How Would More Saving Affect the National Retirement Risk Index?

The brief’s key findings are:

• 50 percent of working-age households are at risk of falling short in retirement.
• The question is how much would additional retirement saving improve the picture?
• The results show that boosting the 401(k) contribution rate for eligible workers by 5 percentage points would only modestly reduce retirement risk overall.
• The impact would be a bit larger if all workers had access to an employer-based retirement plan, but – even then – many households would still be at risk.
• The only way to make dramatic progress is to combine saving more with working two years longer, which cuts the share of “at risk” households to about 25 percent.