Television and radio stations that broadcast all news, all day are contributing to people’s uncertainty about their retirement, according to a study by Franklin Templeton Investments released Monday.
Forty-seven percent of Americans are concerned about short-term market volatility and how its affects their retirement planning, says the 2017 Retirement Income Strategies and Expectations survey by Franklin Templeton, a financial services firm based in San Mateo, Calif.
“The 24-hour news cycle and global uncertainty contribute to an outsized preoccupation with the short term,” Michael Doshier, vice president of Retirement Marketing at Franklin Templeton Investments, said in a statement.
Men are more concerned about short-term market volatility (51 percent) than women (44 percent), while women are more concerned about not achieving their long-term goals (56 percent) than are men (49 percent). The survey included 2,013 adults of all ages almost equally divided between men and women.
Nearly two thirds of people (62 percent) surveyed consider other people in their household when thinking about retirement, and this jumps to 84 percent if a person is married or living with a partner. Among those with children under the age of 18 in the household, 16 percent of respondents expect financing their children’s education to delay their retirement.
Each year, fewer people are willing to say they will work longer if they do not have the resources to retire when they planned. This year 53 percent said they would work longer, compared to 62 percent in 2014. Twenty-two percent of respondents working with a financial advisor would be interested in taking on a higher risk growth-oriented investment strategy instead of postponing their retirement, the survey said.