


May 25, 2016

By Richard Barrington | MoneyRates.com Senior Financial Analyst, CFA

Retirement savings

Retirement savings rates in the U.S. continue to lag what it takes to fully prepare for retirement. Understanding why retirement savings rates are so low and what to do about them could help you avoid the trap of under-saving for retirement.

Majority of retirement savers not financially prepared

The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) recently released its 2016 Retirement Confidence Survey. While most Americans are saving for retirement, the survey showed those savings are not nearly up to the job. About 64 percent of survey respondents have less than $50,000 in retirement savings.

Retirement preparedness is not just about how much money you have - it also involves having a plan. Tellingly, less than half of those surveyed have even calculated how much money they will need in retirement. Without any sort of rational target, is it any surprise that retirement saving so often comes up short?

6 reasons people fail at saving for retirement

Since the U.S. retirement system puts a great deal of responsibility on individual workers not just to save and invest responsibly, but to come up with a retirement plan in the first place.

Here are six reasons why retirement saving fails:

1. Savers underestimate inflation

Inflation in recent decades has been pretty subtle. It's been a long time since the double-digit price increases of the 1970s and early 1980s. Still, when it comes to retirement planning, you have to account even for low inflation rates. The reason they remain important to retirement planning is the amount of time involved.

Projected over the course of your lifespan, even a moderate inflation rate could cut the purchasing power of your money in half by the time you retire, and in half again by the time you die. It is essential that you use a retirement savings calculator that accounts for inflation in your retirement planning, and recognize that the yearly amount you need is likely to rise over time.

2. Over-reliance on Social Security

The thing to understand about Social Security is that it is better suited as a supplement to retirement income rather than as a primary source of that income. You can get a projection of your benefits from the Social Security Administration, and this is a good starting point for retirement planning. It will tell you how much you will need to fill in from other sources to meet your income needs.

3. Failure to calculate living expenses

Speaking of income needs, you really have to think through your future life style to figure this out. It also matters a great deal whether you own your own home and whether you will carry any debt into retirement. Don't just rely on a rule of thumb based on percentage of income because there is often a disconnect between what people earn and what they spend.

4. The lure of early retirement

Having a retirement savings plan only works if you stick with it, but the reality is that a large number of Americans retire early. The EBRI survey found that 46 percent of current retirees retired earlier than they expected. Early retirement, whether voluntary or forced, can mean both lower savings and more years of retirement expenses to fund.

5. Understated longevity expectations

Average life expectancy figures are skewed downward by people who die unnaturally young due to accident or illness. However, if you make it to retirement age in good health, you can expect to live well beyond the average lifespan. The Social Security Administration has a Life Expectancy Calculator you can use to figure you how long you are likely to live based on your current circumstances.

6. The illusion of wealth

With diligent savings over the course of a career, retirement balances can start to add up to a pretty hefty sum. You might even find yourself becoming a millionaire eventually, but don't get carried away. Spread those savings out over many years of retirement, and you will find that what looks great as a lump sum translates to a much more modest annual income.

The above points just cover planning issues. Sub-par investment returns, from near-zero bank rates to meager stock gains, have added another degree of difficulty in recent years.

Retirement saving is not a pleasant task. It involves a lot of detail work, not to mention the sacrifice of actually putting aside the money. However, sooner or later, you will have to come up with a plan. The key is the longer before retirement you come up with that plan, the more options you'll have for making it work.

More from MoneyRates.com:

Small salary? Here's how to save for retirement

Over 40 with no retirement savings? Take these 6 steps

Do retirement planning tools do more harm than good?

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