Retirement Savings Statistics Get Uglier

Are you on track for retirement? Most people aren’t (unfortunately) and the retirement savings statistics prove it.

According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute as cited in the September 2009 issue of “Financial Planning” magazine, a tremendous loss of wealth from the market downturn in 2008 has made a difficult retirement planning situation far worse. Here are some of the surprising numbers…

The median defined contribution plan balance (for those that had defined contribution plans) was a mere $31,800 in 2007 and expected to be down by 16.4% by June 2009 to $26,578.
The median individual retirement account and Keogh plan balance was $34,000 in 2007 and expected to drop another 15% by June 2009 to $28,955.
Only 40.6% percent of families had some sort of employment based retirement plan. Amazing! That means nearly 60% of families have no employment based retirement plan and have less than what the meager numbers above show. Yikes!

Let’s be clear… you can’t retire in America on anything even remotely close to $30,000.00. Multiplying that number by 10 doesn’t even get you close. Simply put, people are failing to build enough retirement savings.

However, saving for retirement is one of the most important financial responsibilities you face. I know it is confusing and a big mountain to climb, but that is why I wrote the ebook How Much is Enough To Retire. It is a brief read at just 46 pages that teaches you exactly what you need to know so that you can set a realistic retirement goal and achieve it.

If you are are not head and shoulders above these abysmal retirement savings statistics then make sure to read How Much Is Enough To Retire and consider how my financial coaching services might be useful. The longer you put off retirement planning the harder the goal will be to achieve.

Retirement Savings Statistics Are Ugly: Professor Robert Schiller provides another perspective on retirement savings statistics to inform and cajole you into action.

27 Ways to Catch Up On Retirement Savings For Late Starters: Everything you need to know about catching up on retirement savings but never thought to ask – perfect for the procrastinator.