A panel of experts on retirement testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing & Urban Affairs this week to address the question of whether the middle class can afford to retire.

Given the increasing shortcomings of traditional retirement plans such as 401(k)s and IRAs, as well as the growing pressures on the future of Social Security, more Americans will have to bolster their savings with additional sources of income, said Monique Morrissey, an economist at the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute.

"Most Americans approaching retirement have little or nothing saved in retirement accounts. In 2010, 40 percent of families in their peak savings years (ages 55 to 64) had nothing saved in retirement accounts and 10 percent had $12,000 or less," she stated.

Continue Reading for Free

Register and gain access to:

  • Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.