More working Americans – particularly young Americans – are upping their retirement contributions than were last year, finds a new report from Bankrate.com. The survey of more than 1,000 US adults indicates that 23% of respondents have stepped up their contributions this year compared to last.
That figures to be the largest share upping their contributions in the survey’s 6-year history, per the report.
By comparison, fewer (16%) are reducing their contributions. The report notes that 5% aren’t contributing at all to retirement savings, with that figure halved from 2015.
Retirement Contribution Trends, by Demographic Group
Millennials (18-36) are the generation most likely to be upping their contributions, per the report, with 27% of workers of that age reporting an increase (up from 20% last year).
This comes at a time in which reports are indicating that Millennials are cutting back on their spending on discretionary items and have shifted from a spending to a saving mindset.
Meanwhile, a MarketingCharts research report on Marketing Financial Services to Millennials found that not having enough saved to retire is one of Millennials’ chief financial worries.
Younger groups are the most likely to be increasing than decreasing their contributions, with all brackets under the age of 63 doing so. Older workers are more likely to be reining in than upping their contributions, the survey found.
Previous research from Ipsos has found that Americans ages 45-65 are confident about being financially secure in retirement: 77% believe they would be fine without family financial assistance and only about one-third of respondents feel that they would need to downgrade living conditions or take on an additional job to help pay for expenses.
Returning to the Bankrate.com survey, workers with a household income (HHI) of at least $50k are 50% more likely to be increasing their contributions than those with an HHI less than that (27% and 18%, respectively).
That’s likely due to means – which also figures into spending patterns. Recent data from Gallup, for example, indicates that higher-income households ($90k+) spend more than twice as much daily on discretionary items than do households with income below that threshold.
About the Data: The Bankrate.com survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International (PSRAI), which conducted telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,002 adults living in the continental United States from August 3-6, 2017.
