12.31.18
U.S. Retirees Try to Keep Cool as Stocks Tumble
by: Tim McLaughlin
Retirees are worrying about their savings as this month's sell-off rounds out the worst year for stocks in a decade. Although many industrialized countries still have generous safety nets for retirees, pensions for U.S. private-sector workers largely have been supplanted by 401(k) accounts and other private saving plans, meaning millions of older Americans are effectively their own pension managers. At the end of 2016, 69 percent of investors in their 60s had at least 40 percent of their 401(k) portfolio invested in stocks, up from 65 percent in 2007, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute. But only 19 percent had more than 80 percent of their 401(k) invested in stocks in 2016, down from 30 percent at year-end 2007.
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