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August 09, 2016 at 10:17 AM
In the run-up to the November presidential election, Americans think terrorism, the economy and health care are the most important problems facing the country, according to new survey results released Tuesday.
Retirement security barely registers as a concern.
The online financial advisory firm Personal Capital’s 2016 election survey found that 48% of respondents believed the threat of terrorism was the country’s most important problem.
Thirty-three percent cited the state of the economy, and 31% health care.
A mere 8% of respondents listed retirement security as a top concern going into this year’s election.
Other issues that concerned them more:
- Crime: 24%
- Immigration: 23%
- Unemployment: 21%
- Education: 20%
- Morality: 15%
- War: 14%
- The environment: 12%
The survey found that although Republicans were likelier than Democrats to have a retirement account, one in five working-age Americans had no retirement savings, whatever their party affiliation.
“Regardless of who wins the presidency, 10,000 people retire each day in this country, and that number is expected to remain the same until the last baby boomer turns 65 in 2030,” Personal Capital’s chief executive Bill Harris said in a statement.
“If this survey shows us anything, it’s that we all need to see retirement savings as a priority, because we will all be impacted by it in the future.”
Millennial respondents in the survey felt more secure about their retirement than Gen Xers.
Thirty-one percent of the younger respondents saw education as a priority issue this election, behind the 43% who cited terrorism but ahead of the 28% who listed the economy.
Only 7% of millennials considered retirement savings as a top issue.
“The increasing costs of higher education are having a direct impact on millennials who are holding off on saving for retirement,” Harris said.
