Americans worry more about how they tip the scales than their retirement account balances.
Just 16 percent of Americans named increasing their retirement savings as a top priority for this year, while 27 percent named travelling to a new destination and 23 percent named weight loss as their primary goals for 2016, according to the Capital One Investing 2016 Financial Freedom Study.
Ninety percent of Americans acknowledge that they should be saving for retirement, but 75 percent are taking action, down five percent from last year, according to the study.
Even baby boomers placed weight loss ahead of retirement saving as a priority, 30 percent versus 21 percent.
Among millennials, retirement is even less of a concern: only 11 percent named saving as a top priority, compared to 31 percent who prioritize travel and 22 percent who aspire to purchase a home this year.
While millennial respondents were more likely than older generations to use a website or mobile app for financial planning, 31 percent of them questioned the accuracy of digital advice providers’ underlying algorithms.
More than half of Capital One’s respondents, 52 percent, use a human financial advisor, and three quarters reported that they would prefer to receive advice from a human advisor.
Most respondents, 76 percent, said that planning for retirement today is more difficult than it was for their grandparents' generation, citing confusion on investing, uncertainty about Social Security, more costly investment advice and the lack of pension plans as major roadblocks to retirement.
Of the respondents who are saving for retirement, 64 percent are confident that they are saving enough, while 26 percent report saving less than 5 percent of their income. Among millennials, 61 percent believe they are saving enough to retire, but 29 percent report saving less than 5 percent of their income.
Capital One surveyed 1,005 U.S. adults in January.