How prepared are you for retirement? According to one of the most recent federal studies, most Americans are not. This what a Federal Reserve survey found that was dated late 2014. But the reality is that the numbers really are not all that much different today, just a few years later.
Experts estimate that about one-third of U.S. workers do not have a pension or any savings. In the Fed's 2014 Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking, 38% or respondents said they would work as long as they possibly could or that they had no plan or intention to retire.
"Thirty-one percent of non-retirees have no retirement savings or pension, including nearly a quarter of those older than 45," the Fed said. "Even among individuals who are saving, fewer than half of adults with self-directed retirement savings are mostly or very confident in their ability to make the right investment decisions when managing their retirement savings."
The survey also turned up some more interesting findings. For those who have a household income that's less than $40,000 per year, over 50% plan to work as long as they can or just avoid retiring. About 65% of those polled said that they felt their family was "doing okay."
In a related CNBC report from mid-April of 2015, it was found that almost one-third of savers have less than $1,000 set aside for retirement. And the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and Greenwald and Associates survey found that 57% of near-retirees that were polled had less than $25,000 in savings.
But how much money do you really need set aide to retire securely? According to a report by HealthView Services, the retirement healthcare premiums that you need set aside now just to cover all of your post-retirement medical expenses totals $266,589, which accounts for Medicare parts B and D coverage and any added supplemental coverage.
Retirement without savings can be a scary prospect, as is outlined in this HuffPo article. Experts cited in it say that if you really want to retire in style, you need to assure that you retire while being able to receive nearly 100% of your preretirement income annually.
While 65 has been established as the retirement age, more Americans are working into their 70s, explains a recent USA Today article.
"The number of workers who are 75 and older has skyrocketed by 76.7% in the past two decades," the article explains.