Since IRA's and 401k's aren't included in the Commerce Department 's personal savings rate statistic, I'm looking for the number of people that actually use IRA's or 401k's for their savings. And, also, it would be nice to have an average amount in those accounts.
2007-02-02 05:09:03 · 4 answers · asked by dotTim 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Personal Finance
As pension plans becoming extinct, more and more companies are choosing 401(k) as a way for employees to save for retirement. In 2003, only 33% of American companies has a pension plan. It's only a matter of time when more than 80% of the working class will have a 401(k). There is no real number on how many people actually own a IRA, but the government knows that the IRA is becoming highly profitable as more and more people put away their money in it. Most young adults or college graduates don't even know what an IRA is until they read it somewhere or heard someone talking about it.
Base on a recent survey, 68% of Americans believe they have enough money saved for retirement. When ask how much they have saved for retirement, 55% said they have less $25,000 saved (management-issues.com April 5 2006).
I think this scary because when you retire, you going to need this money to last for at least another 20 to 30 years. If you are age 40 and you only have $25000 saved, you are in deep trouble. In 20 years, it might grow to $100,000 or more. If you want to comfortably live your retirement, you need to accumulate at least $1 million. While that may sound alot of money in today's dollars, 20 years from now, the cost of living is definetly going to be way higher than today.
2007-02-04 17:12:34 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Don't know about IRAs, but according to the sourced article below, 51 million Americans have a 401(k).
You might want to county 403(b)s and 529s too, since I think they're tax deductible, and wouldn't be counted in the savings rate. Same for most medical insurance payroll deductions, commuter benefits, etc.
2007-02-02 13:20:53 · answer #2 · answered by thefinancepirate 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
About 60% of people eligible to defer into a retirement account do that...assuming 100 million working people are eligible that's about 60 million.
I read somewhere that the average account balance in a 401k was about 15k. That tells me that while many people are saving, many more people are still taking cash distributions when they leave. This corresponds to what I see in my work place as well
2007-02-02 15:26:29 · answer #3 · answered by digdowndeepnseattle 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have a 301b, it's a pretax deduction like a 401k, but there's not much in it, since I just got it.
2007-02-02 13:19:02 · answer #4 · answered by nursesr4evr 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋