Few Income Goals, But Lots of Worry

Yet, when it comes to developing a retirement savings goal, only one-fifth (21%) of middle-income retirees and preretirees calculated a monthly retirement income goal number; only one in ten (13%) determined a total savings goal number to reach, according to the latest study released by the Bankers Life and Casualty Company Center For A Secure Retirement (CSR).  

The CSR study finds more than half of middle-income Boomers (55%) have saved less than $100,000 for retirement. Nearly two-thirds (62%) of middle-income preretirees report some level of anxiety about retirement; one in four (28%) report being “anxious” or “very anxious.”  

Declining health is the number one longevity concern for respondents—nearly four times the concern about inadequate retirement savings (10%) or outliving their money (9%).   

To compensate for the possibility of outliving their savings, middle-income Americans plan to: 

• Reduce spending (63%); 
• Get a part-time job in retirement (41%); 
• Sell house (25%); 
• Give less money to children/grandchildren (24%); and  
• Do nothing (15%). 

The good news is that the majority of today’s middle-income Americans are living within their budget. According to the CSR study, seven out of ten (70%) report living comfortably within their budget; only one in ten (9%) admit to living beyond their means.    

The Bankers Life and Casualty Company Center for a Secure Retirement’s study, “Longevity Risk and Reward for Middle-Income Americans,” was conducted in November 2012 among a nationwide sample of 500 Americans ages 55 to 75 who have annual household incomes between $25,000 and $75,000 by the independent research firm The Boomer Project. The full report can be viewed at CenterForASecureRetirement.com.