Comfortable Retirement

Although most American workers are confident they will have 

enough money to retire comfortably, that confidence appears to be waning.

In 2001, 63 percent of workers responding to a survey said they were 

confident about having enough money to live comfortably throughout their 

retirement years. That’s down from 72 percent in 2000 and the first decline 

since 1996.¹

• Seventy percent of workers feel they are doing a good job of preparing financially for retirement. Only 13 percent believe their preparations are totally inadequate.²

• Seventy-eight percent of workers said they expect to accumulate enough money to cover their basic expenses in retirement. Specifically, 37 percent of respondents said they are “very confident” of this ability.³

• Fifty-eight percent of workers believe they will have enough money to take care of medical expenses; 44 percent said they expect to have enough money to pay for long-term care.⁴

• Thirty-nine percent of workers said they have tried to calculate how much money they need to save before retirement. That’s down from 51 percent in 2000.⁵