South By North Strategies, Ltd.

From a recent Center on Economic and Policy Research report on the future of Social Security …

The current cohort of near retirees (people between the ages of 50 and 65 in 2010) has been the victim of a uniquely bad period in American economic history. Most of the members of this age cohort saw little by way of wage gains during their working lifetime as a hugely disproportionate share of the benefits of productivity growth went to those at the top of the income scale.
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In addition, the limited wealth that they were able to accumulate during their working years was largely destroyed by the collapse of the housing bubble. As a result, the vast majority of these workers are approaching retirement with little other than their Social Security to support them. The median net worth (including home equity) of older baby boomers (between the ages of 55 and 64) is just $170,000.3 This would leave the median household with roughly enough money to pay off the mortgage on the median house and then be entirely dependent on Social Security for all their expenses. The median late baby boomer has roughly $80,000 in net worth including their home equity, roughly enough to pay off half the mortgage on the median house.