Americans are failing to save enough for retirement in the United States, and many are looking overseas for a better alternative.
The latest “Preparing for Retirement in America” report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute and Greenwald and Associates confirms that things are officially worse than predicted. Only 65% of workers surveyed have retirement savings—a drop of 10% since the previous survey in 2009.
While many analysts suggest the average person needs to save US$1 million for retirement, 28% of workers reported they have saved less than US$1,000 for retirement.
Almost one third of those surveyed have no retirement savings at all, and many admit to being worried about the future. The survey found savings were significantly higher when workers were part of a retirement plan like an IRA, a contribution plan such as a 401(k), or a pension plan. However, federal government statistics suggest that up to 50 million working-age Americans do not have the opportunity to enroll in a 401(k) plan.
According to the Centre for Disease Control’s most recent statistics, in 1970 a 65-year-old man could expect to live 13 more years; in 2011, that figure had risen to 18 years. Life expectancy for a 65-year-old woman rose from 17 years in 1970 to 20 years in 2011.
With health care costs in the United States continuing to rise, and people living longer after stopping work, retirees are looking abroad for better cheaper alternatives overseas. According to Live and Invest Overseas’ 2014 Retire Overseas Index, some 1.4 million Americans are retired overseas.
Growing populations of U.S. retirees can be found throughout South and Central America, in Asia, and, increasingly, given the strong U.S dollar, in parts of Europe.
Of the Americans who received their Social Security checks outside of the United States in February 2015, Canada was the most common country, with 109,245 recipients. Second was Japan with 65,227 recipients. Mexico was third with 54,954 recipients.
