If you’re like many U.S. workers, retirement can’t come soon enough. Are you wondering when you can retire? And, how others currently earning a paycheck feel about their retirement options?
A report, Retirement Confidence Survey 2022, features answers about retirement savings and related expectations from a survey of 2,677 U.S. workers ages 25 and up.
The report was conducted in January 2022 and conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute and Greenwald Research.
In this article, we’ll look at some highlights of the report, then share some retirement tips from money expert Clark Howard.
Here are some key findings:
- About 70-80% of workers surveyed said they feel confident they’ll have enough money to live comfortably throughout retirement. One in three said they were “very confident.”
- Nearly 40% of workers and 20% of retirees said they don’t know who to turn to for financial and retirement planning advice.
- Most current workers said they plan to retire at age 65, which is five years before many will be able to draw their maximum Social Security benefits.
Retiring before 65 can come with many challenges, especially if you’re trying to capitalize on your earning years fully. Being over 65, Clark is eligible for retirement but has chosen to wait until he’s 70 before he starts collecting Social Security.
He recommends that you continue working past retirement age if your personal circumstances allow you to postpone Social Security. As you age, the money you earn in the meantime will come in handy as you deal with expenses related to inflation and rising health care.
“The odds overwhelmingly show that a lot of us are going to live a lot longer than we thought,” Clark says. “So, the best time to take Social Security is to wait as long as you possibly can.”
Let’s look at the ages most U.S. workers plan to retire, according to the report:
When Most Workers Plan To Retire
| Ages | Workers |
|---|---|
| 70+ | 14% |
| 66-69 | 12% |
| 65 | 24% |
| 62-64 | 10% |
| 60-61 | 12% |
| 55-59 | 7% |
| Under 55 | 5% |
| Don’t Plan To Retire | 15% |
Read the complete Retirement Confidence Survey.
If you don’t have a road map to get to your retirement destination, Clark wants you to know that that’s OK — as long as you start moving forward. The key to financial freedom in retirement typically involves saving along the way.
“Saving money is a choice; there’s no requirement that you do it,” Clark says. “And if saving is not something that’s important to you, it simply means you’ll probably have to work longer.”
How To Save for Retirement
Consider a Financial Advisor
In the report, many workers said that they didn’t know where to go for financial advice and planning for retirement. That’s where a financial advisor comes in.
To get started, Clark advises that you think about what services you want a financial advisor to provide.
“The reality is, the biggest problem for most people is just getting the money into an account and getting it invested,” Clark says. “For most people starting out, you don’t need professional advice.”
For those that do need some professional help, Clark loves Vanguard’s Personal Advisor Services, a full-service option that requires a minimum investment of $500,000.
Read our guide on how to find and choose a financial advisor.
Take Advantage of a Workplace Retirement Savings Plan
“The younger you start, the better it is,” Clark, referring to financial security, says on his podcast.
That’s why he’s a big fan of taking advantage of an employer-sponsored 401(k) plan. A 401(k) plan with an employer match typically gives you 50 cents on the dollar up to 6% of your salary. That can yield quite a bit of money when you start contributing to a 401(k) plan as a young worker.
“The beauty of an employer match is that it’s the equivalent of an automatic pay raise,” Clark says. “No need to ask your boss, get a good quarterly review or hope your company has a good year so there’s money for a raise!”
Read up about a 401(k) match and how it works.
Invest Your Savings Outside Your Workplace
Besides your employer, there are other ways to invest your money with retirement savings in mind. One option that Clark likes is a tax-free Roth IRA.
“A Roth IRA is the most efficient place for you to have money grow for your retirement because the money in it grows tax-free and is spent tax-free,” Clark says.
Read our guide on how you can become a millionaire with an IRA.
Final Thoughts
When it comes to age, Clark says the main thing to remember is that it’s never too late to start investing in your future.
“Whatever you’ve been able to do, whatever you’ve done, that’s what you’ve been able to do up to this point,” Clark says. “From here, it’s all about where you are now and how you’re going to move forward.”
Want more retirement tips? Here’s how to invest and save the Clark Howard way.
