Time to reframe retirement readiness: Most Americans lack ‘longevity literacy’
More than half (53%) of American adults don’t have an accurate view of how long adults tend to live in retirement, according to a new TIAA report.
What’s the life expectancy of a 60-year-old in the United States?
This question was posed to workers and retirees to gather data for the Personal Finance Index, a collaborative research report from the TIAA Institute and the Global Financial Literacy Expense Center (GFLEC) at George Washington University. Answers showed that Americans are just as lacking in knowledge about longevity as they are about financial issues: Some 53% of those surveyed underestimated Americans’ life expectancy or didn’t know enough to make a guess at all.
For reference, the correct answer for a 60-year-old’s life expectancy is 22 or 25 years, depending on the person’s gender, and that’s important to know because it informs how workers save for retirement. “If you don’t have a realistic understanding of how long you are likely going to live, you are missing one of the most foundational components of any plan: a time horizon,” said the head of the TIAA institute, Surya Kolluri, in a press release about the report.
Sure enough, the research suggested that “longevity literacy” was closely tied to retirement preparedness and satisfaction. For instance, of retirees surveyed, 81% with strong longevity literacy said they saved for retirement while they were working, vs. just 57% of people with poor longevity literacy. Longevity literate retirees were also more likely to have tried calculating the overall amount they needed to save for retirement (54% vs. 30% for those with low longevity literacy) and were more confident about having enough money to last them through retirement (40% vs. 25%).
Once in retirement, those with high longevity literacy were also more likely to say it’s easy to make ends meet (40% vs. 23%) and less likely to say their lifestyle falls short of their pre-retirement expectations (17% vs. 37%), according to the report.
Some groups have a better understanding of longevity than others. Women, for example, are significantly more likely to have strong longevity literacy, with 43% correctly answering the question about life expectancy vs. 32% of men. Likewise, older workers and retirees knew more about longevity than the youngest Americans, with only 30% of Gen Z respondents accurately identifying a 60-year-old’s life expectancy compared to 44% of boomers. Still, less than half of people from all age groups could correctly identify the life expectancy of a 60-year-old.
The report also found that high financial literacy correlated with longevity literacy: out of survey respondents who answered less than a quarter of financial literacy questions correctly, only 20% correctly answered the longevity question. But for those who answered 76% to 100% of financial questions correctly, more than half – 52% – got the longevity question right.
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“This research shows that if we want to create better retirement outcomes, we need to start by making sure people understand how long they are going to live in retirement,” said Annamaria Lusardi, University Professor at GW and GFLEC’s Academic Director, in a press release. “Along with making it easier for people to access quality retirement plans and save appropriately, raising the rate of longevity literacy is a clear and urgent need for our country.”
TIAA head Kolluri added, “Advisors and employers have the opportunity to reframe retirement thinking. Rather than just focusing on helping their clients and employees growing their assets, they should also support them in having income for their lifetime.”
The research comes as many Americans rethink how much they need to save for retirement. In October of 2022, a survey by Northwestern Mutual revealed that most Americans are hoping to save about $1.25 million, but the average retirement account only holds about 7% of that figure, per CBS News.