The point of this article is that in the USA, the “retirement safety net” is Social Security, which only covers about 45% of the retirement needs of the average retiree. The article does not even bring up the potential of the Social Security system to go broke in about 25 years, but that’s another story.

The remaining 55% of the average retiree’s needs either has to be made up by private savings or through corporate pensions. Since fewer than 1 in 12 people now can expect to receive a pension, the 401(k) or other savings vehicle is the account of choice.

As we know, these accounts have been heavily invested in the stock market. Since the markets have taken such a dive, many people’s retirement plans have been put on “hold” until the markets come back, or until they make additional contributions to build their account balances back up.

Visit www.nytimes.com for the article.

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