Retirement Facts - Part 2


retirement facts part 2

We’re here with Part 2 of our Retirement Facts series. This week, we’re focusing on some demographics of retirement – marital status, age groups, and wealth segments.

For the purposes of these studies, the LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute defined “Single” as widowed, divorced, or never married, and the age of Married households is based on age of the oldest spouse.

 

Overview: Retired Households

Nearly 126 million households were surveyed in 2016.

34.7 million (28%) of the total households surveyed were partially/fully retired.

19.2 million (16%) were married households, 5.3 million (4%) were single men, and 10.1 million (8%) were single women.

 

Average Assets by Marital Status

Married households - $803,999 in average assets

Single men - $333,241 in average assets

Single women - $229,696 in average assets

 

Breaking these three groups down by age group:

Top 3 Age Groups with the Most in Average Assets by Martial Status

Married Households

 

Single Men

 

Single Women

Age Group

Average Assets

 

Age Group

Average Assets

 

Age Group

Average Assets

55 to 64

 $        806,550

 

75 or older

 $          504,031

 

65 to 74

 $          260,168

75 or older

 $        802,034

 

55 to 64

 $          324,581

 

75 or older

 $          206,402

65 to 74

 $        782,975

 

65 to 74

 $          292,806

 

55 to 64

 $          104,651

 

The asset differences between the top 3 married household age groups is relatively small, with only $23,575 between the 55 to 65 and 65 to 74 age groups.

The asset differences between the single men age groups is by far the largest, with $211,225 between the 75 or older and 65 to 74 age groups.

The asset differences between the single women age groups are also fairly large, with $155,517 between the 65 to 74 and 55 to 64 age groups.

 

Financial Products

95% of married households, 89% of single men, and 88% of single women own cash/cash equivalents.

Retirement/pension accounts are the second leading financial product. 62% of married households, 38% of single men, and 39% of single women own retirement/pension plans.

Deferred annuities are the least owned financial product. 4% of married households own them, 2% of single men own them, and 4% of single women own them.

 

Partially/Fully Retired Married, Single Men, and Single Women Households

The study defined 6 wealth segments by assets:

Low-net-worth: Under 100k

Middle-market: $100k to $249k

Mass-affluent: $250k to $499k

Affluent: $500k to $999k

High-net-worth: $1.0 million to $3.49 million

Mega-millionaire: $3.5 million or more

 

Across all three groups, the majority of households fell into the low-net-worth category. We'll cover the statistics for low-net-worth, middle-market, and mega-millionaire.

Married Households

Approximately 19.2 million married households were partially/fully retired in 2016.

  • 9 million of those households (13%) were considered low-net-worth.
  • 2.9 million (4%) were considered middle-market.
  • 909,165 households (1%) were considered mega-millionaires.

 

Single Men

Approximately 5.3 million single men were partially/fully retired in 2016.

  • 3.6 million (17%) were considered low-net-worth.
  • 901,214 single men (4%) were considered middle-market.
  • 91,610 single men (0%) were considered mega-millionaires.

 

Single Women

Approximately 10.1 million single women were partially/fully retired in 2016.

  • 6.8 million (20%) of those single women were considered low-net-worth.
  • 1.4 million (4%) were considered middle-market.
  • 72,409 women (0%) were considered mega-millionaires.

 

 

Check out our previous retirement centered posts:

The Case for Unretirement

The SECURE Act of 2019

Retirement Facts – Part 1