It’s “America Saves Week,” and as part of the national awareness campaign, Thursday, Feb. 27, is devoted specifically to promoting the need to save for retirement.
Since 2007, America Saves Week (Feb. 24-29 in 2020) has been an annual celebration as well as a call to action for everyday Americans to commit to saving successfully. Through the support of thousands of participating organizations, together the movement encourages local communities to do a “gut-check” on their finances and saving behaviors.
Part of that gut-check involves encouraging people to take the “America Saves pledge,” a framework that allows savers to set a goal, and make a plan to achieve better financial stability.
While Monday’s focus was “Save Automatically,” Tuesday’s “Save with a Plan” and Wednesday’s “Save for the Unexpected,” the Thursday focus, “Save to Retire,” is right up the alley of 401k-focused advisors.
“[Thursday] our focus is to encourage Americans to save today for tomorrow, and discover just how much they need to save for their golden years,” America Saves notes on its website.
America Saves says preparing for retirement can easily be pushed into the “someday” category, as people focus on present needs and expenses. In fact, very few Americans have a plan for retirement savings that is adequate for their desired standard of living after they retire.
“Across multiple measures of financial capability, the FINRA Investor Education Foundation’s research shows persistent and widening gaps between those who are prospering and those who are struggling—despite improvements in the economy since the great recession 10 years ago,” says Gerri Walsh, President of the FINRA Foundation and a participant in America Saves Week.
“Separately, the majority of Americans have not tried to determine how much they need to save for retirement, even as just over half (51%) express worry about running of money in retirement,” Walsh adds. “America Saves Week and Military Saves Month not only introduce and reinforce basic personal finance concepts, but also motivate Americans to automate savings whenever possible and foster financial wellness.”
Walsh points to the fact that financial literacy levels among Americans are alarmingly low, and nearly half of Americans have not set aside money to cover expenses for three months, according to the FINRA Foundation’s most recent financial capability study. “These findings signal a great need for targeted financial education programs that raise financial knowledge, particularly in the workplace, to help individuals save and invest to reach their financial goals,” Walsh says.
America Saves says participating companies can make Thursday’s “Save to Retire” theme successful by:
- Driving social conversations around the topic “Save to Retire.” Share the done-for-you social media content from the America Saves Week Toolkit, including using the hashtags of the day: #Save4Retirement, #MySSA, #ASW2020
- Motivating your community to take financial action and take the America Saves pledge or re-pledge.
- Encouraging your community to participate in the Action of the Day: Create an account on www.socialsecurity.gov/myaccount to see what your current estimated monthly benefits will be at the age you retire.
Companies can join the 1,700+ organizations already participating in the awareness campaign by simply signing up on the America Saves Week website, which allows them to be listed as a participating organization on the website, gain access to the America Saves Week 2020 participation badge to share on their website and in materials, and provides access to promotional materials and toolkits intended to help plan successful activities.
America Saves is a non-profit organization that uses principles of behavioral economics and social marketing to motivate, encourage and support everyday Americans to save money, reduce debt, build wealth and create better financial habits. It is an initiative of the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), a non-profit, pro-consumer organization of over 270 consumer education, advocacy, and cooperative members dedicated to advancing consumer interest.