Retirement Savings

Virtually all of the American public would agree to the premise that saving for retirement is a good thing. Then why has this task become so difficult for so many? While millions and millions of dollars are spent on educating participants to save more for retirement, I think the answer is a simple one. Individuals would love to save more for retirement, but other financial circumstances are standing in the way. The decline in housing prices the last few years immediately springs to mind. With home values declining well into the double digits, near-term financial decisions become more significant for most people than do long-term decisions. No wonder that EBRI (the Employee Benefit Research Institute) finds that more than one in three workers expects to retire after age 65, as compared to two decades ago, when one in ten expected to retire after age 65. (See Fact Sheet # 2 of 2012 Retirement Confidence Survey, http://www.ebri.org/pdf/surveys/rcs/2012/fs-02-rcs-12-fs2-expect.pdf)