Survey conducted in partnership with SurveyMonkey finds retirement is harder to achieve than it was for parents
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. and SAN MATEO, CA, September 4, 2024 – CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, and SurveyMonkey today announced the results of the latest CNBC Your Money Survey.
The survey, which polled over 6,600 retired adults and adult workers (those who work full or part time or are self-employed or own their own business) in the U.S., finds that nearly half (44%) of workers are ‘cautiously optimistic’ about meeting retirement goals and a majority (82%) say achieving a comfortable retirement is ‘much harder or somewhat harder’ to achieve than it was for their parents. A majority (69%) of workers also express concern about being able to afford to fully stop working or retire, and 80% are worried that Social Security will not be enough to live off of in retirement.
Additionally, the survey finds that fewer than one in ten workers say they are “ahead of schedule” with retirement savings. Nearly half (48%) of those surveyed cite paying off debt or loans as the main reason for being behind schedule, tied with not having enough income to put into retirement. Four in ten (40%) also say they either started saving for retirement too late or they are not making enough money as leading causes for falling behind. However, most of the workers surveyed (71%) remain optimistic about their ability to meet their retirement goals.
“While many workers are somewhat optimistic, the research highlights the complexities workers are facing when planning for retirement,” said Eric Johnson, CEO at SurveyMonkey. “Employers and policymakers should be prepared to accommodate a workforce that increasingly expects to work longer and with more flexibility in their retirement journeys.”
Additional key findings from the CNBC Your Money Retirement Survey include:
Retirees:
- More than a third (36%) of retirees have nothing saved or less than $50,000 saved for retirement.
- More than half (56%) of retired Americans are ‘very or somewhat concerned’ about running out of savings during retirement. Just over half (53%) say that they did not save enough for retirement, compared with one in three (33%) who say they save just enough, and 13% who say they saved more than enough.
- 80% of retired Americans rely on Social Security payments for retirement, with similar levels of reliance regardless of how much they saved for retirement.
- The vast majority (86%) of retirees say that inflation has had some impact on their retirement savings: 52% say inflation has impacted their savings ‘a lot’, while one in three (35%) say inflation has had a minor impact. Only 12% say inflation has not impacted their retirement savings at all.
Workers:
- Nearly a quarter (23%) of workers have no plans set up for retirement.
- 41% of workers feel less financially prepared than others, while 33% feel about as prepared, and 26% more prepared than others.
- One in ten workers (11%) have absolutely no plans to work after retirement: 36% say they are not sure, while 53% plan on working, either because they need to supplement their income (27%) or because they want to work (26%).
CNBC Senior Personal Finance Correspondent Sharon Epperson will reveal the results of the CNBC Your Money Survey today, Wednesday, September 4 throughout the network’s Business Day programming.
For more information on the survey including the full results, methodology and in-depth articles, go to CNBC’s digital hub, cnbc.com/your-money/ and https://www.surveymonkey.com/curiosity/cnbc-retirement-2024/?utm_source=cnbc_2024.
Sharon Epperson’s story about the results can also be found here: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/04/44percent-of-workers-are-cautiously-optimistic-about-retirement-cnbc-poll.html.
CNBC Your Money Retirement Survey is part of CNBC’s financial education initiative, CNBC Your Money, which is dedicated to helping people manage, grow and protect their money so they can live ambitiously. The initiative, which is an extension of the CNBC Your Money editorial brand, further amplifies the organization’s content, helps to meet the needs of a core but underserved audience segment. Through access and advocacy, the initiative educates people about their personal finances across every life stage from school age to retirement.
Methodology:
The CNBC|SurveyMonkey study was conducted August 2-14, 2024 among a sample of 6,657 adults, including 2,603 retired adults and 4,054 adult workers (those who work full or part time, or are self-employed or own their own business) in the US. Respondents for this survey were selected from a non-probability online panel. The modeled error estimate for this survey is plus or minus 1.5 percentage points for workers, and 2.0 percentage points for retirees. Data have been weighted for age, race, sex, education, and geography using the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey to reflect the overall demographic composition of the United States.
For more information contact:
CNBC
SurveyMonkey
About CNBC:
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About SurveyMonkey:
SurveyMonkey is a global leader in online surveys and forms that empowers people with the insights they need to make decisions with speed and confidence. Our fast, intuitive feedback management platform connects millions of users worldwide with real-time AI-powered insights that drive meaningful decisions. We provide answers to more than 20 million questions every day so that people and organizations can attract new audiences, delight customers, create advocates, and extend their competitive advantage in the marketplace. Our vision is to raise the bar for human experiences by amplifying individual voices. Learn more at surveymonkey.com.
