Financial planning is getting lower on Americans’ priority lists, having been replaced by health and wellness concerns, according to the Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America.
Financial planning did not rank highly last year either, but in 2019 it has sunk even lower. Only 14% of the 1,307 participants in the annual Allianz New Year’s Resolution Study said financial planning was on their resolution list, down from 18% last year.
Curiously, the survey's conclusions were the opposite of a similar survey released by Fidelity earlier this week that concluded financial resolutions are on the rise this year.
Twenty-seven percent said financial stability is a top goal for the New Year, but 51% said health and wellness is their top aim, according to the Allianz survey. Thirty-eight percent of baby boomers said increasing health-care costs are the greatest risk to their retirement, compared to 15% of Gen Xers and 8% of millennials.
Similarly, the study found baby boomers are the generation most focused on their health and wellness at 63%, compared with 49% of Gen Xers and 40% of millennials. Only 28% of boomers said they are planning to focus on financial stability in 2020.
“This commitment to health and wellness even extends to American’s who are struggling to meet their retirement goals. Nearly four in 10 of those who do not think they will be able to retire still prioritize health and wellness over financial stability in the New Year,” Allianz said.
“People focus on health and wellness with the hopes of potentially living longer, but they aren’t setting themselves up financially for a longer life,” said Kelly LaVigne, vice president of consumer insights at Allianz Life. “We all want to live longer, but not many people are planning for how they will actually pay for it.”
Despite boomers’ concern about health-care costs, only 7% said they would put more money into a fund to pay for future health-care costs, like a health savings account, the study said.
When asked why financial planning is not one of their resolutions, 32% of Americans said it is because they already have a financial plan, while another 30% said it is because they do not make enough money to worry about financial planning, the report said.
“The fact that people plan to focus less on their finances is concerning,” said LaVigne. “While it’s great to be optimistic about your financial situation, it’s also important to be realistic about certain retirement risks and the steps you can take to mitigate those risks in the year ahead.”