"There are at least three reasons why adequacy standards in the typical replacement rate study are too high: [1] Assumptions about the pattern of savings over workers' life cycles raise the standard for younger workers.... [2] The assumption that household expenses don't change when households transition from work to retirement raises the standard.... [3] The assumption that household expenses remain flat throughout retirement raises the standard.... The danger of accepting the conventional wisdom is two-fold. First, the notion of a widespread shortfall deflects attention from those groups actually at risk in retirement ... Second, it obscures the fact that the U.S. retirement system works well for the majority of households."  MORE >>