EBRI Study: Retirement Readiness Rises with Age, But Not By Enough 

Sacramento-area 401(k) plan participants, in Smart Investor's experience, have a lot in common with average Americans. At least that's true in terms of average Americans as portrayed by the Employee Benefit Research Institute's (EBRI) 2012 Retirement Confidence Survey fact sheet, "Age Comparisons Among Workers."

"The closer people are to retirement, the more likely they are to take steps to insure they have a secure retirement," writes EBRI. Statistics show that the percentage of workers who have saved for retirement rises with each decade of age, except that the rates are roughly comparable for ages 35-44 and 45-55.

However, Smart Investor is concerned to see that almost half (48%) of all workers have saved less than $10,000. Of course, it's not surprising that this statistic rises--to 57%--for ages 25-34.

More than 70% of Americans older than 55 have saved less than $250,000, according to the EBRI report. Of these, 31% have saved less than $10,000. That's a scary number.

Retirement Savings Among Americans Age 55 or Older

These numbers are a good reminder of why your 401(k) plan is so important for your employees' retirement security.