A recent report estimates that a 65-year-old couple will need $215,000 to cover health care expenses in retirement, including costs for Medicare Part B and Part D and supplemental insurance. This amount does not include potential long-term-care expenses. It was estimated that a 65-year-old earning $60,000 in the year he/she retires could spend approximately half of pretax Social Security benefits on health care (Source: PlanSponsor.com, 2007).
In 2006, 20 million workers owned stock in the company that employed them, through 401(k) plans, employee stock option plans, direct stock grants, or similar plans. An additional 10.6 million workers had stock options (Source: National Center for Employee Ownership, 2007).
American homeowners spent 21% of income on housing costs in 2005 (Source: Journal of Financial Planning, March 2007).
Of individuals age 50 and older, 25.5% of men and 18.4% of women receive income from a pension or annuity, with an average annual income of $18,942 for men and $12,190 for women. This difference results from shortened careers of women and higher earnings of men (Source: Employee Benefit Research Institute, 2007).