About half of Hoosier workers contribute to a retirement plan. That’s a better percentage than nearly two-thirds of the country. Yet the amount of money they put into those savings is well below the national average.
Indiana is middle of the pack when compared to the rest of that nation in a report from the National Institute on Retirement Security.
It’s well above average when it comes to Medicare costs and the hourly wage for older workers. But Institute executive director Diane Oakley says when it comes to retirement savings, Hoosiers – like much of the country – aren’t doing enough.
“The average account balance for those people who had saved is $27,000 roughly in Indiana," Oakley says. "And that is not even equal to half of the average earnings of the workers in Indiana.”
Oakley says experts advise workers in their forties to have two to three times their salary saved up. She says expanding opportunities for employees to directly contribute to retirement accounts out of their paychecks is critical.
