“The Financial Times reports today that the “U.S. is building toward a pensions crisis,” noting that “roughly 45% of working-age households have no retirementsavings.” Forgive me if I don’t wet my pants. Figures like these tell us very, very little about how well Americans are preparing for retirement. In fact, as my new American Enterprise Institute paper shows, better data tell a better story. More people are saving for retirement, and fewer people need to be saving for retirement, than the Financial Times would have you believe. In reality, most Americans who should be saving for retirement are doing so.
If you look at the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances, it’s indeed true that in 2013 only about 45 percent of households aged 25 to 64 had balances in retirement accounts. But does that mean that 45 percent of households “have no retirement savings”? Not at all.” -Forbes