Total household retirement savings have increased but what isdisconcerting is what people estimate their needs are, and how theyarrive at those estimates.(Photo: Getty)

Ten years ago, Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11bankruptcy, an event commonly regarded as the straw that broke thecamel's back, sending equity markets and ultimately the economyinto a tailspin that resulted in the deepest recession since theGreat Depression.

Now, household income is at record highs, wage growth is thefastest in a decade, and average 401(k) and IRA account balancestop six figures for the first time on record.

But are Americans better prepared for retirement today than they were atthe front of the Great Recession?

That's the question The Transamerica Center for RetirementStudies, a nonprofit funded by Transamerica Life Insurance Company,set out to answer in a recent paper comparing its data from 2007 to2017.

The answer? By many real measurements, Americans are betterpositioned for retirement today. But “better” comes withasterisks.

Total household retirement savings have increased considerably.In 2017, median savings were $70,000, compared to $47,000 in2007.

Millennials saw a four-fold increase, from $9,000 to $36,000.Gen Xers saw their median savings more than double, from $32,000 to$71,000, as did Boomers, whose savings increased from $75,000 to$157,000.

While impressive, TCRS's analysis acknowledges that workers are“not saving enough to fully fund their retirement incomeneeds.”

Perhaps more disconcerting is what people estimate their needsare, and how they arrive at those estimates.

In 2007, the median estimate of what savers felt they needed tofruitfully survive retirement was $650,000. By 2017, the number was$500,000.

Before the recession, about half of workers said they guessed attheir estimations. Another 22 percent based their retirement needson current living expenses, and just 10 percent used a retirementcalculator to arrive at their number.

Despite the broad initiatives from service providers, employers, and efforts by regulators andlawmakers, those numbers remained largely unchanged in 2017.

Plan participation, deferral rates hold steady, while leakageoccurs at high rate

Participation rates for workers with access to anemployer-sponsored retirement plan held steady during the decade,around 80 percent. Average deferrals increased from 8 percent to 9percent.

Plan leakage, in the form of loans or early withdrawals,happened for 30 percent of savers in 2017. TCRS did not break thatnumber out in its 2007 research.

Employer sponsorship of plans remained unchanged—72 percent.TCRS noted a slight increase in the incidence of employermatches—from 80 percent in 2007 to 84 percent in 2017.

Catherine Collinson, CEO of TCRS and author of the study, saysthe fact that plan sponsorship did not plummet as the economyrecovered from recession is testament to the strength of thedefined contribution retirement system.

“Our nation's retirement system and, specifically 401(k) plans,demonstrated strong resilience throughout the Great Recession andsubsequent economic recovery. Plan sponsorship rates amongemployers remained steady – and some employers enhanced their planswith additional features,” writes Collinson.

Of those companies that did not offer a plan in 2017, only 27percent reported they were likely to sponsor a plan in the next twoyears. The size of the company and the cost of offering a plan werecited as reasons for not offering a savings plan. But when askedwhether they would join a multiple employer plan, 25 percent saidthey would consider doing so.

Notably, automatic enrollment as a design feature decreased overthe decade, from 23 percent to 20 percent. But the median defaultrate for those plans that use the feature increased from 3 percentto 5 percent.

TCRS's study found that large numbers of savers and employersare still recovering from the Great Recession. More than half ofsavers said they had not fully recovered, including seven percentthat claim they may never fully recover. In 2017, half of employerstold TCRS that they are still recovering from the recession.