The median annual contributions totaled $11,910 to workplace retirement plans; $3,170 to traditional IRAs; $4,600 to Roth IRAs; $13,670 to self-employment plans; and $91,960 to annuities.
Kiplinger also asked how respondents were saving – 73 percent of the survey participants were saving in a workplace retirement plan, while 56 percent were saving in a traditional IRA, 42 percent in a Roth IRA, 20 percent owned some form of annuity, and 10 percent reported using retirement savings options for the self-employed. Another 29 percent responded that they were using some other form of retirement savings vehicle.
More than three-fifths of the respondents, 61 percent, reported working with a financial planner, and nearly three-quarters, 73 percent, said they had a long-term financial plan. Brokers remain the most common venue for financial advice, named by 21 percent of the respondents, followed by “money-managers,” named by 19 percent, and commission-based planners, named by 16 percent. Only 13 percent of the respondents reported working with a fee-only advisor, the same amount who reported receiving the bulk of their financial advice from a friend or a family member. Just 5 percent of the respondents reported using a roboadvisor.
In a surprising turn, younger households were more likely to work with a financial planner – while 58 percent of the respondents over age 50 reported using one, 70 percent of those under age 50 had engaged a planner’s services. Respondents under age 50 were also more likely to contribute the maximum to their workplace retirement plan – 65 percent of those under age 50 reported maxing out their plans, versus 47 percent of those over 50. Respondents under age 50 were also more open to working longer, using an immediate annuity and deploying a reverse mortgage than their elders.
For its report, Kiplinger polled 1,014 employed U.S. adults aged 35 to 64 during November 2018.