From Yahoo Finance
Retirement crisis: Over one-third of Americans haven’t saved a penny
By Bernice Napach
August 18, 2014 1:22 PM
Yahoo Finance
More than a third of Americans haven't saved any money for retirement. That's the dramatic finding of a new survey from Bankrate.com, which also found that among those nearing retirement -- aged 50-64 -- 26% had no retirement savings, along with 14% of those 65 and older.
The big reasons people aren’t saving enough, according to the survey: lack of access to retirement savings plans at work, especially those that automatically enroll workers, and failure to make retirement saving a priority. "Inertia is a powerful thing," says Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com
But it needs to be overcome, according to McBride. "'I'll just work forever’ is not a viable strategy simply because you don't control your destiny on that," McBride tells Yahoo Finance in the video above. "When we look at long-term unemployment figures, it's most concentrated among adults over 50."
And Social Security -- even if the fund is stabilized and there are no cut to benefits, which is a big if -- only pays so much. Current retirees who have reached the full retirement age of 66 receive a maximum $2,642 per month; if they're 70 or older and just started collecting, the maximum monthly benefit is $3,425.
So what should those nearing retirement do?
Save more and save it now, says McBride. "It's not about ramping up the risk in your investments as much as it's ramping up the contributions that you're making. You either give it up today or you give up a whole lot more later on."
Read more from Yahoo Finance >>
Retirement crisis: Over one-third of Americans haven’t saved a penny
By Bernice Napach
August 18, 2014 1:22 PM
Yahoo Finance
More than a third of Americans haven't saved any money for retirement. That's the dramatic finding of a new survey from Bankrate.com, which also found that among those nearing retirement -- aged 50-64 -- 26% had no retirement savings, along with 14% of those 65 and older.
The big reasons people aren’t saving enough, according to the survey: lack of access to retirement savings plans at work, especially those that automatically enroll workers, and failure to make retirement saving a priority. "Inertia is a powerful thing," says Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com
But it needs to be overcome, according to McBride. "'I'll just work forever’ is not a viable strategy simply because you don't control your destiny on that," McBride tells Yahoo Finance in the video above. "When we look at long-term unemployment figures, it's most concentrated among adults over 50."
And Social Security -- even if the fund is stabilized and there are no cut to benefits, which is a big if -- only pays so much. Current retirees who have reached the full retirement age of 66 receive a maximum $2,642 per month; if they're 70 or older and just started collecting, the maximum monthly benefit is $3,425.
So what should those nearing retirement do?
Save more and save it now, says McBride. "It's not about ramping up the risk in your investments as much as it's ramping up the contributions that you're making. You either give it up today or you give up a whole lot more later on."
Read more from Yahoo Finance >>
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