The American Retirement Saving Crisis

March 25, 2016

It’s no news that the Americans of the modern age are facing a severe retirement crisis. We are already in the early-million stage and the stats are expected to get tripled by 2050 and we could be seeing around 25 million poor (or near-poor) retirees. Not to mention that this poverty rate hasn’t been seen or observed since the country faced the Great Depression.

The retirement crisis:

This is not a matter that can be taken lightly. This retirement crisis will lead to poor population and that will create a social safety strain that can completely rattle the federal, state and local budgets for the coming decades. Many surveys reveal that people consider their retirement security as the biggest financial concern.

Americans that fall in the age group between 40 and 55 have an average retirement balance of around 14 thousand dollars. Having said that, experts claim that they will require around 20 times that to maintain the standard of living after they hang up their boots. The savings rates can be blamed but the real culprits are the expenses and the meager wages. The student loan debts also play a huge role in making this crisis a legitimate concern for the American government and the workers.

There is a stark need of more employer-based retirement plans as well. Around 50 percent of the employers don’t offer retirement plans and this has a huge effect to the overall development of the crisis. Apart from this, many employees don’t consider it wise to save for retirement until its too late. So, if you are nearing your retirement and you still haven’t saved up for retirement, start doing so. If you are still a decade or two away, you need to start retirement planning as soon as possible as well because it’s never too early.