More workers are pessimistic about their retirement future than at any time in the past two decades, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute 2011 Retirement Confidence Survey.
The percentage of workers who are not at all confident about saving enough money for a comfortable retirement reached 27% in 2011, compared with 22% last year. When combined with those who said they are not too confident, the total reaches 50% of workers.
“That is sobering,” says Greg Burrows, senior vice president of retirement and investor services at the Principal Financial Group, a partner with the EBRI survey. “Hopefully this will spur some action.”
I always wonder what people mean by “comfortable” when they speak of a comfortable retirement. Do they mean that they can pay for food, clothing, and shelter, see the doctor and dentist reasonably often, and enjoy their grandchildren? Or do they mean that they can buy a land yacht and wander all over the continent?