How Do Americans Feel About Their Retirement Years?

April 18, 2017

This article is included in these additional categories:

Boomers & Older | Financial Services | Non-Profit | Travel & Hospitality

The majority of Americans want to spend their retirement traveling (55%) and spending more time with family (54%), per an Ipsos survey of US adults ages 45 to 65. Other popular ways to spend their golden years include volunteering (35%), taking up a hobby (33%) and working part-time (32%), per the survey.

Confident About the Future

Most Americans approaching retirement age report feeling prepared for retirement. Almost 7 out of 10 respondents say that they currently have retirement savings or investments (68% have personal savings and 39% have pensions). In fact, 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.

How Much Does One Need?

Incidentally, respondents appear to have drastically different ideas of how much is needed for a comfortable retirement. The largest group, consisting of 27% of respondents, believed that they would require between $1-5 million, while 21% figured that less than $100k would suffice. Another 16% thought that somewhere between $100k and $250k would be adequate, while yet another 16% felt that $500k-$750k would be enough. These disparate numbers, however, may just be a reflection of the different socioeconomic levels in the US.

Professional Advice

Among the adults surveyed, those who did not seek professional advice when planning for retirement (54%) outnumbered those who did (42%). That’s despite two-thirds of near-retirees reporting that saving for retirement was a greater challenge than they had expected. Two-thirds also said they invested cautiously when it came to saving for their nest egg.

About the Data: Ipsos conducted a survey of U.S. adults ages 45-65 in two waves: Wave 1 was conducted in January 11-16, 2017 of 1,205 people and Wave 2 in March 13-15, 2017 of 1,152 people.

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