Hewitt study: Retirement needs more challenging

LINCOLNSHIRE - The average U.S. employee will need nearly 16 times his final pay in retirement resources to maintain his current standard of living during retirement, according to a new analysis from Hewitt Associates, a global human resources consulting and outsourcing services company. While this estimate hasn't worsened, meeting projected retirement needs has become a greater challenge for individuals, many of whom experienced decreases in their retirement accounts over the past two years. As a result, four out of five workers are still expected to fall short of meeting all their financial needs in retirement unless they take action to improve their savings habits or retire at a later age. When factoring in inflation and postretirement medical costs, Hewitt projects employees will need 15.7 times their final pay in retirement resources to meet their financial needs in retirement, which is consistent with Hewitt's prior projection in 2008.