Senior Americans aren’t about to fade in the background. It seems they have a lot on their mind, especially the state of the U.S. retirement system.
According to a new survey from reverse mortgage-lender American Advisors Group (AAG), seniors feel that affording retirement has been getting harder–and will be even more so for future generations. The data shows that since the Silent Generation (the pre-Baby Boomer era) left the workforce, retirees have seen lessening support from employers, and less successful retirement strategies.
And they aren’t just worried about themselves. A whopping 81% say that they do not think the next generation will be able to retire comfortably.
A number of factors affecting retirement were on the minds of seniors, including inflation. Two-thirds of respondents aged 60-75 worried that economic inflation will have a negative impact on their retirement. And more than half say that retirement is more expensive than they had planned for, due to a higher cost of living than anticipated. Even more troubling is that at least one-third of them have less money than they planned to have at this point in their lives, with 29% saying they will outlive their savings.
The respondents cited several reasons for their cloudy state of retirement including employers not providing enough retirement help (37%); not having a solid retirement plan (28%); and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (19%).
Worries increase among women
In a continuing trend that sees women of all ages “off-track” for retirement, senior females feel similar. Nearly two-thirds of widowed or divorced women say that the cost of living is higher than they had expected it to be. Senior women who are divorced or widowed are the most concerned about inflation with more than 70% expressing concern about its effect on their retirement.
Nearly half (44%) of the widowed or divorced senior women in the U.S. do not have the amount of money they planned to have during their retirement years.
Addressing the issues highlighted in AAG’s survey make take a variety of paths according to its Chief Marketing Officer Martin Lenoir.
“Traditional financial strategies no longer guarantee a comfortable retirement, and that has many Americans worried about how their children will fund their future,” he said. He added that seniors are already retiring the “old ways of thinking” and are looking for alternative methods to fund their later years.
Lynn Brackpool Giles is a contributing editor to 401(k) Specialist. Giles is a former Managing Director of Communications and Consumer Services for the Financial Planning Association (FPA), where she oversaw all corporate, legislative, and consumer communications. In her current journalistic practice, she is a frequent contributor to numerous financial services industry publications.
