A new survey finds 36% of adults within 20 years of retirement now anticipate waiting longer to retire due to the financial fallout of COVID-19.
Personal finance resource MoneyRates.com just published survey results showing that retirement dreams are indeed among the coronavirus pandemic’s victims, with more than one-third of those in the 45-to-64 age group expecting the current crisis will delay their retirement.
Among the key findings of the survey of 500 adults ages 45-64 conducted in late March and early April:
- 37% of Americans within 20 years of retirement age have already either lost their jobs or had their income cut due to the COVID-19 crisis
- 59% of people in this age group, who have assessed recent investment performance, report retirement plan losses as of the end of March 2020
- 25% of respondents said they were unable to determine how much their retirement savings have suffered since the bear market started
- An additional 12% say they don’t know how their investments are doing because they are “too scared to look”
- Nearly 14% of the 80 million+ Americans aged between 45 and 64, representing roughly one-third of the adult population, expect this setback to delay retirement by more than five years.
Of those who have lost some or all of their employment income, 29% have either already tapped retirement savings to make ends meet or expect they will have to do so at some point. Another 42% with lost or reduced income say they may need to use retirement savings before the crisis is over, but will consider that only as a last resort.
“Dipping into retirement savings is not a cost-free source of money,” cautions Richard Barrington, MoneyRates’ spokesperson. “Even though tax penalties have been temporarily loosened, you risk missing out on years of potential investment growth before you replace the money you took out. And, while you are replacing that money, you are likely to have to reduce future contributions.”
Lost income obviously makes it tougher for people to save for retirement. Many will also miss out on 401k contributions from their employers. Besides investment losses and missed contributions, retirement plans are taking another hit from impacted Americans dipping into those savings to help them make it through the crisis.
The complete report provides recommendations on how Americans can take action to protect their finances and retirement savings now.