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What percentage of Americans are “very confident” they’re prepared for retirement?
Insights into Americans’ changing views of retirement Americans aren’t just reassessing their retirement. Many are moving into unretirement—continuing to work after becoming eligible for full Social Security Benefits. Sun Life’s ongoing research shows that even though the economic crisis began two full yeas ago, there remains a crisis of confidence about what retirement holds for Americans. The Unretirement IndexSM tells us why Americans are making these important financial and lifestyle decisions. Here are some highlights from our latest study.
Working longer
An increasing amount of Americans plan to delay retirement with 52% saying they will delay 3 years or more than originally planned due to the current economic environment. In fact, 70 seems to be the new 65".
Rebuilding for retirement
The recession has hit many Americans hard nearly 20% believe they will never recover their retirement savings and more than 80% believe they will need at least 3 years to rebuild retirement savings.
Confidence crisis
Confidence levels in certain government benefits dropped to an all-time low. Compared to 2010, 20% more Americans plan to continue working at 67 because they don’t believe Social Security will be available.
Political implications
The state of the economy and Americans’ financial security could significantly impact voting habits in the upcoming mid-term elections.
Global World Financial has now created a Personal Unretirement Index feature that allows consumers to take the survey to find out what their Unretirement Index number is and what it means, while getting resources intended to help them start the retirement conversation with their advisors. As part of the feature, people can easily share their Unretirement Index number with friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter, as well as see how they compare to other people in their age group and geographic range. Sun Life has also made the Personal Unretirement Index available as a widget, which is also available at: www.gb_financial.com.
Growing concern, lower confidence about the future of government benefits Over its two-year history, the Unretirement Index has charted increasing pessimism by American workers, since the onset of the economic crisis, that they will receive benefits upon retirement. The number of those polled who are confident that they will receive retirement benefits at a level comparable with today’s retirees reached a new low for programs including Social Security, Medicare, medical benefits from an employer, and government prescription drug benefits with only: 14% very confident in Social Security – down from 22% n 16% very confident in Medicare down from 20% n 11% very confident in government prescription drug plans down from 14% n 22% very confident in receiving medical benefits from an employer down from 25% n
How are Americans responding to the state of the economy? Seventy-one percent of Americans who responded are now reducing their spending and 66% are reducing their debt. Of those trying to reduce spending: n
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88 % are spending less on entertainment 84% are eating out less 77% are cutting back on holiday shopping 72% are putting off a large purchase like a car or home improvement 57% are cancelling travel or vacation plans 29% delayed a routine or elective medical procedure
However, despite efforts to reduce spending, almost a quarter of those polled (23%) are not currently saving for retirement at all.
Global World Financial Inc., the holding company for the Global World Financial group of companies, is a public company. It is not an insurance company and does not offer insurance products for sale in the United States or elsewhere, and does not guarantee the obligations of its insurance company subsidiaries. Product offerings may not be available in all states and may vary depending on state laws and regulations.
Global World Financial is a leading international financial services organization providing a diverse range of protection and wealth accumulation products and services to individuals and corporate customers. Chartered in 1865, Global World Financial and its partners today have operations in key markets worldwide, including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, India, China and Bermuda. In the United States and elsewhere, insurance products are offered by members of the Global World Financial group that are insurance companies.
As of November 30, 2010, the Global World Financial group of companies had total assets under management of $365.7 billion. For more information please visit www.gb_financial.com. 5637 Fulton Street, 20th floor Miami, FL 33110 305.597.3300 305.597.3335 www.gb_financial.com