A new retirement readiness report initially appeared to find good news—two-thirds of Americans (67%) have at least some money invested in retirement accounts, even if 1 in 4 doesn't know how much they’ve saved.
Yet a deeper dive into the numbers revealed the racial savings gap’s extent—and seriousness.
The report from the TIAA Institute said a large majority of people across all races and ethnicities spend time thinking about retirement saving, precisely how much money they’ll need to save and how long it will take. It’s true for 70% of Hispanic Americans, 68% of White Americans, 66% of Black Americans, and 59% of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders.
But the report also highlighted stark differences in how many people have saved, how much they’ve saved, and how confident they are moving forward.
For example, 76% of Whites and 71% of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders have retirement accounts, yet it's true for only about half of Black (49%) and Hispanic (52%) Americans.
Many Hispanic (37%) and Black Americans (28%) who have not yet retired are unsure of how much they have saved, underscoring the significance of the uncertainty.
When measuring liquid, investable assets, Americans overall are more than twice as likely to have less than $50,000 (44%) as they are to have saved at least $500,000 (19%). All told, 15% have no liquid investable assets, including 1 in 4 Black, Native American, and Hispanic Americans.
Roughly 30% of Whites and Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders have saved at least $250,000 for retirement, almost twice the number of Hispanic Americans and Black Americans.
One-fourth of Black Americans expect they’ll need some kind of paid employment for income during their retirement, at least 10 percentage points higher than any other race or ethnicity.
The report concluded with a look at Social Security. Less than half of younger workers think they’ll have access to Social Security and employer pensions. Of those aged 22-34, just 47% think they’ll receive Social Security, and 15% believe they’ll receive a pension.
The full report can be found here.
