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Is the Average Retirement Savings Enough?
Mar 08, 2022
Your retirement plan should account for your individual situation, your expected lifestyle, and your dreams. So, it probably won’t look just like anyone else’s. But still, it can help to understand what the average retiree has saved, along with their expectations, to get an idea of how you compare with the norm. That’s the idea behind surveys like the one recently conducted by research firm Clever. What they found might surprise you.
On average, retirees have $191,659 stashed away for retirement. Does that sound like enough to you? The survey sought to answer that question, and uncovered some concerning emotions among retirees:
- 30 percent of retirees say that they have no retirement savings or investments
- 27 percent have less than $50,000 in retirement savings or investments
- Only 18 percent of retirees report having more than $400,000 in savings or investments
- 51 percent believe they will outlive their savings; that’s not surprising, given the average size of retirement accounts
- 65 percent of retirees say that they’re not financially secure
- 75 percent of retirees report carrying debt throughout retirement
While $191,659 might be the size of the average retirement nest egg, in reality retirement savings are deeply skewed toward extremes. More than half of retirees have either nothing or very little in savings, with only a very small number of retirees actually in possession of a sizable retirement account.
It’s no wonder that most of the survey respondents (67 percent) said that they have regrets about their retirement savings.
As for Social Security, which is a common supplement to retirement income, the average monthly benefit is just $1,555. Compare that figure to your average monthly budget, and the importance of retirement savings becomes even more clear.
Don’t wait any longer to decide upon a retirement savings strategy. Call us to schedule an appointment right away, and we can help you devise a plan to entire retirement on a more stable financial footing.
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