Still Worried About Retiring

The good news is that Americans halted a several year slide in their confidence about being able to afford retirement. The bad news is that the confidence level is low and Americans aren’t any more confident than they were last year. That’s the conclusion of the annual 2012 Retirement Confidence Survey by the Employee Benefits Research Institute. Americans remain worried about having enough money to retire comfortably and plan to work longer. Many also are worried about their job security between now and retirement. After being ignored for many years, Social Security now is reported to be a major source of retirement income security for many Americans. Some highlights

Americans’ confidence in their ability to retire comfortably is stagnant at historically low levels. Just 14 percent are very confident they will have enough money to live comfortably in retirement (statistically equivalent to the low of 13 percent measured in 2011 and 2009).

Employment insecurity looms large: Forty-two percent identify job uncertainty as the most pressing financial issue facing most Americans today.

Worker confidence about having enough money to pay for medical expenses and long-term care expenses in retirement remains well below their confidence levels for paying basic expenses.

Many workers report they have virtually no savings and investments. In total, 60 percent of workers report that the total value of their household’s savings and investments, excluding the value of their primary home and any defined benefit plans, is less than $25,000.

Twenty-five percent of workers in the 2012 Retirement Confidence Survey say the age at which they expect to retire has changed in the past year. In 1991, 11 percent of workers said they expected to retire after age 65, and by 2012 that has grown to 37 percent.