More than half of pre-retirees and retirees estimate their life expectancy to be well below actuarial projections, according to the Society of Actuaries.

Of the more than 900 pre-retirees surveyed in SOA’s biennial Risks and Processes of Retirement Survey, 55 percent underestimate how long they will live relative to recently updated mortality tables. One in five pre-retirees, which the study defines as being age 45 and over, say they expect to die 10 or more years before actuarial averages.

And 17 percent of retirees assume they will live 10 or more years below the actuarial average. SOA’s mortality tables show the average 65 year-old male will live to be 86.6, and the average 65-year old female will live to be 86.4.

Paying for long-term care, inflation, and the cost of health care were the top concerns for both pre-retirees and retirees, according to the study.

Almost two-thirds of pre-retirees express concern that they will outlive savings in retirement, compared to 43 percent of retirees.

To avoid that risk, roughly 70 percent of pre-retirees said they expect to work in retirement, and 46 percent said they plan to postpone retirement.

That indicates a “disconnect between what people think they will do in retirement to manage risks, compared to what approaches retirees actually use,” said Cindy Levering, a member of the SOA committee that led the research effort.

The reality, said Levering in a statement, is that only 30 percent of retirees are employed in some form, and only 12 percent attempted to postpone retirement.

Two-thirds of pre-retirees expect to have assets from an employer-sponsored defined contribution plan, and 48 percent said they will have assets from a traditional defined benefit plan. Only 14 percent of pre-retirees expect income from annuities.

For retirees over age 70, 44 percent report having a defined contribution plan or IRA from which they must take a required minimum distribution. Over half said they spend the RMDs, 47 percent said they save or invest it, and 23 percent said they use it to pay taxes.

Nearly one-quarter of pre-retirees and retirees said they have no plan for managing assets in retirement. One-third of retirees said their current level of savings is less than they expected they would have before they left the workforce.

About 30 percent of pre-retirees report having at least $30,000 in debt aside from mortgages, and another one-third are carrying between $10,000 and $30,000, the report found.

Instant Insights /

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