Are You Sure You're Saving Enough for Retirement

Bibliographic Data

ID4029909
AuthorsJ Skinner (0000-0001-5319-2606, John French Professor of Economics, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, and Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts.), James S Skinner (0000-0002-4760-9396, National Bureau of Economic Research, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume21
Issue3
Pages59-80
Publication date2007-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of Economic Perspectives (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0895-3309 • E-ISSN: 1944-7965
PublisherAmerican Economic Association (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1257/jep.21.3.59
OpenAlexW3123289953
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited28

Many view the soon-to-retire Baby Boomers as woefully unprepared for their golden years, while other economists have taken a more sanguine view of American levels of saving. And if Americans are failures at saving enough for retirement, why are some retirees so happy? The seemingly simple question of "Am I saving enough for retirement?" is apparently not so simple at all. Instead, it touches on a variety of deeper issues in economics, psychology, and health policy. I use the program ESPlanner to present life-cycle retirement wealth targets for a range of incomes and situations typical of American Economic Association members. (Readers are warned that life-cycle retirement wealth targets presented in this paper may lead to feelings of financial inadequacy

Actuarial science · Baby boomers · Economics · Feeling · Health and Retirement Study · Labour economics · Sociology · Financial Literacy, Pension, Retirement Analysis · Global Health Care Issues · Psychology · Retirement, Disability, and Employment · Social Psychology