Many 55-Plus Have Zero Savings for Retirement

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that close to half of Americans approaching retirement have nothing saved in a 401(k) or other individual account, although this is a slight improvement from several years earlier, reports The Columbian . According to the GAO, 48 percent of Americans 55 and older had empty 401(k)-style defined contribution plans or individual retirement accounts (IRAs) in 2016, up from 52 percent in 2013. Two out of five such households had access to a defined benefit plan, but 29 percent of older Americans had neither a pension nor any assets in a 401(k) or IRA account. The earlier report calculated that the median U.S. household, age 65 to 74, had about $148,000 saved, the equivalent of an inflation-protected annuity of $649 a month. "Social Security provides most of the income for about half of households age 65 and older," the GAO concluded.