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Data and Research March 28, 2019
Retirement, College Costs Top of Mind for Middle-Income Americans
Only 33% think they are saving enough for retirement, according to a Primerica survey.
Reported by Lee Barney
Only 39% of middle-income Americans are confident they can save for retirement, Primerica learned in a survey. Only 33% think they think they are saving enough for a comfortable retirement. At 37%, saving for retirement is the greatest financial concern for middle-income Americans; for those between the ages of 40 and 54, this jumps to 54%.
Only 10% of middle-income Americans are confident they could pay for their child to go to college. Only 14% are confident they can make student debt payments. Less than one-third, 32%, are confident they could pay for life insurance, and only 37% believe they could pay for an emergency expense.
Sixty-nine percent worry how they would cope if their family were hit with a major medical expense, and 67% are concerned about how they would cope if the country were to face another Great Recession, like the one experienced in 2008.
Only 25% of middle-income Americans are confident they could teach someone how to save for the short- and long-term and a mere 14% think they could teach someone how to manage a retirement account, such as a 401(k) plan or individual retirement account (IRA).
Middle-income Americans save a median of $100 a month. Sixty percent of those who save $500 or more a month link their financial situation will improve over the next five years, compared to 47% of those who save less.
Meeting with a financial professional also boosts financial confidence, such as being able to make credit card debts (66% versus 60%), going on a vacation (55% versus 36%), saving for retirement (47% versus 31%), paying for an emergency expense (45% versus 29%), paying for life insurance (41% versus 22%), paying for a child to go to college (18% versus 6%) and making student debt payments (17% versus 12%).
However, 52% of middle-income Americans say they do not have access to a financial professional they feel comfortable with.
Quandrant Strategies conducted the online survey of 1,000 middle-income Americans whose household incomes were between $29,000 and $106,000 for Primarica in February.