Retirement is creeping up on millions of Americans, but the money to pay for it is not. A new national analysis finds the typical U.S. worker has less than $1,000 set aside for retirement, a sobering reality that Twin Cities financial advisers say should be a wake-up call, not a white flag.
According to the National Institute on Retirement Security, the median amount of retirement savings for employed adults ages 21 to 64 is just $955. The study, which draws on the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation, also finds that among workers who do have retirement accounts, the median balance is about $40,000, and an estimated 56 million private sector workers do not have access to an employer sponsored retirement plan.
That access gap matters because Social Security is still doing a lot of heavy lifting for older Americans, even as its own balance sheet looks wobbly. The Social Security trustees’ 2025 summary projects that if lawmakers do nothing, the combined trust fund reserves could be depleted in the mid 2030s and benefits would cover about 77 percent of what is scheduled, roughly a one in five cut in payouts, according to the Social Security trustees’ 2025 summary. Reporters have already connected the NIRS findings to trends like retirees heading back to work to make ends meet, as noted by CBS News…