Summary
The Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS) was conducted for its 34th year in 2024 to measure attitudes toward, preparations for, and understanding of the various issues surrounding retirement by American workers and retirees. The RCS found that, in 2024, Americans’ confidence in having enough money to live comfortably throughout retirement has not fully recovered from its 2023 drop. At the same time, the survey also found that many workers and retirees haven’t prepared or didn’t prepare for retirement.
In this Issue Brief, the retirement prospects, knowledge, preparations for retirement, and experiences in retirement are examined for those who are in military households vs. those who are not in those households. Military households are defined as those with individuals who have ever served in the U.S. Armed Forces or are currently active in the National Guard or Reserve, as well as those who are married or partnered to or widowed by such individuals. A description of military households is presented before comparing military vs. non-military households on many dimensions of financial attitudes and activities and retirement preparations.
Key findings are:
- Military households are more likely to have widowed and married respondents than non-military households. They are also more likely to have male and White respondents. The share of military-household respondents who are widowed is 14 percent and married respondents make up 66 percent, compared with 4 percent and 53 percent, respectively, for non-military-household respondents. Fifty-five percent of military-household respondents are male and 72 percent are White vs. 48 percent and 64 percent, respectively, for non-military households.
- Military households are more likely to have the highest levels of financial assets and less likely to consider debt to be a problem than non-military households. Forty-nine percent of military households have $250,000 or more in financial assets, compared with 40 percent of the non-military households having this amount. Fifty-five percent of military households consider debt to not be a problem, while 46 percent of non-military households consider debt to not be a problem.
- Military households in the higher two income groups ($35,000–$74,999 and $75,000 or more) are more likely to be confident in their retirement prospects than non-military households, but no difference in this confidence is observed among those in the lowest income group (less than $35,000). Specifically, 89 percent of military households with incomes of $75,000 or more are confident that they will have enough money to live comfortably throughout their retirement compared with 81 percent of their non-military counterparts. For the middle-income group, 72 percent of military households vs. 61 percent of non-military households are confident in their retirement prospects.
- Approximately 90 percent of respondents in military households disagree with the statement that their military service has prevented them from saving for retirement. Upper-income ($75,000 or more) military-household respondents are more likely to be confident in their ability to choose the right investments for their situation than non-military-household respondents.
- If there is a difference in the likelihood of concern over various scenarios that could impact Americans’ retirement finances or retirement in general, military household respondents are less likely to express concern about the scenarios than are non-military household respondents. The scenarios less likely to be of concern to military households include the potentials for rising housing costs, increasing cost of living making it harder for them to save as much money as they want, and having to make substantial cuts to their spending because of inflation.
- The top four sources of information are consistent across military and non-military households: family and friends; a personal, professional financial advisor; online resources and research they do on their own; and their employer or information they receive at work. The significant difference between information sources is that military households are more likely than non-military households to say they use non-profit organizations that focus on serving a specific group or community as a source of information, while non-military households are more likely to say that family and friends are a source of information.
- Military-household retiree respondents are more likely to say that they retired about when they planned than non-military-household retiree respondents. Among those who retired earlier than planned, the top three reasons cited by both military and non-military-household respondents are that they could afford to retire; there were changes at their company, such as downsizing, closure, or reorganization; and they had a health problem or disability.
- Military-household retirees are generally positive about their lifestyle. Specifically, 80 percent of military retirees say their lifestyle is what they expected or better before they retired, and 71 percent say they are having the lifestyle they had envisioned. Non-military retirees have similar feelings about their lifestyle in retirement.
Military households appear to be better prepared for retirement and more confident in their retirement prospects. However, they still have to navigate changes in their careers for the high share who separate before military retirement, which involves knowing what to do with their retirement savings as they switch careers. They report being more knowledgeable about regulations around retirement savings plans, but they are also more likely to have taken a loan or withdrawal from a retirement plan. Thus, while military service can put individuals on a better track for retirement, they still face many of the same issues as those who have not been in the military, such as when to retire, preserving retirement assets, and working in retirement. Furthermore, military households are less likely to say that their financial needs are different from those of non-military households, but the retirement and health care vehicles for those who served in the military are different in many cases from those in the private sector, which warrants specific knowledge of how these benefits interact.
EBRI and Greenwald would like to thank the 2024 RCS sponsors who helped shape this year’s survey: American Funds/Capital Group, Ameriprise (Columbia Threadneedle), Bank of America, Empower, Fidelity Investments, FINRA, Jackson National, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Mercer, Mutual of America, Nationwide, NEFE, PGIM, Principal Financial Group, T. Rowe Price, USAA, and Voya.