The Kids Look Amazing! and Other Annuity Prospect Survey Findings

U.S. annuity prospects claim to be thinking about their investments roughly the same way now  as they were thinking before the COVID-19 pandemic locked America down — but they are looking at their children differently.

(Related: IRI Unveils Ideas for Curing COVID-19 Nest Egg Blight)

The AgeUp team has included data on that shift in a new summary of results from a survey of about 1,400 U.S. residents ages 50 through 75 that was conducted in February, and a second, similar survey that reached a sample of about 1,300 U.S. residents ages 50 through 75 in late March.

The AgeUp team describes AgeUp as being a deferred income annuity product from Haven Life and Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company.

The AgeUp team found that the first sample of survey participants and the second sample gave similar answers to most questions, including questions related to lifespan.

When the team asked, “Do you worry about running out of money in your later years?”, the share of participants saying “yes” was 66% in February and 63% in March.

The share of participants who said they had a 50% chance of reaching age 100 was 11% in February and 12% in March.

But, when the team asked, “Who will take care of you financially if you outlive your retirement savings?”, the share saying “my children” increased to 43% in March, from 35% in February. The percentage who said “the government” fell to 23%, from 28%.

The team also asked, “Who do you expect to make the majority of your financial decisions if you reach your 90s?” The percentage who said “my children” soared to 52% in March, from 39% in February.

In other survey news:

MassMutual gave 1,500 Americans ages 55 through 65 a Social Security literacy quiz.

MassMutual found that the quiz takers were most aware of the fact that people who wait until full retirement age to collect benefits get higher monthly benefits than people who collect benefits early: 94% of the quiz takers knew that waiting to collect benefits leads to higher monthly benefits.

The quiz takers were least aware of what happens to permanent residents and other noncitizens who’ve worked in the United States. Many noncitizens can collect Social Security benefits, but only 28% of the quiz takers knew that noncitizens could collect Social Security benefits.

The Alliance for Lifetime Income surveyed 1,202 U.S. residents ages 61 to 65 in early March, before COVID-19 lockdowns had started but after stock prices were already gyrating. All of the participants said they were working at least part-time, and all said they had $100,000 or more in investable assets.