Fall 2010
2010 Retirement Confidence Survey: An Overview
The percentage of workers who are “very confident” about having enough financial resources for a comfortable retirement has stabilized at 16 percent, according to the 2010 Retirement Confidence Survey conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute.
About 46 percent are “not too confident” or “not at all confident” about having enough money in retirement.
Preparation still lacking
Only 69 percent of workers reported having saved for retirement, down from 75 percent in 2009. And only 60 percent said they and/or their spouse are currently saving for retirement, compared to 65 percent in 2009.
Less than half of those now working reported that they and/or their spouse have attempted to calculate how much money they will need to have saved for retirement. Of those who have performed this calculation, 54 percent said they need to have at least $500,000 for retirement.
About 21 percent reported being "very confident" about having done a good job preparing for retirement; 35 percent were “not confident” they had done a good job.
Savings amounts decline
Compared to previous surveys, more workers responded that they have virtually no savings or investments. About 27 percent said they have less than $1,000 in savings, compared to 20 percent in 2009. More than half of workers (54 percent) reported that the value of their household savings and investments, not counting the value of their home and any defined benefit plans, was less than $25,000.
Working longer is likely
The age at which respondents expect to retire changed little from 2009. But, looking at past totals shows significant long-term change. The percentage expecting to retire at age 65 was 11 percent in 1991, 19 percent in 2000, 24 percent in 2005 and 33 percent in 2010.
About one-quarter of workers reported having postponed their planned retirement age in the last year. Reasons cited for delaying included the down economy (29 percent), a change in their employment situation (22 percent), insufficient finances (16 percent) and the need to make up stock market losses (12 percent).
Complete survey results can be found here .
Please don’t hesitate to contact your Relationship Manager at The Standard for ideas on how to increase your employees’ retirement confidence.
