The raw facts about retirement are well documented: Americans are getting older, their retirements are getting longer and, as a result, they are financially unprepared for their golden years.

The problems are especially acute because the baby boom generation has already begun reaching retirement age. Some 10,000 Americans retire every day, according to the Alliance for Lifetime Income (ALI), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit consortium of financial organizations dedicated to educating Americans about protecting retirement income.

What's worse, ALI determined, the majority of households have no source of protected monthly income to cover their retirement years, according to ALI. In most cases, Social Security won't do it. In short, roughly 80 million American households run the risk of outliving their savings.

It's a crisis many ignore or would prefer not to face. But ALI's new Retirement Income Security Evaluation (RISE) tool may be able to help.

Billed as a simple way for Americans to assess their retirement income needs and potential, the online tool is designed to help them quantify their risks and potential income gaps. Released in late April, ALI describes it as an educational tool that goes beyond currently existing calculators because of the way it helps consumers focus on their specific problems and possible solutions.

Developed by Milliman, an actuarial tools provider, it allows clients to quickly ascertain their RISE Score—an assessment of financial health for those who may be just beginning to think about retirement.

"The RISE score is the first online tool that helps people determine their level of retirement income risk," said Jean Statler, ALI's executive director, stressing the word risk. That score, she said, "illustrates the key risks consumers face in retirement ... and encourages them to talk to a financial advisor about protected lifetime income planning."

Designed to be accessible to all Americans who are thinking about retirement, it is "most important for people nearing retirement or [who are] retired," Statler added.

RISE asks a few simple financial questions—users might want to refer to their most recent tax returns for accurate numbers—and what they think their expenses will be in retirement. It then weighs these responses against demographic information and other variables. All data is kept anonymous. Other than financial information, respondents provide no information that could identify who they are.

The score that's compiled is similar to a credit score. It assigns a value between 0 and 850. Users can then bring this score to their financial advisor to help determine what, if anything, they need to do to make their portfolios more secure.

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