According to the Associated Press, countless baby boomers are at risk of losing their retirements. When most of the baby boomers entered the workforce in the late 1960s and 1970s, they thought that their careers would progress along pathways similar to those of their parents: stable companies, lengthy tenures on each job, predictable economic growth, and healthy pensions to fund the retirement that began at age 65.
Instead, many baby boomers are finding those pathways differing wildly, affected by a globalized economy that has increased economic instability and led to a decrease in traditional retirement mainstays like pension funds, healthy investment portfolios, and even the continued viability of Social Security.
Which factors are eroding the traditional retirement?
* The AP article reports that employee membership in unions has declined substantially and now includes only 10 percent of eligible workers. As a result, unions are no longer in strong positions to fight for traditional retirement benefits like pensions.
* While one in three private sector employers offered retirement funds with defined benefits in 1990, only one in five did so in 2005.
* The Washington Post reports that only one in three firms with less than 25 employees offer any retirement plans at all.
* Reuters reports that there is a decline in financial literacy, and too many workers have moved away from professionally-managed retirement pensions and attempted to go it alone.
* US News elaborates, saying that 72 percent of retirement funds were managed by corporations in 1975, compared to 23 percent in 2011.
* More than half of all retirees suffer penalties for filing early for Social Security, before full retirement age, reducing their yearly benefits by about 8 percent.
* According to USA Today, far too few workers are saving enough money, with 56 percent reporting less than $25,000 in savings in December 2011.
* 54 percent of retirees have less than $25,000 saved, which is up from 42 percent in 2006.
* Baby boomers incorrectly predicted that they could rely on Social Security, which only pays for about 40 percent of most retirees' needs.
* Increasing college tuition costs mean that older workers in their late 40s and 50s, after helping fund children's college educations, have little left for their retirements.
* The Washington Post says that the average savings of someone approaching retirement is $78,000, leaving the a retiree with an average life expectancy barely $3,100 per year to live on, thereby forcing them to rely on Social Security and Medicare.
* A MetLife found that nearly 40 percent of workers plan to rely mostly (or completely) on Social Security for retirement, while an additional 30 percent expect it to pay a major role.
* The average Social Security check is $1,200 per month.
* Congressional tax incentives have focused on assisting the viability of 401 (k) plans, used more often by higher-income employees, while lower-income workers have less government incentive assistance in saving for retirement.
* According to US News, the creation of the 401(k) and IRA made more workers responsible for their own retirement investing, placing many of them under the guidance of financial advisers who often lacked oversight or high performance standards.
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