Americans who currently contribute to a workplace retirement plan such as a 401(k) believe they will need $1.2 million in savings to retire comfortably, according to Schroders' 2026 US Retirement Survey.
About half of them shouldn't count on being able to do so. They're actually on track to have less than $500,000 in savings at retirement — including 24% who say it's unlikely they will have $250,000 set aside.
"Many participants know they're falling short of their retirement savings goals, and it's no surprise that more than 80% worry about running out of money in retirement," Deb Boyden, head of US defined contribution at Schroders, a multinational asset management company, told Yahoo Finance.
There are scads of reasons why that potential shortfall is not out of the realm of possibility, according to data crunched from US investors aged 30 to 79.
Schroders' survey was conducted by marketing consultancy 8 Acre Perspective from March 20 through April 15 among 1,500 US investors ages 30 to 79, including 382 retired respondents.
The most disturbing finding is that one-third of investors surveyed reported having more credit card debt than retirement savings.
Read more: Average retirement savings by state: Where are Americans saving the most — and least?
In the past two years, nearly 3 in 10 investors canvassed said they have slashed the amount they contribute to their workplace retirement plan.
The biggest stumbling block to saving for retirement for roughly 7 in 10 plan participants is the rising cost of essential expenses, such as healthcare, utility bills, insurance, and housing.
What's more, almost a third of retirement plan savers have no idea how their retirement assets are divvied up between stocks, bonds, and cash accounts.
Those investors who do have a read on how their retirement funds are invested are a wary bunch. Across all of their retirement accounts, including workplace plans, IRAs, and others, about a quarter of their savings are allocated to cash; 27% to equities, and 17% invested in bonds, according to the report.
For younger retirement savers with a long time horizon, cash should not be king. These cash-huggers, however, are doing so intentionally. It comes down to a fear of losing too much money if the stock market goes down, according to Boyden.
If you're not planning to retire in the next five years, holding one-quarter of your savings in cash comes with a significant opportunity cost, she added.
It's pretty tough to hit a six-figure savings target when you have such a whopping portion of your future retirement savings in a cash account yielding, say, under 3.6%—practically on par with the current inflation rate.
Source: Yahoo Finance Top News — This article was automatically imported from the source. Read full article at original source →
