Amid underfunded pension plans, headlines about the approaching retirement crisis and Republican efforts to shred the safety net of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, American workers thinking about retirement—whether imminent or in the distant future—are adjusting their views on how retirement might play out for them. Among findings from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies' "A Compendium of Findings About American Workers"—termed an exploration of retirement preparedness—are some attitude adjustments that might surprise you, as well as some attitudes that haven't adjusted much since 2014. The multiyear study reflects how Americans are preparing—or not—for retirement, as well as what they fear or dream about when it comes to retirement. The compendium, described by Transamerica as a "trend analysis of more than 60 broad measures of the retirement outlook among American workers, ranging from attitudes and beliefs, access to employer-sponsored retirement benefits, savings rates, and planning-related activities, to the changing nature of retirement itself," looks not just at people's attitudes but also how demographics affect retirement preparedness. Worried about the viability of Social Security and unable to save as much as they'd like because they're financially stretched in other ways, lots of workers cite the same problems that are in the headlines almost daily—they're worried about whether they'll outlive their money and about what will happen if they encounter a catastrophic medical expense. Many would like to retire but can't, with some saying they'll "never" retire—and not always just because they love their jobs. And even though the numbers are a bit higher than they were last year, the amounts they have saved aren't adequate to begin with, with the estimated median total household retirement savings among workers $71,000. But in 2017, 10 percent of workers have saved less than $5,000 in household retirement accounts, says the report, while 25 percent have less than $25,000 saved. On the prosperous side, just 30 percent of workers say they've squirreled away more than $250,000 in household retirement accounts. Just because the money's there doesn't mean it's going to stay there, though; 33 percent of workers say they've taken some form of loan, early withdrawal, and/or hardship withdrawal from a 401(k) or similar plan or IRA, and 35 percent of them say it was to pay off debt; credit card debt accounts for 24 percent and 20 percent say it was for credit card and/or other debt. A financial emergency spurred 24 percent of loans, while medical bills accounted for 23 percent and unplanned major expenses for 21 percent. Even more discouraging are the reasons for hardship withdrawals: 24 percent of such withdrawals were to ward off eviction and 17 percent cited medical expenses. And 58 percent of workers have no backup plan for retirement income if they find themselves unable to work up till their planned retirement date. Fortunately 28 percent do have a backup plan—and that's up a bit from earlier years. But there are surprises among the findings, too. Read the slides to see five of the most unexpected.
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Marlene Satter
Marlene Y. Satter has worked in and written about the financial industry for decades.
