TIAA - Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America

10/27/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/27/2021 06:40

Americans Split on Biggest Concern in Retirement: Running out of Time vs. Running out Money

NEW YORK, October 27, 2021
- Nearly half of working Americans worry about running out of money in retirement (45%), while the rest (55%) say running out of time to do what they want in retirement is a bigger concern, according to TIAA's 2021 Lifetime Income Survey.

"Retirement can evoke many conflicting emotions," said Doug Chittenden, head of Client Relationships at TIAA. "Feelings of excitement and celebrating a successful career can be married with the genuine anxiety of outliving your savings or concern about not having enough time to do everything you've dreamed about. Creating a retirement plan that includes guaranteed lifetime income can offer the freedom to enjoy retirement and give you peace of mind."

The 2021 TIAA Lifetime Income Survey was fielded using an online survey of 1,001 working American Millennials, Gen Xers, and Boomers. Additional findings are available here.

Achieving financial confidence in retirement

While a little more than half of working Americans think they are on track with their savings to retire when they want, only 42% are highly confident they will have enough in retirement savings to fund a 20-year retirement. This falls to 32% when looking at a retirement of 30 or more years.

The survey found that those who have guaranteed lifetime income through an annuity feel they will be financially secure in retirement (83%). They are also significantly more confident that their savings will last: 64% of those with guaranteed lifetime income are confident that their savings will last through a 30+ year retirement.

About 7 in 10 believe having guaranteed lifetime income provides certainty around essential expenses, allows for spending flexibility, and makes knowing how much to save easier. Six in 10 agree it is difficult to know how much income they will earn from the stock market, and two-thirds believe that guaranteed lifetime income can protect against this volatility.

Roadblocks to readiness and simple fixes

Contributing a portion of your savings to TIAA Traditional consistently over a working career can significantly increase payments in retirement vs. contributing a lump sum at the point of retirement.1 However, the survey identified numerous roadblocks to saving more for retirement, such as the 30% of respondents who said the pandemic had harmed their financial health.

Almost half of workers (45%), and 66% of Millennials, believe if they simply had help creating and managing a budget, they could save more for retirement.

Meeting with a financial advisor is a great first step to tackle goals to help achieve financial confidence. A financial advisor can help create a budget while also focusing on long-term goals like retirement planning.

Along with matching a portion of an employee's contributions into a retirement plan, employers also often offer financial planning and education through third parties.

TIAA is a leading provider of secure retirements and outcome-focused investment solutions to millions of people and thousands of institutions. It is the #1 not-for-profit retirement market provider,2 paid more than $3.6 billion to retired clients in 2020 and has $1.3 trillion in assets under management (as of 6/30/2021).3