"Retirement is expensive. Experts estimate that you'll need about 70% of your pre-retirement income - lower earners, 90% or more - to maintain your standard of living when you stop working."-Taken from The American Savings Education Council's Top 10 Ways to Beat the Clock and Prepare for Retirement

The purpose of this savings education web page is to highlight the benefits of personal financial planning and the steps that all Americans can take to make financial planning easier. The web page is designed to provide resources to Benefits Officers to use in savings education programs and to provide self-service information for employees. The page features information and tools as well as links to other sources of information.

Savings Tools

American Savings Education Council

The American Savings Education Council (ASEC), in an effort to create a better understanding of savings issues, has developed user-friendly educational materials to educate Americans on the need to save. To see what tools and resources are available for you, visit ASEC's Saving Tools and Resources at www.asec.org/toolshm.htm. Here are just a few of the tools and resources you will find:

Ballpark Estimate - An easy-to-use, one-page worksheet designed to help individuals quickly identify approximately how much savings they will need to live comfortably in retirement.

Interactive version of Ballpark Estimate - complete the worksheet online and let the computer do the math.
Non interactive version of Ballpark Estimate - print out a copy to use offline.
Introduction to Ballpark and a sample of a completed Ballpark Estimate worksheet.
Ballpark pdf - print out clean originals to share with family, friends and co-workers.
This file is in pdf format and requires Adobe Acrobat for viewing and printing. Spanish language Ballpark pdf

Retirement Personality Profiler - An interactive tool that asks you a series of questions to determine which of five distinct retirement personalities you are: Planner, Saver, Struggler, Impulsive, or Denier. Based on your retirement personality, the Profiler provides tips on how you can do a better job of planning and saving for retirement.

Retirement Readiness Rating (R3) - Measures how well you are preparing for retirement. Answer a series of 11 questions and receive a score ranging from 0-25, with a score of 25 indicating the best job of preparation. You will also receive advice on retirement planning based on your score.

Resources

There are many resources available to help you learn how to invest wisely and how to plan for your financial future. We have highlighted just some of the Resources from the Department of the Treasury, Resources from the Federal Trade Commission, Resources from the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Resources from the Federal Citizen Information Center to help get you started off in the right direction.

Miscellaneous

There are many other resources available to help educate yourself (and your family) so that you can begin to prepare for your future.

• Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy
  The Jump$tart Coalition seeks to improve the financial literacy of young adults. Their goal is to ensure that America's students have the skills and knowledge to be financially competent upon graduation from high school.
• Administration on Aging (AoA)
  The Department of Health and Human Services' Adminstration on Aging focuses on the support, caregiving, and education for older Americans. Their mission is to promote the dignity and independence of older people and to help society prepare for an aging population. Make use of their Retirement and Financial Planning Resources at www.aoa.gov/retirement/default.htm to help you better prepare for a more financially secure retirement.
• Social Security Administration
  Learn more about your Social Security benefits at www.ssa.gov. On their website you'll find everything you need to know about Social Security benefits from how the program was started to how your benefit is computed.
• Choose to Save
  The Choose to Save public education program's goal is to educate the public so that we are all aware that saving today is vital to a secure financial future. If you want to Choose to Save, visit them at www.choosetosave.org.
• Federal Reserve Board
  Consumer Information from the Federal Reserve Board can be found at www.federalreserve.gov/consumers.htm.

• Financial Security in Later Life
  The USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service can help you prepare for retirement and potential long-term care by providing you with information and educational programs so you can learn to plan, save, and control your debt. See their Financial Security in Later Life to help you improve your personal finance behaviors leading to financial security later in life.
• Department of Labor
  The Department of Labor has Consumer Pension Plan Information , and speeches and remarks from the 2002 National Summit on Retirement Savings.
  Additionally, you can get statutory and regulatory material from the Office of Workers' Compensation Program at www.dol.gov/esa/owcp_org.htm.