Pew: State Pension Fund

You're surely aware of the woes of state pension funds, as mushrooming retirement benefits far exceed state revenue, but the exact numbers are staggering.

The shortfall between the benefits state governments have promised to their workers and the money available to meet those obligations totaled a whopping $968 billion in 2013, up $54 billion, or 6 percent, from 2012, according to a study by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

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The data "don't fully incorporate the strong [financial-market] returns of recent years" for pension funds, the report states. But state pension funds are still in a world of pain.

The cumulative state pension debt will likely stay above $900 billion—and rises above $1 trillion when local pension shortfalls are included, according to the study.

"State and local policymakers cannot count on investment returns over the long term to close this gap and instead need to put in place funding policies that put them on track to pay down pension debt."

Elsewhere on the retirement front, many Americans who graduated from college this spring are now starting jobs that pay them enough to begin putting something away for retirement.

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