The Retirement Crisis: What Americans Believe

A wide range of polls show that the retirement crisis is all too real.  Americans are experiencing the crisis firsthand, yet policymakers and opinion leaders are paying scant attention to the problem.

This summary provides results from a cross-cutting selection of polls to show the depth of national anxiety over retirement and the need to modernize our patchwork system of private pensions and 401(k)s.

Welcome to the Retirement Crisis

Americans are not confident they will have a comfortable retirement.  Since 2002, Gallup has asked whether Americans believe they will have enough money when they retire to live comfortably.  In 2010, less than half – 46% – say yes.  Since the onset of the Great Recession, this has never passed 50%.^[i]

Americans are more worried about retirement than many other recession-induced hardships.  In a poll by Benenson Strategy Group for the National Academy of Social Insurance, having enough for retirement was the most likely concern—surpassing anxiety over health care costs, paying monthly bills, or even job loss.  An overwhelming 78% of Americans are concerned about having enough for retirement.^[ii]

Many of those who do have retirement savings are raiding their accounts to get by.  A significant minority of 44% have taken money out of a savings account, including retirement savings, to make ends meet.^[iii]  This jumps to a majority of 60% among the unemployed.^[iv]

Even those who have investments are worried their value will continue to decline.  A majority of 65% worry that the value of their stocks and retirement savings will drop.^[v]

The problem is urgent: near-retirees are already planning to delay retirement.  Pew Research Center asked non-retirees ages 50-61 – those closest to retirement – whether the recession might cause them to delay retirement: 60% said they may have to wait.^[vi]

People are more afraid of outliving their money than they are of death.  In a 2010 poll for Allianz Life Insurance, 92% of respondents say that there is a retirement crisis, and 61% said that they are more afraid of outliving their assets than they are of death.^[vii]

Americans Can't Afford to Save for Retirement

Less than half of Americans set aside money for savings or investments.  Only 46% say they put aside money for savings or investments.^[viii]

A major problem is affordability: even before the recession, most Americans were not able to save more.  A 2007 poll by Yankelovich, Inc., for the Rockefeller Foundation asked why non-savers were not setting aside anything for retirement.  A majority of 56% said they could not afford to save more.^[ix]

Fewer and fewer Americans feel they can rely on the existing patchwork of 401(k)s, IRAs and employer pensions.  Over the last three years, anticipated reliance on the traditional private foundations of retirement savings has declined.  In contrast, the expected need for Social Security has increased.^[x]