The Employee Benefit Research Institute’s (EBRI) Retirement Readiness Rating suggests that almost half of early baby boomers (ages 56-62) are “at risk” of running short of money for basic retirement expenses and uninsured health care costs.

Among late boomers (ages 46-55), about 44 percent are “at risk,” and 44 percent of Generation X (now ages 36-45) are “at risk.”

The “at risk” results are lower than when the Retirement Readiness Rating was established in 2003 due largely to the automatic enrollment and contribution rate provisions of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, and more diversified default investments in 401(k) plans. These have resulted in higher 401(k) participation rates, larger account balances and better retirement preparedness of many workers.

When ranked by pre-retirement household income, those in the lowest third are “at risk” 70 percent of the time, while the middle income group is “at risk” 42 percent of the time. The rate drops to 23 percent for the highest income group. EBRI’s study is at http://tinyurl.com/EBRIRetireReadiness.