Americans are saving earlier than ever before, but still lack a concrete plan to reach their financial goals, according to a recently released survey.
In Natixis Global Asset Management’s “2015 Retirement Survey,” members of Generation Y, the age group between 18 and 34 years old sometimes called millennials, reported starting their retirement saving at the average age of 23.
“More and more of the burden of a comfortable life rests on the shoulders of the individual,” says Ed Farrington, executive vice president of retirement at Natixis Global Asset Management. “That message has gotten through to this younger generation. They are saving at a younger age.”
By contrast, Generation X, those aged 35 to 50, reported starting their savings at the average age of 29, and baby boomers, now aged 50 to 69, started at 33, according to the Natixis research. Farrington credits employer-based 401(k) programs with the earlier savings.
“One of the key drivers of success for 401(k) vehicles is a simple concept: the ease of payroll deduction,” Farrington says. “We know that one out of three people cite the automatic deductions as the reason they keep investing every month. It works.”
Fifty-nine percent of the survey’s participants were enrolled in their employer’s 401(k) program.
“We also know that only half of workers have access to an employer-sponsored 401(k) or similar program,” Farrington says. “That means half of the people wake up and go to work without access to a plan, so the first step in improving the retirement picture is broadening access to these workplace savings vehicles.”
But Natixis’s research also portrays retirement savers as out of touch with their financial goals and lacking solid plans.
“There are a lot of high-quality tools out there available to folks via their plan or online,” Farrington says. “More than two-thirds of our respondents have access to a retirement income calculator, but only one-third have acknowledged using them.”
More than half of the respondents were unable to calculate how much annual income their retirement savings would generate, and nearly half admit to not having an accurate view of how much money they need in retirement. Just 50% of those surveyed felt confident in their investment knowledge or abilities.