The ninth annual Retirement
Confidence Survey (RCS) shows continued evidence of
progress in the drive for retirement income security for
American workers. However, there are still hurdles to
overcome. The RCS tracks Americans' retirement planning
and saving behavior and their confidence regarding
various aspects of their retirement. It also categorizes
workers and retirees into distinct groups based on their
individual views on retirement, retirement planning, and
saving.
The retirement envisioned by
today's workers looks different in many respects from
that now experienced by current retirees. Today's workers
expect to work longer than current retirees actually
worked before retiring—and many say they plan to
work for pay after they retire.
Twenty-four percent of workers
reported that they are very confident they will have
enough money to live comfortably in retirement, and 45
percent reported that they are somewhat confident.
However, there are indications that many may be falsely
confident.
The good news is that 70 percent of
Americans are saving for retirement, and a growing
percentage (49 percent) are going further and determining
how much they need to save to fund their retirement. The
bad news is that 30 percent of Americans have not begun
to save for their retirement, and 51 percent have never
tried to determine how much they need to save.
Employers play a major role in
ensuring adequate retirement preparation. Forty percent
of all workers said they expect that money provided by
their employer will be a major source of retirement
income. Forty-six percent expect the money they put into
a retirement plan at work to be a major source of income.
The availability of a retirement plan at work is credited
by 48 percent of savers as motivation to save.
While worker education is a point
of emphasis among both employers and policymakers, more
remains to be done. For example, 59 percent of workers
expect to be eligible for full Social Security benefits
sooner than they actually will be, and an additional 19
percent admit they do not know when they will be
eligible.
There is evidence that education
can have an impact on individual behavior. Forty percent
of workers receiving educational material at work in the
last year said that information caused them to begin
saving (19 percent) or resume saving (21 percent) for
retirement, while 40 percent said they changed the amount
they were contributing to a retirement savings plan and
41 percent changed the allocation of their money in a
retirement savings plan.
