Americans Concerned with Short Term Market Volatility

A survey by Franklin Templeton Investments finds that Americans are nearly equally as concerned with short-term market volatility as they are with meeting their long-term retirement goals. 

Americans are almost equally concerned about short term market volatility as they are about achieving their long-term retirement goals, Franklin Templeton Investments found in its 2017 Retirement Income Strategies and Expectations Survey. Forty-seven percent are concerned about short-term volatility, and 53% are worried about their retirement goals.

Volatility concerns men more than women (51% versus 44%) while long-term retirement goals are top of mind for women (56% versus 49%).

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Across generations, Gen Xers are the least concerned about volatility, with 39% saying they are paying attention to this. Franklin Templeton says that it is surprising that 47% of Millennials, who have the longest time horizon for investing, are worried about volatility and that 53% of them are worried about not being able to achieve their retirement goals.

“The 24-hour news cycle and global uncertainty contribute to an outsized preoccupation with the short term,” says Michael Doshier, vice president of retirement marketing at Franklin Templeton Investments. “Retirement planning should be approached holistically with a long-term focus, taking into account both short- and long-term risk tolerance and overall goals in relation to various demographic factors like household size.”

Sixty-two percent of people say that they consider other household members when thinking about retirement, and this jumps to 84% if the person is married or living with a partner. Among those with a child under the age of 18, 16% expect that saving for their child’s education will delay their retirement. Seventeen percent of working Americans with a child under the age of 18 are looking for college savings-related tools.

Thirty-two percent of Baby Boomers and 31% of the Silent Generation say that their 401(k) retirement plan savings is their primary source of income in retirement.

Eighty-one percent of those who have worked with an adviser say they are confident in their ability to invest for retirement, compared to 53% of those who do not have an adviser. Among those working with an adviser, 95% say that they are integral to generating retirement income.

NEXT: Retirement income knowledge

Only 40% of those who are investing in a 401(k) plan know how much it will generate in income during their retirement. That is a rather remarkable finding, as 60% of men and 47% of women say that they have a strategy to generate income for a retirement that could last 30 to 40 years—or longer.

Thirty-two percent would like more investment options, and 9% would like different investment options.

Fifty-three percent would be willing to retire later if necessary, down from 62% in the 2014 survey. Twenty-two percent of those working with an adviser would prefer taking on more risk to retiring later.

ORC International’s Online CARAVAN conducted the online survey for Franklin Templeton among 2,013 people in January.

Healthy Lifestyle Important to Retirement Planning

People aspire to a more active retirement lifestyle, and staying in good health can help achieve their goals.

Retirement has become an active stage of life—one people have positive ideas about. For example, they aspire to stay socially connected, participate in their communities and remain economically active, according to the 2016 Aegon Retirement Readiness Survey.

Globally, the majority (72%) of people associate positive words with retirement, including “leisure” (46%), “freedom” (41%) and “enjoyment” (31%). People ages 65 and older have more positive associations with retirement than do younger people, ages 18 through 24.

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The two most widely held retirement aspirations among respondents are traveling (62%) and spending time with friends and family (57%). Twenty-six percent mention some form of paid work as a retirement aspiration.

Achieving retirement aspirations requires more than saving, investing and planning, however; it also depends on staying in good health, the survey report notes.

Globally, 68% of respondents characterize their overall health as good (51%) or excellent (16%). One-third say their health is only fair (29%) or poor (3%).

People report having concerns about their health in older age. Forty-three percent say their health is a primary concern, and 39% say it is a minor concern. Despite these worries, only 43% of respondents agree with the statement, “I think about my long-term health when making lifestyle choices,” and 57% say “I eat healthily.”

Workers in excellent health (78%) are more likely to say they are very/somewhat aware of the need to plan financially for retirement compared with workers in poor health (63%). They are also seven times more likely to say they are extremely/very confident of achieving a comfortable retirement (49% compared with 7% of those not in excellent health).

NEXT: Financial readiness

Globally, people expect 46% of their retirement income to come from the government, 24% from their employer and 30% from their own savings and investments.

Starting to save consistently at age 20 can give a boost of up to 64% in retirement income compared with starting at 30, the report notes. Globally, people start saving for retirement for a range of reasons, some of which are life stage (47%) or employment-related (41%).

Thirty-nine percent of workers globally describe themselves as habitual savers—i.e., they say they are always saving for retirement. This group has the brightest retirement outlook of the five saving types and is almost eight times more likely to achieve a high Aegon Retirement Readiness Index (ARRI) score than are non-savers, at the opposite end of the saving spectrum—38% compared with 5%. Only 14% of workers have a written strategy for retirement. Those who have such a strategy are significantly more likely to turn their good intentions into actions. Seventy-four percent say they are always saving for retirement, which is well above those with an unwritten strategy (48%) or those with no strategy at all (19%).

Globally, only one in three workers has a backup plan in case they lose their ability to work before reaching their planned retirement age. For those who do have a plan, many will rely on assets that may be quickly depleted such as savings, rather than specifically designed insurance products.

Many workers now envision fully retiring at an older age. However, success in achieving this largely depends on workers’ health and financial ability, Aegon notes.

Fifty-seven percent of workers envision continuing some form of employment in retirement. This includes working part-time before stopping altogether (31%), changing the way they work but still working throughout retirement (16%), and continuing to working just as they have been (10%).

Employees who envision working to some extent in retirement are doing so for financial and healthy aging-related reasons. Globally, 56% want to stay active/keep their brain alert, and 38% enjoy their work. A net 73% cite income and savings-related concerns.

Maybe surprisingly, workers in poor health are more likely to plan to work to age 70 or older, or to never retire (23%), compared to those in excellent health (17%). But the sobering reality is that 39% of the fully retired say they retired sooner than planned. The most frequently cited reasons for doing so are ill health or employment/job loss (29% and 25%, respectively).

NEXT: Employers’ roles

Employers play a significant role in designing a workplace environment that helps to stimulate greater savings, healthier lifestyle choices, and the opportunity for workers to transition to retirement, according to the report. It suggests a combination of nudges, whereby life-stage-driven prompts offered through the workplace provide an opportunity to create a pattern of habitual saving. This is critical for helping workers achieve their retirement aspirations, the report says.

Automatic enrollment receives a widespread appeal: 66% of workers globally find the prospect of being automatically enrolled into their employer retirement plan with a contribution rate of 6% of their annual salary to be somewhat/very appealing.

Ninety-one percent of workers say they would be interested in at least one health and wellness program if their employer were to offer it. Even small steps, such as providing healthy food and snacks at the office, are found to be appealing to 42% of workers.

Only 24% of workers say their employer offers the option to move from full-time to part-time work as a way to help them phase into retirement.

The 2016 Aegon Retirement Readiness Survey canvassed 16,000 people across 15 countries. The survey was conducted with the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies® and Cicero Consulting.

The full survey report is available at https://www.aegon.com/successful-retirement/.

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