Though we have reverse mortgages available, you can’t help but think we’ll be enduring a baby-boomer housing liquidation sales event over the next 10-20 years.  I think it’s already underway, and disguised as those wanting to “downsize and travel a bit”. 

Hat tip to daytrip for sending this in from Wells:

https://www.wellsfargo.com/about/press/2014/middle-class-retirement-saving_1022.content

Saving for retirement is a formidable challenge for middle-class Americans, with 34% not currently contributing anything to a 401(k), an IRA or other retirement savings vehicle, according to the fifth annual Wells Fargo Middle-Class Retirement study.

Forty-one percent of middle-class Americans between the ages of 50 and 59 are not currently saving for retirement. Nearly a third (31%) of all respondents say they will not have enough money to “survive” on in retirement, and this increases to nearly half (48%) of middle-class Americans in their 50s.  Nineteen percent of all respondents have no retirement savings.

On behalf of Wells Fargo, Harris Poll conducted 1,001 telephone interviews from July 20 to August 25, 2014 of middle-class Americans between the ages of 25 and 75 with a median household income of $63,000.

Sixty-eight percent of all respondents affirm that saving for retirement is “harder than I anticipated.” Perhaps the difficulty has caused more than half (55%) to say they plan to save “later” for retirement in order to “make up for not saving enough now.”  For those between the ages of 30 and 49, 59% say they plan to save later to make up retirement savings, and 27% are not currently contributing savings to a retirement plan or account.

Sixty-one percent of all middle-class Americans, across all income levels included in the survey, admit they are not sacrificing “a lot” to save for retirement, whereas 38% say that they are sacrificing to save money for retirement.

While a majority of middle-class Americans say that they are not sacrificing a lot to save for retirement,  72% of all middle-class Americans say they should have started saving earlier for retirement, up from 65%  in 2013.

When respondents were asked if they would cut spending “tomorrow” in certain areas in order to save for retirement, half said they would: 56% say they would give up treating themselves to indulgences like spa treatments, jewelry, or impulse purchases; 55% say they’d cut eating out at restaurants “as often”; and 51% say they would give up a major purchase like a car, a computer or a home renovation.  Notably, fewer people (38%) report that they would forgo a vacation to save for retirement.

Read full article here:

https://www.wellsfargo.com/about/press/2014/middle-class-retirement-saving_1022.content

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