Retirement Confidence Plummets in EBRI Survey

April 9, 2008 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Worker confidence in being able to afford a comfortable retirement decreased over the past year by a rate unmatched in the 18 years of the Retirement Confidence Survey, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).

The percentage of workers very confident about having enough money for a comfortable retirement decreased sharply - from a mere 27% in 2007 (see Workers' Confidence in Traditional Benefits Slips ) to less than one in five (18%) in 2008, the biggest one-year drop in the 18-year history of the survey. Retiree confidence in having a financially secure retirement also decreased, from 41% to just 29%. EBRI noted that decreases in confidence occurred across all age groups and income levels - but was particularly acute among younger workers and those with lower incomes.

Among workers age 25 to 34, the percentage saying they are very confident about having enough money for a comfortable retirement decreased from 31% in 2007 to 18% in 2008, and dropped from 28% to 16% among workers ages 35 to 44. Similarly, it decreased from 14% to just 5% among workers with household incomes under $35,000, and dropped in half - from 25% to 13% - among those with incomes ranging between $35,000 and $74,999.

"Weight" Watchers

Weighing on confidence: health care - and RCS results indicate health costs in particular have become a big concern for retirees, and little wonder. Among retirees who left the work force earlier than planned, more than half (54%) say they did so because of health problems or disability, and nearly half (44%) say they have spent more than expected on health-care expenses. In fact, more than half of retirees (54%) say they are now more concerned about their financial future than they were right after they retired, a 14 percentage-point increase from a year ago (40%).

"In the nearly two decades we have been conducting the RCS, this year's results show a very dramatic reduction in the public's confidence about having a comfortable retirement. The economy and health costs are major concerns," said Dallas Salisbury , President of the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), which conducted the survey with Mathew Greenwald & Associates. "If there is a silver lining, it's that Americans finally may be waking up to the realities of being able to afford retirement."

However, the survey found that about half of workers (47%) say they and/or their spouse have now tried to calculate how much money they will need for a comfortable retirement, well up from the low point of 29% in 1996. The 2008 survey found that taking the time to do such a calculation was effective at changing worker behavior; 44% of those who calculated a goal changed their retirement planning, and of those, more than half (59%) started saving or investing more.