Americans save for retirement through a number of different avenues. In addition to personal savings, workers build wealth through homeownership, pension plans, retirement accounts, and Social Security. Ideally, workers build suf icient wealth during their careers to maintain their pre- retirement lifestyles after they leave the paid labor market, but many appear to fall short (Penner 2008a)…
By: Boomer Market Advisor
Statistics show that baby boomers today control more than $13 trillion in household investable assets, or over 50% of total U.S. household investment assets.1 Projections also show that nearly one in every six Americans will be 65 or older by the year 2020.2 Given the increasing number of investors who will need advice and guidance, financial services firms are actively developing new products and seeking to provide financial advice and services to investors as they prepare for and reach retirement.…
By: Boomer Market Advisor
House prices rose 60 percent between 2000 and 2007 before the housing bubble burst. The question is whether the housing boom made people better or worse prepared for retirement. If they extracted the equity from their home through some form of housing-related debt and consumed all their borrowings, they will be left with additional debt and no additional assets and probably will be worse off in retirement. If they did not borrow and consume their equity, they will have more housing wealth to tap in retirement and will be better off.…
By: Boomer Market Advisor
This brief examines whether households have a good sense of their own retirement preparedness -- do their retirement expectations match the reality that they face? Do people "at risk" know that they are "at risk?" The first section summarizes the NRRI and compares households' self-assessed preparedness to the objective measure provided by the NRRI. The second section describes the characteristics of house- holds associated with being too optimistic or too pessimistic. The last section of this brief introduces health care costs into the analysis.…
By: Boomer Market Advisor
While Boomers (born between 1946-1964) have often been referred to as the "Me Generation," now, having experienced the personal and historical events that define their values as a generation, many Boomers are giving careful thought to helping others. In fact, four in five Boomers say "I have been very fortunate in life," and this positive view of their lives is manifested in finding ways to sharing their good fortune.…
By: Boomer Market Advisor
An online study was conducted from July 8 to July 20, 2008 among 1010 advisors employed by independent investment firms with assets custodied at Charles Schwab Institutional.…
By: Boomer Market Advisor
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