The Big Squeeze
The pressure is on baby boomers saving for retirement. Many also face college tuition and caring for a parent
In his State of the Union address, President Bush made a pledge to Americans 55 and older. Yes, it's true he plans to overhaul the nation's retirement safety net, he said. But "for you," he promised, "the Social Security system will not change in any way."
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How about workers who were born in 1950 or later? What kind of guarantee do they get?
Apparently none in today's retirement world. For workers in their mid-40s and 50s, the specter of Social Security reform adds yet another air of uncertainty to their retirement plans. Already shaken by a three-year bear market at the start of this decade, and a listless market now, workers must also confront an ever-changing global economy and, for many, the squeeze presented by the need to finance college tuitions and care for aging parents. Many of them are facing this uncertain age with only the barest of financial preparation: Forty-one percent of workers ages 45 to 54 have less than $25,000 saved up for retirement.
But even those who have planned by the book are enduring their share of anxiety. For much of their careers, Paul and Margaret Eberts of West Chester, Pa., have done the right thing by saving 10 to 15 percent of their annual income.
The crunch years. But while Paul, 48, and Margaret, 47, make a decent living--he's a family practice physician while she works part time as a physician in occupational medicine--the Eberts aren't so sure they'll be able to keep hitting those targets. That's because "the crunch years" are just a couple years off, says Paul.
Paul and Margaret have four kids: two boys and two girls ages 16, 14, 12, and 10. Between 2007 (when their oldest starts college) and 2017 (when their youngest is expected to finish up her undergraduate work), the Eberts's biggest financial obligation will be paying for college "It's going to be a real question mark whether we'll be able to contribute the max to our retirement plans," during this stretch, says Paul who will be 60 at the end of it.
"Young boomers are running out of time to save," says Mike Scarborough, president of the Scarborough Group, a retirement planning advisory firm.
Assuming current expectations for Social Security benefits, only around 40 percent of workers born between 1951 and 1960 are on track to have enough money to cover basic expenses in retirement, based on their current savings and investment behavior. That's according to an analysis by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. "And that's just to meet basic living expenses," says EBRI Chief Executive Officer Dallas Salisbury. As anyone reaching middle age knows, life can throw out a curve ball, like an illness or the loss of a job.
Already, the boomer generation has borne the brunt of the seismic shift in the private sector, from traditional pensions--with their promise of income for life--to do-it-yourself retirement plans like 401(k)'s, which put workers at the mercy of the markets.
Even boomers lucky enough to be covered by traditional pensions are waking up to a new reality: It turns out those guaranteed benefits aren't necessarily guaranteed after all. Many pilots and flight attendants at United Airlines, for example, are likely to see their pensions slashed now that the struggling airline has been allowed to offload its pension to the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. Other employers could follow United's example.
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