Many People Have Withdrawn From the Markets Following ’08

But 40% say the Great Recession has had no impact on their lives whatsoever.

While 40% of people say the financial crisis of 2008 has had no lasting impact on their life, 42% say they now avoid the market and 46% have adjusted their spending and savings habits, Hartford Funds found in a survey.

Additionally, 26% plan to work longer than they had hoped as a result of financial hardship related to the recession, and 25% plan to change jobs or take on additional jobs.

“Americans are forgetting what it felt like during those challenging times of 2008-11,” says John Diehl, senior vice president of strategic markets at Hartford Funds. “These results signify that advisers should continue to remind clients that markets can get turbulent, so they should steer clear of emotional investments and knee-jerk reactions by maintaining a fundamentally diversified portfolio to help them achieve their long-term financial goals.”

Asked how they are preparing for the next recession or market downturn, 43% said they are taking a wait-and-see approach to the markets. Only 17% are confident about their investments, and 21% are increasing their investments to take advantage of the upside.

Twenty-three percent are withdrawing cash from their investments to prepare for the next recession. Among Millennials, 26% report this behavior.

Millennials also have the least faith in the markets, with 48% avoiding the market altogether. Hartford Funds says this may be because for many Millennials, they were entering the labor force just when the Great Recession hit. Twenty-four percent plan to work longer, and 38% are saving more.

CARAVAN conducted the telephone survey of 1,006 adults for Hartford Funds in mid October.

MassMutual Introduces Mobile App to Gauge Retirement Readiness

The app is a mobile version of MassMutual’s RetireSMART Ready tool, which provides a snapshot of a saver’s retirement readiness at a specific age.

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. (MassMutual) introduced a RetireSMART Ready mobile application for smartphones to give savers in defined contribution (DC) retirement plans immediate access to information about the progress they have made towards their retirement goals.

The app is available free for Apple and Android smartphones through the Apple App Store and Google Play app store, respectively, to retirement savers who already access their accounts through MassMutual’s RetireSMART website. The app can be downloaded by searching “RetireSmart” or “MassMutual” in the Apple or Google stores.

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“We all would like to know when we can retire. MassMutual’s new mobile app provides immediate access to information about personal income projections in retirement, progress towards retirement goals, and the capability to make necessary changes to get there sooner,” says Tina Wilson, head of MassMutual’s Investment Innovation Solutions. “Wherever you are in your journey to retirement, and whenever you plan to retire, you can use the app to make informed decisions about your retirement readiness.”

The app is a mobile version of MassMutual’s RetireSMART Ready tool, which provides a snapshot of a saver’s retirement readiness at a specific age. Both the app and tool generate a personal projection of monthly income in dollars or, if preferred, show the progress towards a stated financial wellness goal in retirement as a percentage of pre-retirement income. In order to generate the most accurate projections possible, savers can include information about other retirement plans they may have, such as IRAs or 401(k)s from previous employers, as part of income or retirement readiness calculations. If their current savings or investment strategy is falling short of their goals, savers can obtain guidance on what steps to take next.

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