Retirees in six major economies can expect to outlive their savings by years, according to a new report from the World Economic Forum.
Granted, it’s from the same Davos-loving outfit that predicts a $224 trillion global retirement gap (seriously), so they view it with a pessimistic eye, yet it’s disconcerting, nonetheless.
Women should prepare to bear the brunt of such shortfalls, it adds, going without retirement savings for at least two years longer than their male counterparts.
“As government and employer-sponsored retirement plans are under strain globally, individuals have found themselves to be increasingly responsible for their retirement savings,” the WEF says. “Despite this, savings have not accelerated fast enough to make up for the deterioration of traditional retirement plans.”
In six economies analyzed, most male retirees can expect to live past their savings by nearly a decade.
Women can expect to go even longer without their savings, as they will likely live more than 10 years without retirement savings to rely on due to their longer average lifespans.
These shortfalls can vary greatly by country and gender; men in the United States are expected to outlive their savings by about eight years while women in Japan will live nearly 20 years past their savings account.
Despite these vast differences, the average retiree in Australia, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, or the U.S. will not be able to last through retirement on savings alone.
The WEF says these shortfalls must be addressed, by both individuals and policymakers, to ensure that seniors can enjoy life throughout their non-working years.
Currently, retirement policies in many countries, including India and China, can often hinder optimal retirement savings and investments.
Though governments should act, it adds, they would be wise to avoid implementing one-size-fits-all retirement policies as individual retirement needs can vary greatly from person to person.
Instead, governments should change, or even roll back, their regulations to allow individuals to make investments that will increase their long-term returns.
The World Economic Forum identified two key investment changes governments should allow so individuals can most effectively address their savings gaps.
Both identified actions aim to optimize investment so retirement savers can achieve higher yields from their savings.
1. Consider risk from the perspective of someone saving for retirement
“The real risk people need to manage when investing in their future is the risk of outliving their retirement savings Han Yik, Head of the Institutional Investors Industry with the World Economic Forum, said in a statement. “As people are living longer, they must ensure they have enough retirement funds to last them through their longer lives. This requires investing with a long-term mindset earlier in life to increase total savings later on.”
Many people are far too risk-averse in their retirement investing. While consistent saving is important to build retirement money, being mindful of long-term returns on retirement portfolios is crucial to ensuring that an individual doesn’t outlive their savings.
Many young to middle-age savers should change their risk outlook, understanding that outliving their savings is a far greater risk to them than short-term investment risk.
2. Diversify the investment of savings accounts, by geography and asset type
While focusing on long-term returns is often beneficial for retirement savers, diversification can preserve those returns by mitigating overall investment risk.
Currently, most retirement investment vehicles are largely based on traditional equity and fixed-income investments that have the advantages of being easy to value as well as having high liquidity.
However, given the long-term nature of retirement savings, that liquidity comes at a cost. Although they require adequate understanding and sound financial advice, investment in alternative assets, particularly illiquid assets, can bring strong diversification benefits to a retirement investment portfolio.
In this area, again, policymakers must ensure their retirement policies do not hamper the ability of individuals to make the best long-term choices for their portfolios. In most countries, default retirement options focus on liquidity and the ability to perform daily valuations at the expense of long-term growth.
Governments should consider changing or even rolling back these regulations to allow retirement savers to invest in the assets best suited to their individual retirement goals.
In addition, many retirement portfolios also tend to have a heavy domestic focus.
Diversifying the geography of investments in portfolios can reduce risk to home country economic events.
By expanding the locations of their investments, retirement savers, particularly savers from smaller economies, can protect themselves from market or economic slumps in an individual economy while still maximizing their returns.
Decumulation, or spending in retirement, is another key area of well-being after the working years yet there is far less research dedicated to it.
For instance, today’s retirement spending projections are based on the rule that retirees will withdraw 4% of their portfolio each year they are retired.
However, the World Economic Forum and Mercer suggest that this estimate does not match how retirees spend in the real world, with much higher spending in early retirement years and less as retirees age.
This spending volatility highlights the need for new retirement solutions that both allow for flexible spending while also ensuring savings that last through retirement.
“With populations around the world living longer than ever before, we need far more creative decumulation solutions for longevity protection” added Rich Nuzum, President, Wealth at Mercer. “There are some alternative solutions emerging such as pooled annuity funds, but older individuals are going to need a more diverse range of financial tools to help protect against longevity risk.”
Some countries, such as the UK and the Netherlands, have begun to recognize the importance of robust policies for the decumulation period and are even considering rolling back regulations for retirement savings.
However, there is much more to be done in this area, the WEF concludes, to ensure that seniors can thrive during their period of enjoying the funds they have worked so hard to save over their working years.
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
