FYI: The latest research findings from TCRS' 2017 survey of American workers.
The Annual Transamerica Retirement Survey explores attitudes about retirement and retirement readiness among American workers. The latest findings are included in Wishful Thinking or Within Reach? Three Generations Prepare for “Retirement,” which highlights differences and similarities among Baby Boomers, Generation X and Millennials.
The study is one of the largest and longest-running of its kind, with more than 6,000 respondents in 2017. It was conducted by Harris Poll, an independent research company. The robust, nationally representative sample enables TCRS to explore many different demographic segments, and those results will follow in the coming months.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.transamericacenter.org/docs/default-source/retirement-survey-of-workers/tcrs2017_pr_three_generations_prepare_for_retirement.pdf
Comments
"• Calculating retirement savings needs. Forty-seven percent of workers who provided an estimate for their retirement savings needs did so by guessing, a survey finding that is consistent across the three generations of workers. Only seven percent have used a retirement calculator.
• Formulating a written strategy for retirement. Sixteen percent of workers have set forth a retirement strategy in writing. Ironically, Baby Boomers (12 percent) and Generation X (15 percent) are less likely than Millennials (20 percent) to have a written strategy."
While a written investment strategy is useful, it lacks a good deal of meaning until you estimate what you’ll actually need for retirement.
Some simple calculations (expenses and income) will tell a person where they are and what they may need to achieve in order to reach a Retirement Number that will provide them with a decent retirement. While there are many calculators that can be used to shortcut this calculation, I’m of the opinion that actually WRITING these numbers on a piece of paper will prove more meaningful.
After adding up your monthly expenses, you subtract your expenses from your monthly after-tax income. In most cases you will have a deficit.
You will need your investments to make up for the deficit.
Multiply the deficit amount by 25 (representing a 4% drawdown percentage) then divide by your tax bracket percentage (a 20% tax bracket = .80 – a 28% bracket = .72, etc.)
The final number is often called your Retirement Number or your Magic Number.
This is not a wishful number or some pie-in-the-sky number. It represents the amount of money that you should seek to protect – a number you don’t wish to fall below when you reach retire. Of course, as your income and expenses change over time, you will want to recalculate your Retirement Number.
If your investments fall below this number you should consider cutting your expenses or increasing your income – or both.
As I’ve said many times (and I won’t repeat myself) the trick is not just buying and walking away but also learning when to sell. Avoiding market crashes is the surest way I know to protect your Retirement Number.