Many Americans are not even close to saving enough for retirement. A report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute recently featured by Bloomberg estimates a projected retirement shortfall of more than nineteen thousand dollars per individual for married couples. The savings deficit for baby boomers who are single males is around thirty-four thousand dollars and nearly sixty three thousand dollars for single females.
The savings deficits for women is larger than for men since women live longer. These savings deficits sound daunting, but the actual situation is much worse than these figures would suggest since they include families who have produced more than enough savings to last them through retirement. If one includes only underfunded baby boomers, the savings deficit per individual goes up – a lot.
Among married undersavers, the average deficit is more than seventy-one thousand per individual. In total, America faces a four trillion dollar retirement shortfall, and that’s a favorable figure since it presumes that America’s policymakers will be able to produce a deal to shore up Social Security before the trust fund’s projected depletion in 2033.
