PFStock Readers Have Above Average Retirement Savings

For several months, readers have been responding to a survey of retirement saving on PFStock. The poll is now closed and the final results are in. A total of 32 readers voted on this poll. The poll is based on my April 2010 post about retirement savings. This post contains data from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) about retirement savings in the United States. One conclusion of their research is that the majority of Americans have less than $25,000 saved for retirement. However, PFStock's reader survey paints an entirely different picture.

Below are the results of the reader poll compared against the data in the EBRI survey.

How much have you saved for retirement (exclude primary residence and defined benefit plans)?

Retirement Savings	EBRI Survey	PFStock Survey
less than $1,000	27%	0%
$1,000 - $9,999	16%	3%
$10,000 - $24,999	11%	6%
$25,000 - $49,999	12%	9%
$50,000 - $99,999	11%	15%
$100,000 - $249,999	11%	25%
Over $250,000	11%	40%

Note that the percentages do not add up to 100% due to rounding.

From these statistics, I found it interesting that a large percentage of PFStock readers fall into the higher retirement savings categories. Fully 80% of PFStock readers have more than $50,000 saved up for retirement.

Over the years, I've written several posts about Net Worth for PFStock. Sometimes I've received very insightful comments that try to explain why such a large discrepancy exists between my blog readers and the general population. This one reader comment seems to provide some insight into the discrepancy:

This poll brings to light several questions including are readers of financial blogs more financially savvy? Are they taking the information they gain from online and putting it to practice? Even the fact that they are on a financial blog demonstrates their interest in properly managing their finances and their financial security and thus impacts the way they spend and save. It's a very interesting poll to say the least.

Another reader submitted this comment:

Whether or not the figures reported [in the poll] are accurate, they're not representative. People with a high net worth (or at least an above average interest in personal finance) will be over-represented due to self-selection.

Since you, PFStock readers, answered the poll, I'll ask if you would like to share your insights on this data? As always, anonymous comments are welcome on PFStock.com.

For reference, the original EBRI survey can be found here.

Additional related posts:
Annual Income and Net Worth (7/10)
Annual Income Survey (2/10)
Net Worth Update (8/09)
How Much Do You Make? (4/09)
Net Worth Comparison (6/08)
Are You Wealthy? (3/08)
Calculating Net Worth (9/06)

PFS