Thirty-five percent of people who have $1 million saved for retirement think even that amount is woefully short of what they will need to live out a 20- to 30- year retirement, a survey by Natixis Investment Managers finds.
They say it is “going to take a miracle” for them to be able to retire.
Fifty-eight percent expect they will have to continue working longer, and 36% think retiring may never be a viable option, according to the Natixis survey of 8,500 investors, 1,617 of whom have $1 million or more saved.
Driving people’s insecurity about their retirement prospects are the unpredictability of employment; 44% think failing health or forced retirement may take them out of the workforce earlier than planned. They also say they may have to choose taking care of an elderly parent over working.
Thirty-eight fret about the future solvency of Social Security, Medicare and other public benefits. Seventy percent are vexed by high inflation, and 58% are concerned that low interest rates diminish the value of bond investing.
Fifty-six percent say the extreme market volatility of the past year has made them more apprehensive about their retirement prospects.
People are also more attuned to longevity and health care risks.
An earlier survey by Northwestern Mutual found that Americans think they will need at least $1.25 million in order to retire comfortably, up 20% from a year ago.
Having more than $1 million saved for retirement will be a pipe dream for most Americans, as they have an average of $86,869 saved for retirement, 11% less than 2021.
Inflation and increased spending following the pandemic are also prompting people to push up their retirement target age to 64, up from 62.6 last year.
Inflation and market volatility are weighing heavily on retirement savers’ and seniors’ minds, according to the Northwestern Mutual survey, reinforcing the findings of Natixis.
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