Benefits September 24, 2002

Retirement Not a Pretty Picture For Many

September 24, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - From where HR and benefits executives sit, the retirement years for many American workers won't be pretty.

Reported by

Fred Schneyer

A new poll, taken by the Hrnext.com, BenefitsNext.com, and BLR.com Web sites, found that a mere 6% of respondents were confident that most of their workers would be financially comfortable after having saved/invested enough.

According to the study:

46% of the HR and benefits executives said only a few workers would be comfortable after retirement
36% felt some workers would have enough money
12%, the most optimistic, said half their workforce would be monetarily set.

The poll was conducted on HRnext and BLR during the week of September 9 and on BenefitsNext from August 28 to September 4. It drew a total of 531 votes.

Online discussions in the Community sections of the HRnext and BenefitsNext sites elicited various reasons for workers’ failure to save for retirement, from wages that don’t keep up with expenses to excessive consumerism.