Saving for retirement is definitely not the highest priority on the list for 36 percent of Americans.
That's how many have zero, zip, nada put away for the time when they'll leave the workplace for good, according to a survey from Bankrate.com.
While the largest segment of the population in that group of non-savers is, perhaps unsurprisingly, 18-29 year-olds (69 percent of them haven't yet begun retirement savings), what might be surprising is that those who are saving have started earlier.
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Among those 30-49 year-olds (33 percent of whom have saved nothing) who have begun putting money away, twice as many of them actually started while still in their 20s, rather than waiting until they'd entered their 30s.
Those 50-64 years old (26 percent of whom have saved nothing) who are saving for retirement were only slightly more likely to have started their retirement savings program in their 20s than in their 30s. And those who will need the money the soonest — those 65 and older (14 percent of whom, again, have saved nothing at all) were divided almost evenly along the decades during which they began to save: their 20s, 30s and 40s.
Although most haven't yet started their retirement savings, the survey found that millennials are the most confident among the age groups financially, feeling both more optimistic and more secure in their jobs.
Overall, there's been an improvement in how Americans feel about job security, financial security and even net worth compared with how they felt a year ago. Women, however, aren't in that group; compared with last year, they still feel that their financial security has fallen. However, they are more optimistic than they were last month, while men —who overall felt better this year than last about their situations — lost ground since last month.
And regarding savings, there are twice as many Americans uncomfortable with their savings level, compared to where they were last year, than there are those who are comfortable with it, Bankrate.com said.
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