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Only 34% Confident About Their IRA Knowledge
Only about one-third of Americans believe they are knowledgeable about individual retirement accounts, despite the fact that Americans have used traditional IRAs for retirement saving over the past 45 years. LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute found lack of knowledge is the biggest obstacle to investing in an IRA. A LIMRA SRI study revealed only 34 percent of Americans believe they are knowledgeable about IRAs. Men are far more likely than women to say they are knowledgeable about IRAs. Forty-two percent of men consider themselves knowledgeable about IRAs, compared with 27 percent of women. Of those who don’t own an IRA, nearly half (46 percent) said they did not understand enough about IRAs to contribute to them. Older Americans are more likely than younger Americans to own traditional IRAs, LIMRA SRI reported. Almost half (48 percent) of silent generation Americans own an IRA, compared with 30 percent of baby boomers, Generation X and millennials. Ownership of Roth IRAs is much more level across age groups. About one in five boomers (19 percent), Gen X (19 percent) and millennials (18 percent) own a Roth IRA, along with one in six silent generation (16 percent) consumers.
SANDWICH GENERATION LACKS SAVINGS
The sandwich generation risks becoming toast. Members of the sandwich generation — those taking care of elderly parents and raising children at the same time — are finding themselves in a savings squeeze, according to PNC Financial Services Group. “Sandwiches” report they have been unable to build robust emergency savings and retirement account balances primarily due to the strain of financially supporting other family members. Nearly four in 10 of sandwich generation households indicate they do not have an emergency savings fund, and a third have less than $25,000 saved for retirement. The financial issues this population group DID YOU
faces are only going to get worse in the future, as 32 percent said they expect to care for an elderly family member within the next five to 10 years.
FRENCH AND SPANISH ARE THE WORLD’S BIGGEST RETIREMENT WORRIERS
It seems as though the whole world is worried about retirement. Workers in the United States may fear their ability to afford their golden years, but even workers in countries known for their generous safety nets are afraid of retiring broke. ING surveyed almost 15,000 people in Europe, the U.S. and Australia, finding that most people worry whether they’ll have enough money in retirement. France and Spain lead the list of countries whose citizens are worried about having enough retirement funds. Nearly 70 percent of Spanish and 67 percent of French citizens said they fear going broke
KNOW 46% of Americans do not believe they are prepared for retirement. Source: Source:LIMRA Gallup poll
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InsuranceNewsNet Magazine » April 2019
Americans have not outgrown human advisors. — Regina Bedoya, Million Dollar Round Table first vice president
in their post-employment years. In the U.S., 62 percent said they are worried about their retirement finances. The Dutch are the least concerned about retirement, with 40 percent worrying about having enough money to retire.
FURLOUGHED WORKERS RAIDED RETIREMENT FUNDS
How did the 800,000 federal employees who were affected by the government shutdown survive without a paycheck? More than one quarter of them withdrew money from their retirement funds to help make it through the 35 days in which they went unpaid, according to a Prudential study. In addition, four in 10 of these federal workers borrowed money from family or friends, while 20 percent took out a bank loan to help pay expenses until they went back to work. The silver lining in this scenario, the study found, is that workers are more aware of the importance of having an emergency fund. Fifty-two percent of the federal workers and spouses who were surveyed said they plan to add more money to their existing emergency funds. Ten percent who don’t have emergency savings funds plan to start them.
