Boomers Have Almost No Confidence About Their Retirement Prospects

A report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that a little more than a quarter, 28%, of the Americans surveyed expressed that they have “no confidence” that they will be able to retire comfortably. This is not good news considering that this figure is the highest it has been in 23 years. A different finding from the Insured Retirement Institute said basically the same thing, but this study was conducted on the baby boomers. The survey found that “the percentage of baby boomers who were confident in their retirement preparations” had decreased from 44% to about 37% over the past two years.

This number should not be too surprising. Even though the U.S. economy has improved slightly, the baby boomers have not benefited from this increase. Additionally, the baby boomers suffered even more from the recession than other groups of people. Many were strapped with college bills and now have the additional financial burden of caring for their elderly parents, who are struggling to pay their medical bills themselves. Because of the unforeseen additional expenses, the baby boomers are having difficulty even saving for retirement. If there is a silver lining it is this. There are differences between working and retirement boomers in terms of confidence. The boomers that have already retired showed more confidence in their retirement plans than their working counterparts. The worse part of this scenario is that almost half of all baby boomers surveyed say that they do not anticipate much change in recent future.

See Anne Tergesen, Boomers’ Retirement Confidence Sinks, Market Watch – The Wall Street Journal, Apr. 2, 2013.

Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.