The financial gap between what Americans need for retirement and what they have is $4.6 trillion as a national aggregate and an average $48,000 per person, according to congressional testimony by the Employee Benefit Research Institute.
Jack VanDerhei, EBRI's research director, was among those testifying at a hearing Thursday, The Wobbly Stool: Retirement (In)security in America, convened by the Senate Committee on Health, Education and Labor. Testimony and video of the hearing on U.S. retirement income adequacy is available online.
EBRI is a research institute based in Washington, D.C., that focuses on retirement and economic security issues. Its analysis estimates how much money will be needed for "basic" expenses (such as food and shelter) and uninsured health care costs in retirement, and what financial resources retirees are likely to have.
The deficit projection assumes no changes to the current Social Security benefit structure. If Social Security benefits were to be eliminated, the aggregate deficit would jump to $8.5 trillion and the average amount would increase to about $89,000.
