Retirement Readiness Assessment
Middle-class Americans who are near retirement or entering their retirement face a very real danger of outliving their savings. A recent study by Ernst & Young found that almost three out of five new middle-class retirees will outlive their financial assets if they attempt to maintain their pre-retirement standard of living. For middle-income Americans without a guaranteed source of income beyond Social Security, the study concludes they will have to reduce their standard of living by an even greater amount (on average 32 percent) to minimize the likelihood of outliving their assets. This reduction takes into account that a couple in retirement is already expected to live on 59 to 71 percent of their pre-retirement income.
