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May 14, 2013 at 10:00 AM
A little more than half of Americans believe that future generations will be worse off financially than they are, a view shared by most Europeans, but only one in five Chinese, according to a new report.
Conducted by the nonprofit corporation Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies in collaboration with Aegon N.V., The Hague, Netherlands, the report, “The Changing Face of Retirement: The Aegon Retirement Readiness Survey 2013,” polled 12,000 workers and retirees in 12 European, North American and Asian countries.
Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of all respondents believe future generations will be worse off in retirement than current retirees, the report reveals. French and Hungarians are most likely to believe this (both at 80 percent) and the Chinese are least likely (20 percent). In the U.S., more than half (55 percent) share this sentiment.
Nearly two out of three employees surveyed (63 percent) expect their government retirement benefits will be less valuable due to government cutbacks. The expectation is highest in the Netherlands (72 percent), lowest in Sweden (41 percent) and 65 percent among American workers.
Forty-four percent of employees surveyed expect their employer or pension fund will reduce their workplace retirement benefits. Thirty-seven percent expect this in the U.S., and the highest percentage of this expectation are reported in the Netherlands (55 percent) and lowest in Sweden (26 percent).
The survey adds that 30 percent of employees ages 18 to 24 expect that they will have to provide financial support to aging parents, compared to 16 percent of employees between 35 and 44 and only 8 percent between 55 and 64. In the U.S., 32 percent of employees between the ages of 18 and 24 expect to financially support their aging parents.
