Will the Financial Fragility of Retirees Increase?

The brief’s key findings are:

• Retirees have long been seen as financially fragile – that is, ill-equipped to handle a financial shock without severe hardship.
• Interestingly, the research suggests that the vast majority of current retirees can weather shocks such as high medical bills and widowhood.
• Future retirees, however, face greater risk as most people are not saving enough and it is hard to manage a nest egg.
• The best responses are to reduce fixed expenses (e.g., downsize) and draw more income from assets (e.g., buy an annuity).