This article was originally printed at latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-wealthy-in-la-plan-to-save-a-lot-for-retirement-but-havent-yet-20131028,0,7495879.story
Wealthy in L.A. plan to save a lot for retirement, but haven’t yet
By Walter Hamilton, 11:24 AM PDT, October 28, 2013
Wealthy people in Los Angeles plan to save more money for retirement than the national average, while women are stowing away more than men, according to a new survey.
L.A. residents with $50,000 to $250,000 in household investable assets plan to save an average of $909,400 for retirement, more than the $736,200 national average, according to Merrill Edge, a consumer banking unit of Bank of America Corp.
Women are outpacing men, according to the report. They plan to squirrel away a bit more than $1 million versus $814,000 for men.
However, as with Americans of all income levels, they’ve put away only a fraction of that amount. The average L.A. resident has saved only $150,300, according to the report.
And they don’t have much time left to meet those lofty financial goals: The average L.A. poll respondent is 54 years old.
Perhaps not surprising, nearly two-thirds of L.A. residents — 64% — intend to retire later than anticipated. That’s an 18 percentage-point jump from Merrill’s last report six months ago.
In an apparent sign of growing retirement awareness, L.A. residents anticipate saving $377,400 more than they did six months ago.
As for college savings, the average wealthy Angeleno has saved, or plans to save, $62,000. However, one in three Los Angeles parents has saved nothing for their child’s education, according to the report.