A recent survey reveals that most Americans still don’t save enough for retirement. If the facts are correct, it appears that the majority of Americans will be working well past the age of 65.
By Larry Barrett
March 16, 2011
Most Americans still aren’t saving anywhere near enough money to afford the dignified retirement they all claim is so important to them. Even worse, most don’t even have any idea exactly how much they’ll need if they were to begin saving today for their golden years.
That’s the sobering truth derived from the 21st installment of the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS) released Tuesday.
The only good news, according to Jack VanDerhei, research director of the Washington, D.C.-based EBRI, is that the majority of Americans are rightfully ignoring short-term economic improvements in the stock market and unemployment rates following several years of dismal performance. They now recognize that they are woefully behind the eight-ball in terms of properly planning and saving for their eventual retirement.
“There are many big, systemic factors redefining retirement in America today,” VanDerhei said during a conference call with reporters. “People are starting to wake up to this reality and changing their expectation of retirement. Unfortunately, the survey doesn’t find any evidence that people are changing their behavior — at least not yet.”
The RCS survey, conducted by market research firm Mathew Greenwald & Associates, found that more than half of the 1,260 respondents surveyed in January 2011 are “not all confident” or “not too confident” that they’ll be able to afford the retirement they want, the lowest level of confidence among workers in the survey’s 21-year history.
One of the main reasons so many people are so pessimistic about their retirement prospects is the simple fact that far too few workers are actually saving for retirement.
Currently, most Americans can expect an average retirement of about 20 years, and that number continues to expand as people live longer, while at the same time incur higher medical and cost-of-living expenses.
The survey found that the folks with savings of less than $25,000 are the most petrified about retirement and essentially resigned to the fact that they’ll either work throughout most of their retirement or never really experience one at all.
Forty-three percent of respondents with savings of less than $25,000 said they are not confident they’ll have enough money to afford a decent retirement, up from 19% in 2007.
Meanwhile, 22% of those with between $25,000 and $100,000 in savings remained less-than-confident about their retirements, more than triple the 7% who felt the same way in 2007.
This changing perception reflects not only most Americans’ disinterest in saving for tomorrow, but also the stark reality that most people aren’t expecting things to magically improve between now and the time they hit retirement age.
“Sixty-two percent of workers said they can save more than they’re saving now,” said Greenwald. “Most said they could dine out less, cut back on entertainment and, in some cases, wouldn’t really need to cut back at all to increase their savings. And while the sacrifices wouldn’t be that great, many still haven’t formed the habit of doing it.”
That so few have taken the time to reasonably figure out how much they’ll need to take that cruise to Alaska or keep them in prescription medications for 25 years or more speaks to just how invaluable retirement planning advice will be to this growing population of skeptical, unprepared workers.
Perhaps most depressing, the survey found that the percentage of workers who expect to retire after age 65 continues to increase, growing from 11% in 1991 and 20% in 2001 to a stunning 36% in 2011. Also, 74% of workers said they expect to have work for pay in retirement, more than triple the number (23%) of current retirees who are now working because they need the income.
“Even those who have achieved the highest levels of accumulation already, with more than $100,000 in savings, won’t be able to maintain the lifestyle they’re currently enjoying in retirement,” Greenwald said. “High accumulators still haven’t come to that reality. And 70% of all workers say they’re behind schedule when it comes to saving for retirement.”
“The bigger problem is that most haven’t changed their behavior and turned this pessimism into action to catch up,” he said.
