The Employee Benefit Research Institute, a private nonprofit organization committed to public policy research, recently released their annual Retirement Confidence Survey http://tiny.cc/ewk78 . The survey is designed to gauge Americans’ views and attitudes of retirement and related issues. Many of the findings are alarming: 16% of workers are very confident about having enough money to retire comfortably and 66% of workers have total savings of less than $50,000.
To make matters worse, the traditional “three- legged stool” providing retirement savings (pension, social security, individual savings) is increasingly becoming a single peg that stands for “I” (i.e. “I” am solely responsible for my retirement success or failure!). However, even though they have a growing responsibility for funding their own retirement, less than ½ of workers have ever tried to calculate what they will need for retirement.
It would seem the importance of intense, comprehensive planning is more crucial now than ever. Hopefully the high percentage of American’s “guessing” what they’ll need to accomplish their goals as identified by this study will hear the wakeup call soon.
