Most Expect to at Least Get By in Retirement

A new poll from Bankrate, Inc. (conducted by GfK Roper as part of Bankrate’s Financial Literacy series on retirement) found that more than a quarter (28%) of 1,004 Americans surveyed say that they will be able to retire comfortably, and another third say they’ll have enough to “get by” when retired.

And although that means that more than half will have enough (if just enough), and 16% of survey respondents have increased their contribution rate (15% have decreased their savings rate), 70% say they have set low expectations about their retirement prospects, and nearly one in five is afraid they’ll never be able to retire.

“Nothing” Doing

Of course, the vast majority (73%) has made no changes to their savings rate at all – and a mere 8% have ceased contributions to their workplace retirement plan or individual retirement account (IRA) altogether. That’s definitely a good trend.

And when you break the numbers down further, most of those who worry that they will never be able to retire haven’t even stopped to figure out how much they would need. So, either they have no real foundation for their fear – or they are so terribly far off that they are afraid to even attempt the calculation.

On the other hand, among those who expect to be retiring with plenty of money to be comfortable – more than a quarter (26%) – have not made any attempt to find out how much money they would actually need.

Of course, the bottom line after sorting through all those figures seems to be that workers may – or may not – feel that they will have enough to retire on….but most don’t seem to have a clue, either way.