Have You Saved Enough to Retire?

Bruce Primeau, CPA, CFP®, PFS |

I recently read an article entitled, "U.S. Workers Still Lag In Retirement Savings, But Execs See Hope," in Financial Advisor Magazine and I want to share some of the points they provided. According to an Insured Retirement Institute study of 806 people between the ages of 55 and 71:

  • 42% of those surveyed have no retirement savings
  • Of those that have some retirement savings, 38% have less than $100,000 saved
  • Only 38% of those surveyed have even calculated what they will need to retire
  • Less than 20% of those surveyed feel very confident that they can retire securely while 30% say they are not at all confident they can ever retire
  • According to Tim Seifert, Vice President and head of annuity sales at Lincoln Financial Group, 75% of people who turn age 65 this year will be alive at age 90 and nearly 50% will be alive at age 95

The above statistics are very concerning to me since most people are not saving adequately for what could be a 30+ year retirement time horizon. This also explains why many people reaching age 65 are continuing to work, at least part-time, simply because they cannot afford to retire. While I realize the title of the article finishes with "Execs See Hope," I guess I am not seeing where that hope may be coming from. The statistics outlined above clearly paint a dim picture and, in many cases, may mean that many of the children of those baby boomers may become financially responsible for their parents.

I guess the one statistic that stands out most to me is that only 38% of those surveyed have even calculated what it will take for them to retire. That means that 62% are either "winging it" or are just planning to work for the foreseeable future – neither of which is a good solution.
If you find some of the statistics outlined above concerning, or you or someone you know is part of the 62% "winging it," feel free to reach out or pass along our contact information.

Bruce Primeau – bprimeau@SummitWealthAdvocates.com 612-987-9112
Becky Botzet – bbotzet@SummitWealthAdvocates.com 763-639-3425
Jon Govin – jgovin@SummitWealthAdvocates.com 763-355-5873