July 19, 2018

Plenty of Americans have not started the process of retirement planning at all or admit that they feel that they are in over their head and haven’t set aside enough money. With increasing longevity numbers and rising cost of long term care, retirement planning has become increasingly important.

However, a new study completed by Northwestern Mutual indicates that many people expect to delay their retirement years as a result of financial concerns. This comes from the 2018 planning and progress study known as Living Long and Working Longer, which discusses some of the long term financial security threats currently facing the older generation. 

More than 2,000 adults were included in this study and 8 out of 10 people say they are somewhat or extremely concerned about being able to achieve an affordable retirement. Up to two-thirds of U.S. adults who responded in the study believes that it is possible that they will outlive their retirement savings.

A total of three quarters of Americans believe that it was only somewhat likely or not at all likely that Social Security benefits would be available when they retire. Unfortunately, however, nearly half of adults who participated in the study said that they took no specific to prepare for the potential of outliving their individual savings.

However, one-quarter of them did say that they had increased the amount of money they were putting aside each month. Less than 20% of people who responded in the survey had put together a financial plan to help get them to retirement and beyond.

More than half of the American people who responded in the study who anticipated living past the traditional retirement age said they had to so as a result of necessity, due to a lack of confidence in social security’s ability to protect their needs and inadequate savings.

Other concerns that came about as prominent in these responses included having to care for loved ones or rising health care costs. If you or someone you know has not thought carefully about how your retirement plan intersects with your estate plan, set aside time to schedule a consultation with an experienced lawyer.