Many Americans Will Fall Short Of Current Standard Of Living After Retirement [View All]

[Purveyor]

Source: Phoenix Business Journal

A new report finds that a majority of American workers will not be able to maintain their current standard of living after they retire.

The Center for Retirement Research estimates 61 percent of households are "at risk" of being unable to live the way they would like and pay for their health care when they retire.

The group considers consumers to be "at risk" if their savings, Social Security and pension benefits combined will fall at least 10 percent short of the income needed to support the same standard of living they had while working.

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Many workers do not have a realistic estimate of how much they will need to spend on health care when they retire, according to a 2007 study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

The group found that 84 percent of employees estimated they and their spouses will need to accumulate less than $250,000 for retiree health costs, 32 percent of whom thought they would need less than $100,000.

But according to EBRI, couples need to save about $300,000 in retirement to cover health expenses, assuming they live to average life expectancy and Medicare benefits remain at current levels. For those who live to 95, that amount jumps to $550,000.



Read more: http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/02/18/daily9.html