Retirement Savings Ranks High as a Concern for Investors

Retirement ranks as the most important saving and investment milestone for a majority of investors (72%), but less than half (47%) are highly confident they are saving and investing enough for their retirement.

Serious health care problems ranked at the top of the list of the life events that caused investors the most anxiety, followed by losing money on their investments (78%), saving for retirement (73%) anxiety about losing their job (50%), buying a house (42%) or paying for college (35%).  

More than half say they are highly confident that the investment information available to them is objective and unbiased; however, 59% have made an investment that resulted in a loss of some or all of the money.

The majority of investors (67%) are anxious about being defrauded. One in 12 investors reported losing money in an investment because they were mislead or defrauded, and only a small number of these investors reported the fraudulent activities.

Young investors are the most likely to receive investing information from friends or acquaintances and to invest in unsolicited investment offers.

The survey was commissioned by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and included 1,334 investors. FINRA was formed when the National Association of Securities Dealers and the New York Stock Exchange merged.

For an executive summary of the survey go here .