Participants want financial wellness help above all else, at least when it comes to retirement education.
Specifically, CUNA Mutual Retirement Solutions found a desire to better understand retirement planning tools and resources available to them.
Plan participants were asked to rank their interest in various financial and retirement education planning areas including: understanding tools and resources; smart retirement savings practices; basic investment principles; budgeting and managing debt; advanced investment principles; and preparing to transition to retirement.
Overall, the 9,200 participants who responded were most interested in understanding the tools and resources available to help them. This was ranked as the top area of interest 25 percent of the time. It might indicate employees are interested in maximizing their returns and learning how their plan can help them prepare for retirement, but they are not certain they have all the information they need.
A secondary theme emerged as participants expressed a strong interest in basic financial wellness topics. This may indicate participants are facing challenges that impact their ability to increase their overall and retirement savings.
Regarding age-related insights, younger plan participants want to learn about budgeting and managing debt. Retirement is far off, and their interest appears to focus on more general financial wellness subjects.
Mid-career participants share a high concern for budgeting and managing debt, while expressing an interest in smart retirement savings practices. This group, ages 35-49 years old, have had more time to build up earnings compared with their peers who are earlier in their working years.
Older plan participants recognize that retirement is just around the corner. Survey respondents who are ages 50-plus are most interested in getting ready for that transition, which is not surprising.
As for gender, while both women and men expressed interest in budget and managing debt, the topic appears to be a somewhat higher concern for women. And men indicated more interest in advanced investment principles, along with a higher preference for interacting with a self-guided approach to education.
The survey also indicated that personalization and convenience are important. Retirement is not “one size fits all,” and time is limited.