Why Do Americans Face A Retirement Crisis

For many people who are in their 20ies, the question “Will you be able to retire?” may still be sound very difficult. Most of the CSI students, for instance, would say that first things first. Of course most of the young people are concerned about getting a job, not about retiring. However, did any of them know that because the population is aging, Social Security’s trust funds are expected to be depleted in 2034? Furthermore, the median household in the age from 55 to 64 has little more than $100,000 in retirement savings. Can we conclude that a lots of Americans facing a retirement crisis? Will that affect the standard of living in later life?
The article “Is There Really a Retirement-Savings Crisis?” by Anne Tergesen, discusses the different opinions about this dilemma. The Wall Street Journal invited two famous economists to share their thoughts regarding this question: Alicia Munell- the director of Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research, and Andrew Briggs a resident scholar at the nonprofit American Enterprise Institute. …show more content…
She explained that we need more income because we are living longer and continue to retire relatively early. Andrew Biggs, has come to decision that most Americans are doing just fine. He has explained that a “retirement crisis” is when inadequate savings cause large numbers of households to face a substantial drop in their standard of living in retirement. In addition, more working-age Americans are saving for retirement than in the past. Federal Reserve data show that from 1981 to 2016, the total balances of 401(k)s- the data of retirement savings contributions are provided, IRAs and other retirement plans rose to 153% of GDP from