From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov Transcript for: Retirement Security Challenges Description: A look at challenges facing American retirement security, including shifts in employer plans, financial challenges for Social Security, and low individual savings levels. Related GAO Works: GAO-18-111SP: The Nation's Retirement System: A Comprehensive Re-evaluation Is Needed to Better Promote Future Retirement Security Released: October 2017 [ Background Music ] [ First Screen ] Accountability [ Second Screen ] Integrity [ Third Screen ] Reliability [ Fourth Screen ] GAO Logo [ woman sits down at her desk and begins daydreaming ] How do you picture your retirement years? How do you picture your retirement years? Spending time with your family? Maybe traveling a little? Everyone has dreams about what they want their lives to be like after work, but for an increasing number of Americans, those dreams are receding into the distant future or slipping through their fingers entirely. [ View of GAO headquarters building ] GAO has looked at issues related to saving for and managing retirement, and identified a number of challenges. [ Three people at table overlooking paperwork ]These include shifts in employer-sponsored retirement plans, leaving workers less secure; financial troubles looming for social security, and personal savings levels that for many workers may not be enough. [ Woman looking over paperwork at her desk ] For workers who have access to retirement plans through their employers, the relative predictability of defined benefit pension plans has largely been replaced by the uncertainty of retirement savings accounts, such as 401(k) plans. [ Parents overlooking paperwork, as grandfather plays with children ] With these types of retirement plans, U.S. workers are bearing more responsibility for contributing to their retirement security—at a time when economic circumstances make it hard to save enough. People with these plans also assume more risk when deciding how to invest their funds and how to make the most of them in retirement. Making these types of decisions can be difficult, even for experts. And all of that assumes that you have access to a retirement plan in the first place. [ Headshots of individuals ] But GAO has found that many U.S. workers—including about a third of private-sector workers—don't. Many of those who don't are women, minorities, and people with lower incomes. [ Photo of a social security card ] People who don't have retirement plans are more likely to have to rely on Social Security, which has its own challenges. [ Animated visuals of homes ] The most recent data show that about a third of households age 65 and over received 90 percent or more of their income from Social Security. But current projections indicate that Social Security will only be able to pay about 75 percent of its retirement benefits after 2035. Personal savings can fall short as well, with 55 percent of households age 55-64 having less than 25,000 dollars in retirement savings, including 41 percent with no retirement savings at all and few other assets. [ U.S. Congress building with people talking in front of it ] From time to time, the U.S. government comes together to look at hard problems and how it can address them. It's been nearly 40 years since the last comprehensive federal look at how the nation's people prepare for retirement. [ Woman standing in office ] Unless the government revisits this issue, many Americans may not be able to afford the secure and dignified retirements they deserve. [ GAO headquarters building ] For more information on retirement security in the United States, check out our report, GAO-18-111SP.