Sleepwalking into A Crisis: Most Americans and Europeans Are Terrified about Retirement
The comments below are an edited and abridged synopsis of an article by Tyler Durden
The ING International Survey Savings 2019 surveyed 14,695 people in Europe, the US and Australia, and discovered the majority worry about not having enough money in retirement. Many people are sleepwalking into a financial crisis with little or no savings.
Half of the retirees in Europe say that their standard of living has declined due to their underfunded retirement plan. Two in five Europeans who have not yet retired say they expect to get less in retirement than they paid into their pension.
More than half of Europeans who have not yet retired say they expect to work to continue generating income streams well into their retirement.
The shocker: One in four Europeans had no savings at the end of 2018, making it virtually impossible to save towards retirement. A similar ratio of non-savers existed in the US and Australia.
The worst outlooks were in Spain and France, where more than two-thirds of people said they might not have enough money for retirement. The Dutch are the most optimistic about their retirement. In the US, two-thirds of respondents said they worried about not having enough savings for retirement.
Individuals and governments could have trouble covering costs related to old age. Cutting pensions for seniors can trigger problems for politicians who attempt to rein in costs. And for ordinary people who want to delay retirement, it is hard to say if their jobs will still exist in the next 24 to 48 months.
People’s attitudes toward retirement reflect the economic realities they face in a global economy that is slowing. In France, for instance, a majority of retirees say they do not enjoy the same standard of living they had when working.
With the expectation of government budget cuts, low saving rates, out-of-control inequality and volatile markets, retirement for future generations will be a financial nightmare.