More than two-fifths of Americans said that their retirement plans are not on track in a major study sponsored by the Federal Reserve.
Forty-four percent of the respondents in a survey of 11,000 U.S. households said that they feel like they are not on track in saving for retirement, according to the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED), which was fielded in the fourth quarter.
The Fed found concerns about inadequate savings across respondents in all age groups, but current retirees seemed to be doing better than non-retirees.
While 36% of the survey’s respondents felt like their savings were on track for retirement, another 20% weren’t sure whether they were saving sufficiently.
One-quarter of the respondents in the Fed’s survey said that they had no retirement savings or pensions at all. That proportion narrowed to 13% of the respondents aged 60 and older.
Defined-contribution plans remain the most common account used for retirement savings. Among non-retirees in the survey who had retirement savings, 54% were using a defined-contribution plan. One-third of the respondents were saving in IRAs, while 42% were using non-retirement accounts like brokerage accounts to hold their savings.
Just 22 percent of the respondents reported having a traditional defined-benefit plan or pension.
The Fed found clear racial disparity in retirement confidence and savings. While 21% of white respondents reported having no savings, and 42% of this group felt like their savings were on track, 36% of black respondents and 39% of Hispanic respondents reported having no savings, and 25% of black respondents and 23% of Hispanic respondents felt like they were on track.
Younger adults were more likely to have no retirement savings and to feel off track in their retirement preparations. Forty-two percent of respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 had no retirement savings, and just 26% felt like their retirement savings were on track. Among respondents aged 30 to 44, 26% had no retirement savings and 35% felt like they were on track. The proportion of respondents with no savings narrowed to 17 percent among those aged 45 to 59, and 42 percent of that age group felt like they were on track.
Among those in or near retirement aged 60 and older, 45 percent felt like they were on track with their savings.