According to this article on Streetwise Journal, a new survey from Willis Towers shows that only 5% of employers offer guaranteed income as a part of their retirement plan.
This survey result would be laughable if it weren’t so scary. How could employers adopt 401(k) plans that replaced pensions without providing guaranteed lifetime income options?
It’s like trading in your car without getting one with all four tires.
This is easily fixed by giving employees the unfettered right to roll out their funds. If you won’t offer guaranteed income options, don’t prevent your employees from accessing them elsewhere.
The Michigan State University extension recently answered the question “How much money does it take to retire?”
However, this short and useful paper misses a key part of the retirement puzzle. Americans uniquely have a large part of their wealth in their homes.
But that value is usually excluded from the savings number or amount of money required for retirement because it’s not an investment and not perceived to be liquid.
It is an asset that can be converted, though, at least in part, to income. It’s about time that people start to factor in a portion of the equity of their home into their retirement equation.