On Monday, the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) released new research revealing that less than a quarter of baby boomers—just 24 percent—are confident they will have enough savings to sustain them throughout their retirement years. This marks the lowest level of retirement confidence since IRI began the study in 2011, when 37 percent of boomers expressed similar confidence.
The lack of confidence is understandable given boomer readiness, which finds only 55 percent of boomers reported saving for retirement. Nearly half of those Boomers with savings, 42 percent, have saved less than $100,000 – an amount that would generate less than $7,000 a year in retirement income. Overall one in five boomers are concerned they’ll not have enough savings to cover basic living expenses.
Other highlights (or lowlights) from the report include:
- Only 22 percent of boomers are confident with their preparations for retirement, 27 percent are confident their savings with be sufficient to cover health care costs in retirement, and only 16 percent are confident they can cover the cost of long-term care.
- During the past year, 30 percent of boomers postponed their plans to retirement. About six in 10 boomers, 59 percent, now plan to retire at age 65 or later. This includes 26 percent who plan to retire at age 70 or later. In 2011, only 17 percent of Boomers expected to retire at age 70 and beyond.
- If their financial resources become exhausted in retirement, 71 percent will try to cut back to rely only on Social Security, and 54 percent said they will try to return to work if able.
- Three in 10 boomers stopped contributing to a retirement account, and 16 percent of boomers took premature withdrawals from their retirement accounts.
- Nearly six in 10 Boomers, 59 percent, expect Social Security to be a major source of income in retirement, up from 43 percent in 2014.
- Only 46 percent of boomers believe it is important to leave money to heirs, down from a high of 67 percent in 2013.
- More than eight in 10 boomers who work with a financial professional said they are better prepared for retirement as a result.
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.
