In any case, a more important question you should ask yourself is: Can I afford to lose 30 % or
more in my retirement savings if the stock market crashes?
The ability to get back as quickly as possible to participating
in retirement savings programs and / or building that emergency savings account is critical.
Consequently, they are very reliant on corporate profits through investments
held in retirement savings vehicles such as employer pension plans and individual retirement arrangements.
«Just enough» coverage to prevent their spouse from being forced to
cash in their retirement savings for final expenses or medical bills that they may leave behind.
This is because most working families accumulate far
less in retirement savings with a defined contribution plan than they would with a defined benefit pension.
If there are not
enough in retirement savings, benefits from life coverage can pay off outstanding debts, medical bills, loans, or even funeral costs.
I have mentioned a few times in the past that even though I use all index
funds in my retirement savings accounts, I have nothing but actively managed funds in taxable accounts.
You have no net
gain in retirement savings here either, and you're probably going to have to pay some sort of service fees on that load in addition to other risk.
So, while more participants are taking
interest in their retirement savings, more participants than usual are also changing their asset allocation in a way that could have a negative effect.
A contribution rate close to three percent, the lowest in the advanced world, is just one reason why American workers lag behind other developed
countries in retirement savings.
Fortunately, most of my money was
in retirement savings in 2008 so I didn't touch it but in hindsight wish I would have increased contributions.