The Employee Benefit Research Institute's recently published 35th annual Retirement Confidence Survey finds that workers and retirees are broadly concerned with potential changes to public retirement programs and the effects of inflation on spending and saving.
Despite those worries about Social Security and inflation, though, retiree confidence has actually improved over the past 12 months, according to EBRI's poll, which was conducted in collaboration with Greenwald Research.
“Workers and retirees generally appear to be remaining confident about their retirement prospects,” Craig Copeland, director of wealth benefits research at EBRI, said in a statement. “However, they are concerned that federal government programs for retirees such as Social Security and Medicare will be cut.”
The concern about Social Security is especially prominent, Copeland said, as almost all retirees say that the program is a source of retirement income — and nearly as many workers expect Social Security to be an income source when they retire.
In addition, workers are concerned about inflation affecting their ability to spend. The same is true of volatility in the stock market.
“Not only are workers concerned about having to cut their spending, but they are also concerned that the higher costs will reduce their ability to save as much as they want,” Copeland said.
Overall, seven in 10 retirees suggest that they’re having the retirement lifestyle they had envisioned but still seem conflicted about spending. Specifically, almost half agree “at least somewhat” that they spend less than they could because they are worried about running out of money.
In addition, more than half of retirees describe their overall spending as “as expected” or “less.”
The results, Copeland observed, paint a complex picture of retirement confidence among working and retired Americans.
See the accompanying slideshow for a review of 10 key findings from EBRI’s latest report.
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