NEW
YORK -- Seven in 10 Hispanic adults have saved less than
$5,000 toward retirement, according to a study released
Tuesday.
The study was conducted for the Latino Coalition, a nonprofit
group that looks at policy issues related to Hispanics
in the United States, and Americans for Secure Retirement,
a coalition of ethnic and insurance groups that encourage
the use of annuities to fund retirement. Both are based
in Washington, D.C.
It found that just 26 percent of Hispanics have saved
$5,000 or more.
The report did not compare the savings rate of Hispanics
with that of the general population. But the Employee
Benefit Research Institute's annual retirement readiness
survey released earlier this year found that while 40
percent of Americans had saved less than $10,000, some
35 percent had put aside $50,000 and up.
The Latino Coalition study also found that Hispanic women
were less prepared for retirement than men. Nearly 77
percent of the women respondents said they had saved less
than $5,000, while 65 percent of the men said they had
saved less than $5,000.
" These findings highlight the reality that a majority
of Hispanics living in the United States are not prepared
for retirement and are highly vulnerable to poverty in
old age,'' Hector Barreto, chairman of the Latino Coalition,
said in a statement accompanying the report.
The survey of 1,000 Hispanic adults was conducted in September
by telephone by McLaughlin & Associates/Latino Opinions;
the margin of error was plus or minus 3.1 percent.
The study said 60 percent of the respondents were not
offered 401(k) or other retirement plans by their employers;
slightly more than 30 percent had access to such plans.
Most said they would support proposals backed by the Americans
for Secure Retirement for a tax break for Americans who
buy annuities to fund their retirement. Annuities are
contracts sold by insurance companies that are designed
to provide payments at specified intervals. They often
are used to help retirees spread their savings out over
their lifetimes.
