Employee Benefit News

March 30, 2006

Real estate props up American nest eggs

America's nest eggs are dragged down by poor savings behavior, yet
are kept afloat by real estate assets and stock and bond gains,
according to the March 2006 Nest Egg Score, a survey of personal
finances by A.G. Edwards. The firm gave Americans a score of "fair,"
the third level in a ranking from excellent to poor.

About 55% of Americans listed the cost of covering day-to-day living
expenses as the biggest obstacle to building a retirement nest egg.
Other obstacles include: too little income (48%), too much debt
(28%), the cost of raising children (24%) and medical expenses
(21%).

More than half of adults (52%) listed reducing overall household
expenses as a high priority in the next 90 days, followed by paying
down credit card debt (47%) and paying more often with cash (45%).
Only 35% of U.S. adults cited increasing their after-tax savings as a
high near-term priority, and 17% considered increasing their pretax
savings in an employer-sponsored retirement plan a priority.

Among adults who plan to retire, 58% said they do not know what
size their nest eggs will need to be to live comfortably in retirement.
Among those ages 55 or older, 41% do not know how big their nest
egg will need to be.