Thread: 16 Statistics About The Coming Retirement Crisis That Will Drop Your Jaw

16 Statistics About The Coming Retirement Crisis That Will Drop Your Jaw

Michael Snyder | Jan. 5, 2011, 9:03 PM



Do you hear that rumble in the distance? That is the Baby Boomers - they are getting ready to retire. On January 1st, 2011 the very first Baby Boomers turned 65. Millions upon millions of them are rushing towards retirement age and they have been promised that the rest of us are going to take care of them.

Only there is a huge problem. We don't have the money. It simply isn't there. But the millions of Baby Boomers getting ready to retire are counting on that money to be there. This all comes at a really bad time for a federal government that is already flat broke and for a national economy that is already teetering on the brink of disaster.

So just who are the Baby Boomers? Well, they are the most famous generation in American history. The U.S. Census Bureau defines the Baby Boomers as those born between January 1st, 1946 and December 31st, 1964. You see, after U.S. troops returned from World War II, they quickly settled down and everyone started having lots and lots of babies. This gigantic generations has transformed America as they have passed through every stage of life. Now they are getting ready to retire.

If you add 65 years to January 1st, 1946 you get January 1st, 2011.

The moment when the first Baby Boomers reach retirement age has arrived.

The day of reckoning that so many have talked about for so many years is here.

Today, America's elderly are living longer and the cost of health care is rising dramatically. Those two factors are going to make it incredibly expensive to take care of all of these retiring Baby Boomers.

Meanwhile, the sad truth is that the vast majority of Baby Boomers have not adequately saved for retirement. For many of them, their home equity was destroyed by the recent financial crisis. For others, their 401ks were devastated when the stock market tanked.

Meanwhile, company pension plans across America are woefully underfunded. Many state and local government pension programs are absolute disasters. The federal government has already begun to pay out more in Social Security benefits than they are taking in, and the years ahead look downright apocalyptic for the Social Security program.

If we are not careful all of these Baby Boomers are going to push us into national bankruptcy. We simply cannot afford all of the promises that we have made to them.

1- Beginning January 1st, 2011, for the next 19 years, every day more than 10,000 Baby Boomers will reach the age of 65

2- According to one recent survey, 36 percent of Americans say that they don't contribute anything at all to retirement savings

3- Most Baby Boomers do not have a traditional pension plan because they have been going out of style over the past 30 years

4- Over 30% of U.S. investors in their sixties have more than 80 percent of their 401k invested in equities. So what happens if the stock market crashes again?

5- 35% of Americans over the age of 65 rely almost entirely on Social Security payments

6- According to another recent survey, 24% of U.S. workers admit that they have postponed their planned retirement age at least once during the past year

7- Approximately 3 out of 4 Americans start claiming Social Security benefits the moment they are eligible at age 62

8- Pension consultant Girard Miller told California's Little Hoover Commission that state and local government bodies California have $325 billion in unfunded pension liabilities

9- According to a recent report from Stanford University, California's three biggest pension funds are $500 billion short of meeting future retiree benefit obligations

10- It has been reported that the $33.7 billion Illinois Teachers Retirement System is 61% underfunded and is on the verge of complete collapse

11- The 50 states are collectively facing $5.17 trillion in pension obligations, but they only have $1.94 trillion set aside in state pension funds

12- According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Social Security system will pay out more in benefits than it receives in payroll taxes in 2010

13- By 2025, it is projected that there will be approximately two U.S. workers for each retiree

14- According to a recent U.S. government report, soaring interest costs on the U.S. national debt plus rapidly escalating spending on entitlement programs will absorb approximately 92 cents of every single dollar of federal revenue by the year 2019

15- After analyzing Congressional Budget Office data, Boston University economics professor Laurence J. Kotlikoff concluded that the U.S. government is facing a "fiscal gap" of $202 trillion

16- According to a recent AARP survey of Baby Boomers, 40 percent of them plan to work "until they drop"