Senator Bernie Sanders is raising a red flag that more than half of Americans over 65 are virtually in the red.
Citing government data from the National Retirement Risk Index, he warns in a new report that nearly half of Americans 55 and older have no retirement savings.
Further, nearly 5.3 million Americans aged 65 and older — nearly one in ten — live in poverty.
Sanders’ findings also show that nearly 30% of the American workforce had a defined benefit retirement plan in 1975; now, only 13.5% do.
He also explains that nearly 57 million Americans “do not have a way to save for retirement easily” — that is, having automatic retirement deductions from their weekly paychecks — and just 13.5% of workers have a pension.
Sanders concludes in his report, “After a lifetime of hard work, Americans deserve to retire with dignity. But with our retirement system focused on increasing profits for Wall Street, a financially secure retirement is beyond the grasp of many workers. The time to change that is now.”
He notes that both voters for his party and Republicans are concerned about making ends meet in their golden years, citing data showing 81% of Americans “across party lines are concerned about retirement.”