Retirement Plan? What Retirement Plan?

Peter Orszag, the head of the Congressional Budget Office said Americans’ retirement plans have lost as much as $2 trillion in the past 15 months. More than half the people surveyed in a recent poll said they worry they will have to work longer because the declining retirement savings.

Orszag said their fear is well-founded. Public and private pension funds and employees’ private retirement savings accounts such as 401(k)’s, have lost some 20% overall since mid-2007. Private retirement plans may have suffered slightly more, Orszag added.

A new AARP study found that because of the economic downturn, one in five workers, 45 and older, have stopped putting money into a 401(k), IRA or other retirement savings account during the past year, and nearly one in four has increased the number of hours they work. ❖