Employees Want Help to Get in Control of Savings

The study, “Shedding Light on Retirement,” found that while consumers want control and empowerment of their money, the expectation is that their employers, advisers and financial providers will help guide them.   

Eighty-nine percent of respondents want help allocating their investments, and 86% want guidance calculating their financial needs in retirement, with nearly as many (84%) saying that they want solutions for calculating and creating retirement income, ING reported.

The study also highlighted that consumers want advice that enables them to develop clear and actionable short- and long-term goals. More than three-quarters of Americans (80%) said they found it important to use specific tools and services that advise on how to calculate financial needs for retirement.   

Other areas where Americans found specific tools and services to be important included providing advice on how to allocate retirement savings (79%) and providing an annual “financial checkup” to set and measure progress (78%).  

“Consumers also value the control to make their own retirement-planning decisions but want detailed instructions on how to accomplish their financial objectives,” said Lynne Ford, CEO of ING Individual Retirement. ING released the report in conjunction with the launch of a new Web site, RetireWithING.com (see “ING Introduces Retirement Planning Web Site“).