Question

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in May 2017, the average American couple has only $5,000 in savings. And only 33% of

Americans are saving in a retirement account. Compare this with mainland Chinese who save over 50%. If the average American
couple should save $1.3 million for retirement, how much has been saved on average to date? (Round to the nearest hundredth
percent.)

Answer 1

The average American couple has saved only 0.38% of the recommended amount for retirement, which is substantially lower than the recommended savings of $1.3 million.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question requires us to calculate what percentage of the recommended retirement savings has been achieved based on the average savings of an American couple. If the average American couple should save $1.3 million for retirement and they have only $5,000 in savings, we can find out the percentage saved by dividing the average savings by the recommended retirement savings and then multiplying by 100.

To calculate:

($5,000 / $1,300,000) * 100 = 0.3846153846%

When rounded to the nearest hundredth per cent, the average American couple has saved 0.38% of the recommended amount for retirement.