While yesterday’s post, 34% of Workers Have Less Than $1,000 For Retirement, was quite startling, there is some good news out there. Americans’ confidence in having a comfortable retirement has rebounded from record lows in recent years, despite the fact that they are no further along in retirement preparedness. According to the 24th annual Retirement Confidence Survey conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), 18% polled in 2014 felt very confident about having enough money in retirement, up from 13% in the previous year. Another 37% are somewhat confident. The increased confidence was observed mostly among those with higher household income, EBRI officials said. However, the number of those Americans saving has fallen slightly – with 64% of workers or their spouses said they’ve saved for retirement in the current survey vs. 66% in the previous survey.
Access to a retirement plan at work was also a factor, with 24% of people in that category saying they were very confident with retirement security, up from 14% in 2013. “Previous EBRI research has documented the impact that eligibility to participate in a workplace retirement plan can have on retirement readiness. The results of the 2014 Retirement Confidence Survey suggest that those without those plans are beginning to appreciate the challenges that lie ahead,” said Nevin Adams, director of education and external relations at EBRI.
“It’s striking to me that nearly half of workers without a retirement plan were not at all confident about their financial security in retirement, compared with only about 1 in 10 who participated in such a plan,” Mr. Adams said.
