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Study Confirms Concern About Retirement
According to new data from Northwestern Mutual’s annual Planning & Progress Study, 78% of working Americans feel underprepared for the financial realities of retirement which seems to be driven by dramatic shortfalls in savings combined with declining confidence in Social Security. As a result, more Americans anticipate retiring at 70 years or older (38%) than in the more traditional 65-69 age range (33%).
Key findings from the study include:
- Two-thirds of working Americans believe there is some likelihood of outliving retirement savings while nearly eight in 10 people are “extremely” or “somewhat” concerned about affording a comfortable retirement.
- One in five or 21% of workers have no retirement savings at all
- One in three Baby Boomers (33%), the generation closest to retirement age, only have between $0-$25,000 in retirement savings
- Three-quarters of Americans believe it is “not at all likely” (24%) or only “somewhat likely” (51%) that Social Security will be available when they retire
- Nearly half (46%) of adults have taken no steps to prepare for the likelihood that they could
Findings confirm that working Americans are concerned about their financial security in retirement which is a driver to why people are planning to work longer.
These results are part of an initial set of findings from the 2018 Study commissioned by Northwestern Mutual to explores Americans’ attitudes and behaviors toward money, financial decision making, and the broader landscape issues impacting long-term financial security.