Problems Force Many To Put Retirement On Hold: Fidelity

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A third of working adults expect to delay their retirement for financial reasons, according to Fidelity Investments Institutional Services Co. Inc., Boston.

Simply put, they have failed to save enough.

“Too many people are delaying their retirement dreams for lack of planning and adequate savings,” observes Jeffrey R. Carney, president, Fidelity Personal Investments.

Among those who expect to push back retirement, 55% said the reason was they had not saved as much as they had expected. Another 35% said they had started saving too late in life, and 27% said poor investments or market downturns had caused a shortfall in funds they needed for retirement.

Among men, 30% said they are delaying retirement due to unfavorable investment decisions or market fluctuations, compared to 22% of women.

The need to keep their employer’s health care plan was the main reason for the delay for 34%. Among women, 42% said they would delay retirement because they need their employer’s health insurance, compared to 29% of men.

Workers planning to delay retirement were more often single than married and more likely to be male than female.

Among single-income people, 19% said they had yet to start saving toward retirement, compared to 11% of dual-income workers.

A Fidelity spokeswoman notes single-income people may feel less pressure to save for retirement because they tend to be younger than those in two-income households.

“The big challenge in the younger market is getting them to save in a 401(k) plan,” says the spokeswoman, Deborah Pont.

Dual-income households making $50,000 and up tended to say the need to save for college limited their ability to prepare for retirement.