Long Live You!

Game Plan For Finanical Security

To many, retirement signals a period of downsizing. Whether or not that's true for you, it's important to recognize that when you retire your accumulated wealth is probably at its peak. Retirement nowadays can last decades, and age brings on many potential threats to your financial health. There are a number of steps you can take to ensure your money lasts as long as you do.

Here are a few interesting statistics about retirement and the people who are in that phase of life.

• One of the 77 million baby boomers reaches 50 every seven seconds. That is around 11,960 people a day and 4 million a year.
• The age for retirement was set at 65 by Kaiser Willhelm in the late 1800's. It is now generally accepted among gerontologists that life expectancy may exceed 85 years-- and may, in fact, approach the biblical life span of 120.
• In 2001, 77 million Americans were 50 and older (comprising 28% of the population). By 2020 that segment will be 36% of the population.
• Nearly 6,000 Americans turn 65 every day, that figure will jump to 9,000 as the baby boomers age.
• Nearly 35 million Americans were 65 or older in year 2000.
• Consumers 65 and over make up 13% of the population but account for only 2% of the characters on prime-time TV.
• In the next 25 years, there will be over a million centenarians in this country.
• The proportion of workers who are saving for retirement has remained unchanged since 2001.
• Almost 7 in 10 workers (68 percent) expect to work into retirement but 4 in 10 retirees end up having to leave the work force earlier than expected due to health problems, disability or company downsizing.
• Although most financial experts estimate that retirees will need 70-80 percent of their current income to meet everyday living expenses, nearly 40 percent of all workers guess that they will need less then 70 percent of their pre-retirement income to live comfortably after leaving the workforce. Use our retirement calculator to determine your retirement income needs.
• Almost two-thirds (64 percent) of workers do not expect their standard of living to decline in retirement.
• Only 19 percent of workers were able to correctly state when they would be eligible for Social Security benefits (the normal retirement age has been raised from 65 to 67). Visit the Social Security Administration's website to determine your current Social Security benefits.
• Two in five workers say they are not too willing (19 percent) or not at all willing (15 percent) to cut back on their spending in order to save for retirement. Learn about 10 Simple Steps to Start Saving Money today.
• Four out of 10 people aged 55 or older, have less than $100,000 saved toward their retirement.
• One out of four workers do not sign up for their employer's 401(k) retirement savings plan
• Nearly half of all American workers don’t contribute enough to their company's 401(k) savings plan to get the full company matching funds.
• About half cash out their 401(k) savings when they change jobs instead of rolling it over into an IRA to avoid tax implications and to continue saving and investing for their retirement.

(Statistics compiled from the 2004 Retirement Confidence Survey, Employee Benefit Research Institute; and “Coming Up Short: The Challenge of 401(k) Plans,” Alicia Munnell and Annika Sunden)