American Workers May Not Be Able to Retire Until Their 80s: Report

These days, retirement appears to be a far-off fantasy for a growing number of Americans, who better get accustomed to working longer, even until they are 80 years old, according to a research study by the Employee Research Benefit Institute [EBRI].

Obviously, individuals with lower incomes will have to work a “bit longer.”

Here’s how it breaks down: (via MW)

  • All those who earned (on average throughout their careers) less than $11,700 annually, rock bottom pay, will have to delay retirement living till age 84 to have a 50% chance of affording retirement.
  • If you earned between $11,700 and $31,200 you have to work till age 76 to have a 50% chance of guaranteeing various types of expenses in your retirement.
  • Folks that made between $31,200 and $72,500 will need to work to age 72 to have a 50% chance of affording retirement.
  • If you earned $72,500 and up annually you have to work to age 65 to have a 50% chance of affording retirement life.

This research highlights one bright spot for those working past 65 however. If you are placing your hard earned dollars into some sort of retirement fund, your odds of saving enough increase considerably.

From the Employee Benefit Research Institute study:

“Working past age 65 is certainly one way to make sure you have enough income to fund retirement expenses….Americans who work past age 65 who continue to save for retirement in a 401(k) or some such account earmarked for retirement increase the odds of having enough income in their golden years. “One of the factors that makes a major difference in the percentage of households satisfying the retirement income adequacy thresholds at any retirement age is whether the worker is still participating in a defined contribution plan after age 65,” the co-authors [said in the report]. “This factor results in at least a 10 percentage point difference in the majority of the retirement age/income combinations investigated.”

The EBRI report can be found at this website.

h/t BI

Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links. If you choose to make a purchase after clicking a link, we may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!

About Ron Haruni 1067 Articles
Ron Haruni is the Co-Founder & Editor in Chief of Wall Street Pit.

1 Comment on American Workers May Not Be Able to Retire Until Their 80s: Report

  1. How come some “COMPANIES” were considered “Too big to fail” but no one ever considers A PERSON “Too old to work” ???? People need to start realizing that LIFE is not just about working…. Not enough money to retire at 65??? No biggie, stop paying all your bills, then let the bastards take care of YOU for once…After all, you’ve bailed them out sooooo many times, it’s about time they returned the favor. Anyway, they can’t let you starve to death and sleep on the sidewalk, that would be unacceptable. Or would it….????

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.