Research: Retirees Behind on Saving

Although most Americans aged 50-64 are looking forward to their upcoming years, many haven’t planned as well as they could for their future financial needs, according to a survey conducted by a coalition of business and nonprofit organizations for the 2005 White House Conference on Aging (WHCoA). The Conference takes place every 10 years to present the status of older Americans and recommend policies to Congress and the President.

“Eighty percent of Americans say they are confident that they have saved for their retirement,” says the survey of 1,000 Americans aged 50 to 64.  “Yet four in 10 say they have not tried to figure out how much money they need to save so they will be able to live comfortably.”  For those who say they haven’t planned — or have but are actually behind where they should be — “it is too late to get started or engage in immediate `remedial’ saving,” according to the survey.

With retirement just five years away for the first wave of the post-World War II generation, more education and greater awareness of resources already in place for seniors is needed, says the Coalition. In some cases, changes in federal policies may be needed to ensure that the baby-boom generation — and generations to come — will have adequate funds on which to live, says the Coalition, made up of senior-advocacy, senior-lifestyle, insurance and other service entities. 

The potential danger of an unprepared generation lies in good part in the fact that “baby boomers are a generation raised on instant gratification, and for some, long-term savings may have been sacrificed for shorter-term goals,” says the report. 

It was a goal of the 2005 White House Conference on Aging to assist the public and private sectors in promoting dignity, health, independence and economic security of current and future senior generations.  Continuing advances in medical research mean baby boomers and future seniors will live longer than their predecessors, creating the need for them to have more money on which to live during their expected years of retirement. 

Dr. John Q. Trojanowski of the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute of Aging points out that two divergent forces are at work: People’s ability to make well-informed decisions about money (as they do about diet and mental and physical activities) is pitted against a culture that values what we have today over what we will need tomorrow.

The report quotes Stephen C. Goss, chief actuary of Social Security, as describing Social Security as secure for the next 40 years.  However, Medicare is projected to show “shortfalls” by 2020, he says — hence the need for public debate and action. 

The Coalition survey also showed that for the majority of those questioned, being close to family and health care facilities is the most important factor in deciding where they want to live in retirement.  Also, the majority support government programs that help provide affordable housing options for seniors.

Members of the Coalition are RSL-Simon, Eden & Associates, 55+ Consulting, the Alliance for Aging Research, American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, American Seniors Housing Association, Classic Residence by Hyatt, the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute of Aging, the National Association of Home Builders, and New York Life Insurance.

To access the WHCoA survey’s full text, visit www.nahb.org/50plusresearch and click on “Consumer Preferences.”

  [Return to top]