Millennials are outpacing other age groups when it comes to saving for retirement, with younger millennials saving the most.
That’s according to a report from Bankrate.com, which says that even though 23 percent of working Americans increased retirement savings contributions this year, compared with 2016—the highest reading in six years of polling—another 16 percent say they’ve cut their contributions instead.
And 5 percent aren’t saving at all.
But while every age group under age 63 is more likely to have increased, rather than decreased, how much they’re putting away, younger millennials are leading the pack. Thirty percent of those aged 18–26 have increased their retirement savings over the past year.
It’s a different story for older workers, though, who are dialing back on retirement savings. Older boomers, aged 63–71, were slightly more likely to have reduced (16 percent) than increased (15 percent), while those in the so-called silent generation (age 72+) were overwhelmingly more likely to have reduced (45 percent) than increased (13 percent) their contributions.
That seems logical enough, as even if they’ve postponed retirement, the older they get the more likely they are to be retiring rather than still working.
When it comes to political affiliations, those identifying as Republicans are far more likely to have increased their retirement contributions (27 percent) than decreased (6 percent), while Democrats are the only group more likely to have cut their retirement savings contributions (22 percent) than to have increased them (18 percent).
Independents were also more likely to have increased (25 percent) than decreased (17 percent) retirement savings.
Those working part-time—again, unsurprisingly—are nearly twice as likely to have reduced (33 percent) rather than increased (17 percent) their contributions.
And a result of income inequality’s effects is that households earning $50,000 per year or more are most likely to have increased their retirement savings contributions (27 percent, compared with 18 percent of those who make less than that).
Only the lowest-income households—those with earnings lower than $30,000 annually—are more likely to have cut than increased their retirement contributions; 22 percent have scaled back, while 20 percent have increased contributions.
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 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.