Planning for retirement: It’s not just an employee responsibility

The news is full of stories of how financially ill-prepared many people are for retirement. But the responsibility doesn’t lie just with employees. Certainly, employers need to examine how effective their retirement benefits are in preparing people for retirement, but that’s just one factor for employers to consider. They also need to analyze current demographics to understand the impact of an aging population.

Readiness gap

In January 2025, the Alliance for Lifetime Income—a nonprofit consumer education organization focusing on the importance of retirement income—announced that an average of 11,400 Americans would turn 65 every day during that year. That means 4.18 million people were expected to reach the traditional retirement age in 2025, the highest number on record.

The Alliance’s research report said 2025 marked the peak of “America’s Peak 65® Zone,” a four-year period that runs through 2027. A study of the economic impact of Peak 65 indicates that 52.5% of the Baby Boomers turning 65 between 2024 and 2030 have assets of $250,000 or less.

“Given the likelihood of living 20 or more years in retirement, they will likely exhaust their retirement savings and be forced to rely mainly on Social Security, which was designed to replace about 40% of a person’s annual pre-retirement income, on average,” the Alliance said in announcing its research.