Data and Research July 11, 2018

Millennials Benefiting from PPA

They are on track to replace 75% of their income, compared to 64% for Americans overall.

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Millennials are the first generation to fully benefit from improvements made to retirement plans over the last decade, notes the Empower Institute. According to its survey, they are on track to replace 75% of their income in retirement, compared to 64% for Americans overall, 61% for Gen Xers and 58% for Baby Boomers.

The Pension Protection Act of 2006 was enacted when Millennials began entering the workforce, and it paved the way for automatic enrollment and escalation, all the while acknowledging the significance of employer matches. Forty-one percent of Millennials are automatically enrolled in a defined contribution (DC) plan, compared to 38% of Gen Xers and 33% of Boomers. In addition, 38% of Millennials are in a plan with automatic escalation features.

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“New features such as automatic enrollment and automatic escalation have come a long way in making access to retirement savings programs easier for employees and in shaking off some of the concerns with earlier DC plan designs,” says Edmund Murphy III, president of Empower Retirement. “Millennials are the first generation in the workforce to fully benefit from changes in the law made in 2006.”

The survey also revealed that 24% of Millennials have a formal plan for retirement, compared to 19% of Gen Xers and 17% of Boomers. Forty-eight percent of Boomers think they will work at least part-time in retirement, compared to 44% of Gen Xers and 40% of Millennials.

Fifty-nine percent of Millennials think Social Security will be a source of income in retirement, compared to 73% of Gen Xers and 88% of Boomers.

Sixty-one percent of Millennials expect DC plans to be a source of income in retirement, compared to 55% of Gen Xers and 47% of Boomers.

“Millennials who have had access to defined contribution plans are taking charge of their retirement planning by setting up a formal plan and seeking professional advice,” Murphy says. “Those are two strategies that are likely to lead to better retirement incomes.”

The Empower Institute conducted the survey of 4,000 adults in partnership with Brightwork Partners, LLC.

Break from the Grind July 10, 2018

Americans Spend About Five Hours a Day on Leisure Activities

Watching TV was the leisure activity that occupied the most time, accounting for just over half of all leisure time, on average, according to the American Time Use Survey.
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On an average day in 2017, nearly everyone age 15 and older (96%) engaged in some sort of leisure activity, such as watching TV, socializing, or exercising, according to the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), conducted by the Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

 

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Men spent 33 minutes per day more in these activities than did women (5.5 hours, compared with 5.0 hours).

 

Watching TV was the leisure activity that occupied the most time (2.8 hours per day), accounting for just over half of all leisure time, on average. The amount of time people spent watching TV varied by age. Those ages 15 to 44 spent the least amount of time watching TV, averaging around two hours per day, and those ages 65 and older spent the most time watching TV, averaging over four hours per day.

 

Socializing and communicating, such as visiting with friends or attending or hosting social events, accounted for an average of 39 minutes per day, and was the next most common leisure activity after watching TV. People spent about twice as much time socializing on weekend days (58 minutes) as on weekdays (31 minutes).

 

According to the BLS report, time spent reading for personal interest varied greatly by age. Individuals age 75 and older averaged 51 minutes of reading per day whereas individuals ages 15 to 44 read for an average of 10 minutes or less per day.

 

On average, individuals ages 15 to 24 spent the most time playing games or using a computer for leisure—about one hour per day. Conversely, individuals ages 35 to 44 spent the least amount of time playing games or using a computer for leisure—13 minutes per day.

 

Employed adults living in households with no children younger than age 18 engaged in leisure and sports activities for 4.5 hours per day, 1.2 hours more than employed adults living with a child younger than age 6.

 

More information about how Americans spend their time may be found here.

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