If it's a new day, it must be time for yet another
depressing retirement fact, right? Well, I'm here with
today's factoid, and … wait for it
… some
good newsabout it.
Our friends at the Center for Retirement Research (CRR) at
Boston College have just released their National Retirement
Risk Index report. One of its key findings is that 51% of
American households "will not have enough retirement income
to maintain their pre-retirement standard of living, even if
they work to age 65." That percentage is up from 44% just two
years ago and 30% a decade ago.
Yikes!
It may not be quite as bad as it seems, though. Remember
that between 2007 and this year, there was an
annus horribilis
, aka 2008. It brought down the value of many homes and
put most Americans' all-cotton retirement accounts in the
dryer on high. That's why so many more Americans' retirements
look bleaker.
But things change. Even though the market fell big last
year, it has risen strongly during the current rally.
Retirement accounts are recovering, and home prices will
eventually start rising again, too. Check out how the
following names have done -- noting that each has received
top ratingsfrom our 140,000-member
Motley Fool CAPS community, suggesting that many
investors are still quite bullish about their futures:
Company
1-Year Return
Recent P/E
Western Union (NYSE: WU)
19%
15
Akamai Technologies (Nasdaq:
AKAM)
53%
29
Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE: TSM)
22%
23
Suncor (NYSE: SU)
39%
95
Precision Castparts (NYSE: PCP) Continued... |