Employees Fearful of Retirement Situation

Only one in five younger Boomers (ages 46 to 54) and one in four older Boomers (ages 55 to 65) say they have achieved, or are on track to achieve, their retirement savings goals, the MetLife study found.  

In addition, over half of employees, including those on the cusp of retiring, do not know how much annual income their savings will generate once they retire nor are they doing the calculations to find out. Many fear the news will not be positive – four out of ten Boomers don’t think they will have the money they will need. Three in ten Boomers say they don’t know how to determine the figure needed.   

Nearly three-quarters of employees across all generations (73%) are interested in receiving help from their employers in the form of retirement and financial planning advice.  

The MetLife study also found that approximately half of employees who are behind in saving for retirement are interested in their employer automatically enrolling them in a savings program such as a 401(k). Employees have expressed interest in receiving some, or all, of their retirement income in the form of guaranteed income – 69% would like their employer to offer an annuity as part of their 401(k) plan. However, only 15% of employers said they currently offer annuities.   

The 9th Annual MetLife Study of Employee Benefits Trends was conducted during the fourth quarter of 2010 and consisted of two distinct studies fielded by GfK Custom Research North America. The employer survey comprised 1,508 interviews with benefits decision-makers at companies with staff sizes of at least two employees. The employee sample comprised 1,412 interviews with full-time employees age 21 and over, at companies with a minimum of two employees.