Retirement planning looks as daunting as ever, according to a new survey. Although the stock market has rebounded, only 14 percent of Americans, a historic low, are very confident their savings and retirement planning will be adequate.

A ruthless job market, suffocating household debt and a shocking decline in the stock market have left millions of Americans feeling fragile and with little confidence they will ever have the money toretire.

Retirementconfidence is at a historic low: Only 14 percent of Americans are very confident that they will be able toretirewith adequate money, according to research released Tuesday by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. About 60 percent of workers say their household savings and investments total less than $25,000.

EBRI has been surveyingretirementconfidence for 22 years, and the number hasn't improved since 2009. That's when about 17 percent of workers were unemployed or underemployed, and when a 57 percent decline in the stock market left workplace 401(k)retirementsavings accounts in ruins. Confidence hasn't snapped back despite improving employment numbers and a 110 percent climb in the stock market since the devastation of the 2008-2009 crash.

"We were quite shocked," said EBRI research director Jack VanDerhei. He had assumed people would be more optimistic after "a fairly decent rebound" in the stock market and economy in 2010.

On the other hand, behavioral research shows that sharp losses can leave people feeling vulnerable for years. Even teens who watch families struggle through recessions doubt their control over their careers, said Antonio Spilimbergo and Paola Giuliano in a National Bureau of Economic Research paper.

EBRI also found that many people don't trust their jobs or investments to provide the money they will need for retirement. Fewer than 3 in 10 are very confident that they will have paid employment for as long as they need it. And 42 percent identify job uncertainty as an immediate concern. Only 16 percent are very confident that their investments will grow, and a mere 8 percent of workers are very confident the economy will grow at least 3 percent a year for the next 10 years.

Debt continues its stranglehold on households. Almost two-thirds of workers consider their current level of debt to be a problem.

Under the pressures of the past few years, many have used up savings, and fewer people are stashing anything away. In the recent EBRI survey, 58 percent said either they or a spouse was saving money for retirement. That's significantly less than 2009, when 65 percent were saving.

"Workers are falling further behind, and they know it," said Mathew Greenwald of Mathew Greenwald & Associates, who worked on the study with EBRI. About 67 percent say they are "behind schedule" with saving.

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Retirement planning: Stocks rebound, not confidence

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05-02-2012 12:41 This is a party everyone who likes MMA should attend

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Chael Sonnen Hosts Anderson Silvas Retirement Party - Video

Here's our retirement crisis in a nutshell: Americans realize that they need to work longer and save more, but in many cases they can't.

Reality intrudes in the form of layoffs, a chronically weak job market and sometimes poor health. Having skimped on saving in their younger years, folks know they should stay on the job well past age 65, but then they're forced to quit sooner.

In the Employee Benefit Research Institute's annual retirement confidence survey, 37 percent of respondents said they intend to work past 65. That's up from just 11 percent in 1991, which means that a generation of workers has largely discarded their parents' notion of a traditional retirement age.

When the EBRI talked to retirees, though, half said they had left the work force unexpectedly. Often, having to leave ahead of schedule led to worries about having enough money to cover even basic expenses.

In another mismatch between expectations and reality, 70 percent of workers think they'll work a part-time job in retirement, but only 27 percent of current retirees are doing so. A lot of people, then, are counting on income that won't be there when they need it.

Folks do realize that they may have to cut back. Only 14 percent of workers expressed confidence that they'll be able to afford a comfortable retirement. When pollsters asked about paying for medical expenses and long-term care, the very confident number falls as low as 9 percent.

The insecure majority of workers aren't just being worrywarts, either. They're responding to some very troubling trends in the economy.

The level of job insecurity is something we hadn't found before, said Craig Copeland, a senior research associate at the EBRI. We are seeing that even people with jobs feel that a lack of job security is one of the biggest concerns they have.

Furthermore, even people who have good jobs probably don't have a traditional pension plan, at least not in the private sector. Most of us are responsible for our own retirement security.

And most of us are falling short. More than 60 percent of workers, and 55 percent of retirees, have less than $25,000 in any form of savings, the EBRI found. That's not much, considering that many folks can expect to live 20 years or more in retirement.

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The retirement crisis: Even when we need to work longer, many of us can't

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13-03-2012 13:38 * Youtube Fair use of video policy. Freedom of information 2012. Video used only for informational purposes and not for anything else. * video Source: Bravotv Sean Avery Retirement Anouncement made on Bravotv's television talk show "Watch What Happens Live" This video wasn't available to Canadians for some dumb reason.. so here it is for the world! enjoy! 🙂 Speculation was at first from multiple sports news source that he was seriously retiring.. however his agent openly said it wasn't serious. What does everyone think really?

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Sean Avery Retirement Anouncement 3/13/2012 - Video

The numbers demonstrate how ill-prepared most Americans are for retirement and the daunting circumstances that will make the twilight years difficult for late-generation baby boomers and Generation X.

People in their 30s to 50s are less likely to have pensions than previous generations. Their retirement savings are mired in a low-interest environment. They are expected to live longer than people in previous generations. And health care in their retirement years is projected to be far more expensive than it has been.

The Windsor-based trade group LIMRA, which used to be called the Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association, has tracked how much people are setting aside for their retirement, what people are expecting from retirement and how those paths are diverging.

"Too many Americans are headed for retirement hell," LIMRA CEO and President Robert A. Kerzner said in an interview with The Courant. "They are not going to have the retirement of their dreams."

Two main issues are undermining retirement security people are likely to live longer and they won't have enough money, according to LIMRA, the largest research firm for the life insurance and financial services industry.

Boston College's Center for Retirement Research, in its 2009 National Risk Index, said, "This gloomy forecast is due to the changing retirement income landscape. Baby Boomers and Generation Xers will be retiring in a substantially different environment than their parents did. The length of retirement is increasing as the average retirement age hovers at 63 and life expectancy continues to rise."

A LIMRA analysis of how much U.S. households saved in investable assets including 401(k) accounts and IRAs, but not including home values or pensions shows that 35 percent have less than $10,000. Another 24 percent of households have from $10,000 to $49,999. And 11 percent have from $50,000 to $99,999.

That means 70 percent of Americans have less than $100,000 saved for retirement, not including their pension, Social Security payments and the value of their home. The percentage of working Americans who said they have less than $25,000 in savings and investments has increased from 48 percent to 56 percent between 2007 and 2011.

In a report last year, the American Academy of Actuaries suggested that individuals plan to save $20,000 per year for 25 years, or $500,000. The academy also suggests putting money into an annuity for timed distributions rather than a lump-sum distribution.

How much a person needs for retirement depends on the person, the quality of life they want in retirement, how long they will live, where they will live, monthly expenses and many other factors that are personal and difficult to foresee. However, companies that offer retirement-savings funds recommend a retiree have monthly income that is 75 percent of their working income. Retirement income might include Social Security, a pension and savings.

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'Retirement Hell' Forecast By Windsor-Based LIMRA

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13-03-2012 17:22 Former State School Superintendent Nancy Grasmick kicks retirement to the curb and assumes a leadership position with Towson University.

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Despite all of the numbers and ratios surrounding it, retirement planning is not an exact science. You want to put enough away in your savings accounts to live comfortably throughout your golden years, yet knowing precisely how long those will last -- and accordingly, how much money you'll need -- is impossible.

But while you can't know exactly when you'll die, some of the latest developments in DNA research make it possible to tease out genetic traits that may offer clues about the length of your life. Could tests like these someday impact your retirement planning -- particularly if you learn your lifespan may stretch beyond the average?

Telomeres and aging

Research has indicated that your telomeres may offer some useful clues about your potential lifespan. Telomeres are pieces of DNA found at the end of chromosomes. As people age, their telomeres shorten. Shortened telomeres can also signal an increased risk for heart disease. According to a University of Copenhagen study, shortened telomeres are linked to an increased risk of heart attack and early death by 50 and 25%, respectively.

Life Length is a manufacturer planning to roll out a blood test to measure telomeres. The test, expected to be available in Europe and Asia this year, will cost $700. A member of the company's scientific advisory board told ABC News last year that the test would be able to predict within a decade an individual's biological age -- a potential clue in determining the person's lifespan.

But if a $700 test doesn't sound prudent to you, it's not the only thing you could use in estimating how long you''ll live. Since longevity -- or the lack of it -- runs in some families, looking to your parents and grandparents can offer some insight on what kind of lifespan you might expect.

Longer lives for everyone

Once you have some clues on how long you may live, what can that information mean for your retirement? Certainly, you don't want to quit saving for retirement -- even if you don't think you'll make it much past age 65. Medicine has come a long way in recent years. Consider the fact that the average life span was only 47.3 years for those born in 1900, and is now 77.9 for children born in 2007. Make no mistake: Your father's death at 59 is no reason to short-change your retirement.

So how much do you need? Perhaps more than you think. Recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics says that the average 50-year-old will spend $1.4 million on their way to age 81. Those who hit age 100 can expect spending during the second half of their lives to top $2 million.

In addition, centenarians aren't a rarity anymore. The Census Bureau estimates there will be more than 600,000 individuals aged 100 or older by 2050. At the same time, the Census Bureau estimates the average retirement age will actually drop. In 2050, it estimates the average age at retirement will be 63. So while the average retirement period is expected to be nearly 22 years, centenarians will need enough in reserve to cover at least 37 years.

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Should Your DNA Affect Your Retirement Planning?

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- I'm a 65-year-old retiree who has a comfortable pension and retirement savings that, for now at least, I don't need for living expenses. About a year ago I moved my savings into cash because I was worried about the unstable stock market and the crisis in Europe. I hate to see this money earn nothing, but I don't want to lose it if the stock market dives. Should I leave my savings in cash? Invest it in short-term bonds? Should any of it go into stocks? -- Don S.

Given all the turmoil in the economy and the financial markets the past couple of years, it's not surprising that you want to be careful about keeping your retirement stash secure.

But fleeing to cash to protect your savings is an ill-advised move that can backfire. In fact, in your case it already has.

Since you pulled out of the market a year ago, stocks have gained almost 10%, while bonds have returned roughly 7%. Which means that even the most conservative mix of stocks and bonds would have given you a much better return than, say, a money-market fund, which likely earned less than 0.1% over the past year. So in the short-term at least, your gambit didn't pay off.

As for the long-term, moving to cash and staying put would make your savings safer in the sense that your money will be insulated from the market's gyrations. But there's a big drawback as well.

The returns on secure vehicles like savings accounts, money funds and the like barely keep pace with inflation over long stretches. After paying income taxes on gains, the real value of your savings could actually shrink as you age.

So if a dash into cash isn't the right way to go, what's a 65-year-old who doesn't want to see his nest egg scrambled to do?

Your first move should be to adjust your focus to the longer term. Right now, you're thinking only of how to protect your savings from what may happen in the market over the next few weeks or months.

Based on life expectancy for someone your age, you have a 50-50 chance of living another 20 years or so. And since life expectancy represents only the average life span, you have a good shot at living much longer. So even though you're retired, you should invest as if you'll be doing so for a long time. I generally tell retirees they should plan as if they'll live into their early 90s, longer if they come from a family with a history of longevity.

That means you want to invest your savings in a blend of stocks, bonds and cash that will not only give you some protection from short-term market drops, but enough long-term growth potential to maintain the purchasing power of your nest egg as well.

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Fleeing to cash won't protect retirement savings

I'm a 65-year-old retiree who has a comfortable pension and retirement savings that, for now at least, I don't need for living expenses. About a year ago I moved my savings into cash because I was worried about the unstable stock market and the crisis in Europe. I hate to see this money earn nothing, but I don't want to lose it if the stock market dives. Should I leave my savings in cash? Invest it in short-term bonds? Should any of it go into stocks? -- Don S.

Given all the turmoil in the economy and the financial markets the past couple of years, it's not surprising that you want to be careful about keeping your retirement stash secure.

But fleeing to cash to protect your savings is an ill-advised move that can backfire. In fact, in your case it already has.

Since you pulled out of the market a year ago, stocks have gained almost 10%, while bonds have returned roughly 7%. Which means that even the most conservative mix of stocks and bonds would have given you a much better return than, say, a money-market fund, which likely earned less than 0.1% over the past year. So in the short-term at least, your gambit didn't pay off.

As for the long-term, moving to cash and staying put would make your savings safer in the sense that your money will be insulated from the market's gyrations. But there's a big drawback as well.

Best Places to Retire

The returns on secure vehicles like savings accounts, money funds and the like barely keep pace with inflation over long stretches. After paying income taxes on gains, the real value of your savings could actually shrink as you age.

So if a dash into cash isn't the right way to go, what's a 65-year-old who doesn't want to see his nest egg scrambled to do?

Your first move should be to adjust your focus to the longer term. Right now, you're thinking only of how to protect your savings from what may happen in the market over the next few weeks or months.

Based on life expectancy for someone your age, you have a 50-50 chance of living another 20 years or so. And since life expectancy represents only the average life span, you have a good shot at living much longer. So even though you're retired, you should invest as if you'll be doing so for a long time. I generally tell retirees they should plan as if they'll live into their early 90s, longer if they come from a family with a history of longevity.

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Retirement asset mix - stocks, bonds and cash

PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Standard Retirement Services, Inc. (The Standard), now offers advisors more customized retirement plan solutions for their clients. After listening to feedback from the advisor community, The Standard has responded with a more flexible service offering in which advisors can now choose from a broader suite of services to select those services that best complement their practices and mitigate their risks.

The heart of our support has always been a service offering that allows us to adjust what we provide based on each advisors capabilities, said Dan Hall, vice president of Retirement Plan Sales. We believe this produces an alliance that complements the expertise that advisors bring to their clients while ensuring that the plan and its participants have access to a full range of services.

Advisors who partner with The Standard have the power to design a customized retirement plan solution that works to address each clients unique needs. This begins with The Standards essential plan services, which include recordkeeping and online tools, as well as employee services, including a participant call center, quarterly newsletter and enrollment communication materials.

Advisors can then select which additional services, if any, they want to provide to each client and which services they would like The Standard to handle. Advisors can choose from the following menu of services:

We realize that employers look to their advisors when it comes to choices for their retirement plans, Hall said. Advisors can look to The Standard and our flexible service offering for customized solutions that maximize the value that they can offer their clients and help employees reach retirement readiness.

Disclosure

StanCorp Equities, Inc., member FINRA, distributes group annuity contracts issued by Standard Insurance Company and may provide other brokerage services. Third-party administrative services are provided by Standard Retirement Services, Inc. Investment advisory services are provided by StanCorp Investment Advisers, Inc., a registered investment advisor.

About The Standard

The Standard is a leading provider of financial products and services, including group and individual disability insurance, group life, AD&D, dental and vision insurance, retirement plans products and services, individual annuities and investment advice. For more information about The Standard, visit http://www.standard.com.

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The Standard Enhances Flexibility of Retirement Plan Services