More than six in 10 retirement plan participants under age 40 say they find online retirement calculators most helpful, new research show.
OneAmerica Financial Parnters Inc., Indianapolis, reports this finding in a survey that explores a "digital divide" between older and younger generations in respect to using technology to preparing for retirement.
The report shows that younger retirement plan participants are more likely to use online retirement calculators, interactive charts and mobile apps in preparing for retirement than older counterparts.
Recommended For You
Among the report's key findings:
Only 51 percent of participants age 41 to 50 and only 41 percent of those over 50 find online retirement calculators helpful.
• Two-thirds (67 percent) of those over 50 finds articles most helpful, compared to only 45 percent of those aged 20 to 30. (Respondents were able to select more than one choice from a list.)
• Twice as many 20- to 30-year-olds (24 percent) find mobile apps helpful, compared to only 12 percent of 40- to 50-year-olds. Only 7 percent of those over 50 found mobile apps helpful.
"Retirement plan providers need to work with their trusted advisers to ensure that plan sponsors are providing a wide variety of tools and the information participants need in various formats in order to reach all audiences successfully," said Bill Yoerger, president of retirement business for the
The survey also finds that the digital divide extends to the sources where participants read about financial issues.
Participants in the 20- to 30-year-old range are more than twice as likely to read about financial issues via blogs than 40- to 50-year-olds (20 percent vs. 9 percent). And 28 percent of the younger group of workers read about financial issues via social media. This compares to only 16 percent of 40- to 50-year-olds.
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
