Are Americans saving too little for retirement?

Maybe not, here is an interesting article:

Mr. Scholz said he and his co-authors of a study, “Are Americans
Saving ‘Optimally’ for Retirement?” found oversaving across all
economic and education levels and most ethnic or racial groups as well.
(It found that Hispanics tended to save less.)  Those who were not
saving enough were usually missing their target by only a small amount.

The one exception to this optimism involves people who enter
retirement single, either because their spouse died early, they
divorced, or they never married.  The studies found this group did not
save enough…

The starting point for most retirement plans is the so-called
replacement rate.  It says an American needs an annual income in
retirement equal to 75 percent to 86 percent of what he or she earned
in the final year of employment.  Someone making $100,000 would
typically plan for about $85,000 a year in retirement.

…Mr. Kotlikoff’s calculations showed that Fidelity’s online calculators
typically set the target of assets needed to cover spending in
retirement 36.4 percent too high.  Vanguard’s was 53.1 percent too high. 
A calculator offered by TIAA-CREF, one of the largest managers of
retirement savings, was 78 higher than his calculation.

Those very same financial planners earn money only to the extent you save.  Here is one previous post on savings.  Here is my post on how to spend less money.  Here is my post suggesting most Americans are saving enough.  Read them all, if you haven’t already.

Comments

Comments for this post are closed