Poll: More Fear They'll Lack Enough Money in Retirement

Inflation and falling stock prices have contributed to fewer retirees and workers than a year ago feeling good about having enough money for a comfortable retirement. The share of workers confident about their retirement finances fell from 73% to 64% in that time, the poll by the nonprofit Employee Benefit Research Institute showed. The economy's performance, including slipping returns on savings, have "people significantly more hesitant about the future than they were," said Craig Copeland of the institute, the Wall Street Journal reports. Among retirees, the drop was 77% to 73%. The findings are nowhere near the most worrisome found by the institute, which has conducted the survey for 33 years. The low point in confidence came in 2011: 49% for workers and 60% for retirees.

Inflation was cited most often as the problem facing retirees; 42% cited it as their top concern. About 60% of them reported the balances in their retirement accounts went the wrong direction in the past year. The S&P 500 index fell 2.95% in that period, according to Dow Jones Market Data. People still working named debt as the big problem 62% of the time, up from 56%. Almost half of them said debt is hurting their ability to save for retirement. "As we've come out of the pandemic, with heightened inflation and interest rates, we're starting to see financial stress start to increase again in employees,” said Lynda Abend, head of strategy for John Hancock Retirement, per MarketWatch. (More retirement savings stories.)