years old so it would be a reasonable approximation to say that boomers older than that have accumulated wealth above the $45,000 number and those below that age would have less. Even so, the picture drawn is not encouraging. I know that catch-up savings potential increases with age but it takes a long time to generate the funds necessary to make a real difference.

With people having families later in life those empty nest years have shrunk, leading to less time to really pound on those 401Ks. This research supports AARP, whose own research shows that more people are planning to work longer than in previous generations. It is not clear whether from necessity or choice, but Fidelity’s research supports necessity.

Another highlight of the report shows a trend towards people leaving the workforce early. The reality of health issues is life changing and retirement plan changing. Hopefully our children will heed our words and start as early as possible but, in another section of the report, that appears to be falling on deaf ears.

You can read the report here.


Comments

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

Speak your mind

<< Post Navigation >>

« « The Stock Market Drop – S&P P/E Ratio | Conflicting Attitudes And Research Towards Retiring » »