In a recent survey, we asked prospective retirees how confident they were in their savings and ability to retire. A majority reported being “very confident.”
The Employee Benefit Research Institute recently released its annual Retirement Confidence Survey which indicated that many American workers have very little in savings and, consequently, a lack of confidence in their ability to someday retire successfully.
We were curious if FedSmith.com users would feel the same way. Our survey results indicated that prospective retirees reading our site are, generally speaking, feeling very much the opposite of the workers profiled in the EBRI survey.
Here are the results from the questions we asked out of the almost 6,500 responses:
What is your current age?
| 20-29 | 1.7% |
| 30-39 | 6.1% |
| 40-49 | 15.4% |
| 50-59 | 47.7% |
| 60-69 | 26.8% |
| 70+ | 2.2% |
At what age do you plan to retire?
| 50-52 | 2.4% |
| 53-55 | 5.2% |
| 56-59 | 24.4% |
| 60-62 | 27.1% |
| 63-65 | 19.6% |
| 66-69 | 14.8% |
| 70+ | 5.7% |
| Never | 0.8% |
How confident are you in your ability to retire someday?
| Very | 55.0% |
| Somewhat | 35.6% |
| Not too | 6.9% |
| Not at all | 2.5% |
What is your current total savings, excluding your home or any defined benefit plans?
| < $1,000 | 4.4% |
| $1,000 – $5,000 | 4.7% |
| $5,000 – $10,000 | 4.2% |
| $10,000 – $50,000 | 13.4% |
| $50,000 – $100,000 | 13.9% |
| $100,000 – $500,000 | 44.1% |
| $500,000 – $1 million | 12.0% |
| $1 million+ | 3.3% |
Do you anticipate having income from a defined benefit plan in retirement?
| Yes | 93.5% |
| No | 6.5% |
What do you anticipate your annual expenses will be in retirement?
| < $10,000 | 3.4% |
| $10,000 – $25,000 | 18.6% |
| $25,000 – $50,000 | 48.2% |
| $50,000 – $75,000 | 26.2% |
| $100,000+ | 3.7% |
There were clear indications of having both the confidence and savings necessary to be able to retire. Most respondents said they expected to have income from a defined benefit plan which isn’t too surprising since FERS and CSRS both offer a potential source of income in retirement.
Do you have any other thoughts on planning for a successful retirement? Feel free to share them in the comments.
