Stressed About Retirement Savings? You’re Not Alone

By February 22, 2019For Companies, For Talent

Planning for your retirement isn’t always straightforward. After all, there’s a lot to consider. What type of plan should you go for? Will your employer contribute? When should you start saving? If the whole process makes your head spin, don’t worry, you’re in good company.

According to a new study, workers around the world are stressed about their pension savings.

ING surveyed almost 15,000 people in Europe, the U.S. and Australia, and found the majority worry whether they’ll have enough money to live comfortably when they leave the world of work.

People in Spain and France have the worst outlook. 2 out of 3 people there said they were concerned. In the U.S., 62% of respondents said they worried about having enough to retire on. The most optimistic nation was the Netherlands.

It’s interesting to note that while the Dutch have the brightest outlook on retirement, they’re also planning to delay retirement the longest. The average respondent in the Netherlands expects to retire at almost 67 years old. This is compared to 64.7 in the UK and 63.1 in France.

Obviously working for longer makes retirement easier to afford both for individuals and for governments who provide old age benefits. But is working longer really a solution to the problem?

According to the Office for National Statistics in the UK pension contributions have ”clustered” at the minimum levels required by law. In the past that was 2% of pensionable salary, however, it was increased to 5% in April last year.

This means that while record numbers of employees now have retirement funds, they simply aren’t saving enough which is probably contributing to the stress that workers are facing.

Basically, if you want a healthy retirement fund you have two options, work longer or save more money. It’s as simple as that.

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Author Alice Murray

Alice Murray is a Content Creator at Jobbio with a passion for Employer Branding and Graduate Culture. She's a keen traveller and a self-proclaimed lazy runner.

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