Nevin's Data "Points"

Several weeks back, I wrote a column entitled, “ 5 Things Millennials Need to Know About Saving for Retirement .” But what about those at the brink of retirement? Retirement seems close — perhaps too close for the comfort of Boomers, some of whom have already begun cycling into retirement. In fact, the youngest element of this cohort (born in 1964) is now already 51, and it’s said that 10,000 Boomers roll into retirement every day. That said, whether you’ve been saving or not, or not saving enough — here are six things Boomers need to know about saving for retirement. 1. Social Security won’t be as much as you think it will be. When you were your kids’ age(s), you too were likely disdainful about the long-term prospects for Social Security (and hey, your kids weren’t around for the  real  funding crisis back in the early 1980s!). That said, you’re not only close enough to collecting; many of you are probably in the age group where when politicians talk about making c...

Time marches on, and each generation comes to the workplace with its own unique set of experiences and expectations. Each August since 1998, Beloit University has published the Beloit College Mindset List , providing a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college in the fall. For example, the class of 2019 , who were for the most part were born in 1997, have never licked a postage stamp, never known a world without Google or Splenda, and have grown up in a world where wi-fi is an entitlement. Despite those differences, the class of 2019 will one day soon be faced with the same challenges of preparing for retirement as the rest of us. They’ll have to work through how much to save, how to invest those savings, what role (if any) Social Security will play, and — eventually — how and how fast to draw down those savings in retirement — whatever, and whenever, that turns out to be. Here are 10 things I think we’ll be able to say about most of the...

While retirement and retirement savings may not be high on your Independence Day weekend agenda, it can be a good time to focus on things that have been pushed aside for more pressing priorities. Here are four steps you can take this weekend that can help put you on the road to achieve financial independence. 1. Figure Out How Much You Need Yogi Berra once famously noted that if you don’t know where you’re going, you might not get there. Effective savings strategies start with a goal, something to aim for. For many, retirement savings goals seem impossible to set. After all, there’s no “blue book” on the cost or quality of retirement — no single answer to the question, “How much do I need?” As a result, many people fear that their estimates “aren’t even in the ballpark” of what will be required. The 2015 Retirement Confidence Survey affirmed a long-standing trend — that most haven’t made even a single attempt to figure out what they might need for retirement. There are, howeve...

Last week a reporter asked me what finding in the 2013 Retirement Confidence Survey¹most surprised me, before acknowledging that maybe there wasn’t anything to be surprised about in a survey that has now been conducted for nearly a quarter century.Sure enough, finding that retirement confidence is (still) at an all-time low stands out when you consider that is based on sentiments over a 23-year period.² Of course, you’re also able to note that it wasn’t that long ago (2007) when those sentiments were at an all-time high. As it turns out, the finding that stood out most to me in this year’s RCS was the response to a new question. While we have long asked about individual savings levels, and how much workers thought they would need to have accumulated by retirement in order to achieve a financially secure retirement, this year we also asked what percentage of their total household income they thought they would need to save each year from now until retirement so that they could live co...

As we close out 2012, and embark upon a new set of challenges in 2013, this week’s EBRIef offers a roundup of our 2012 research.  Best wishes for a Happy and Prosperous New Year! Share EBRIef with your friends and colleagues – and let them know they can sign up for their own copy HERE What’s New(s) – Health & Workforce “Findings from the 2012 EBRI/MGA Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey”  MORE . "Views on Employment-Based Health Benefits: Findings from the 2012 Health Confidence Survey"   MORE.  “Self-Insured Health Plans: State Variation and Recent Trends by Firm Size”  MORE . 'Savings Needed for Health Expenses for People Eligible for Medicare: Some Rare Good News,' and 'IRA Asset Allocation, 2010'   MORE . Employment-Based Retiree Health Benefits: Trends in Access and Coverage, 1997-2010”   MORE.  “Sources of Health Insurance and Characteristics of the Uninsured: Analysis of the March 2...

A couple of weeks back, I was on one of Virginia’s Civil War battlefields, looking to join one of the local park ranger tours. This particular one was scheduled to start deep within the park itself, and while I left home certain that I knew where I was heading, when I got there, I quickly discovered otherwise. Fortunately, or so I thought at the time, there were about a half dozen other individuals also looking to find the same tour. We quickly convened around a shared map, looked for landmarks, and—based on the collective sense of the group—headed off in what seemed to be the right direction. Five minutes later I began to suspect we were not heading in the right direction, and 15minutes later I was sure of it. Then I remembered that I had recently downloaded a smartphone “app” for this particular battlefield—one that not only contained a map, but also a GPS feature that allowed me to not only find where I was but to visualize where I needed to be. With that, we could ...