Even more troubling, nearly 30% of working respondents have less than $1,000 saved up. While many in this last category reported having neither a defined-benefit pension, defined-contribution retirement plan, nor an IRA, those who did have one of the three comprised a savings spectrum:
- 20% of respondents had a nest egg of $250,000 or more
- 17% had less than $10,000 in the bank
The main take-away is that having a retirement plan may not mean an employee has a sizable nest egg, though not having any plan means they likely have inadequate, or non-existent, savings for the future.
Unsurprisingly, employer-sponsored 401(k) plans are the retirement vehicle relied on by most employees nowadays, and the RCS results indicate that those who are able to invest in their company plans tend to have alternate forms of saving as well.
At the same time, two-thirds of respondents feel they are behind in their retirement savings, and roughly the same percentage expect to do some work during their retirement years. And nearly half of those who report falling behind indicate not toting up how much they will actually need once they stop working.