The survey of 2,100 consumers nationwide revealed that 79% of consumers feel they could be doing a better job planning and saving for retirement. Of those, nearly half say they could use the help of a professional such as a financial advisor, financial planner, banker or other relationship manager.
"Consumers clearly are seeking more assistance with planning and saving for retirement," said Bob Reid, Executive Vice President of Wachovia's Retirement Strategy, a companywide effort to help individuals and businesses better prepare for retirement. "Having a 'personal retirement coach' or someone they can work with to help them plan and navigate a course for retirement is extremely important to many people."
Other Opportunities
Other helpful steps identified by consumers included:
Goal Setting and Planning
Having the primary retirement savings goal broken down into smaller, more easily attainable goals (40%).Finding a better way to manage debt while still saving for retirement (38%).
Education and Awareness Knowing better what every dollar saved may be worth in retirement (43%).Learning more about personal finance (37%).Becoming more educated about the stock market (28%).
Managing and Tracking Assets Finding an easier way to manage and track statements and paperwork (40%).Discovering a better way to manage and track multiple savings goals (35%).Being able to monitor savings and investments more easily (29%).Retirement Fitness
The Retirement Fitness study examines consumers' emotions along with their actions, or what they are doing to prepare for retirement. Four retirement fitness categories were developed from the results. A short assessment is available on http://www.wachovia.com/retirementfitness to help individuals determine their category. The fitness categories include:
Fitness evaluation may be useful (26% of respondents). Consumers in this group are not concerned about their retirement savings, even though they may not be as financially fit for retirement as they think. They tend to see themselves as experienced investors and prefer to do investing on their own. They admit they could be saving more and are generally optimistic about their job security and the future of Social Security and pension plans.At the starting line (36%). Consumers in this group are concerned about saving for retirement and may not be doing enough to prepare. Though many are financially able to save more, nearly half say they prefer to enjoy life now rather than save for the future. They tend to consider themselves inexperienced investors and feel they will need to work during retirement.Looking fit (11%). Consumers in this group are concerned about saving for retirement but they appear to be on the right track. More than any other group, they are likely to feel overwhelmed with too many choices of where and how to invest. They tend to consider themselves inexperienced investors but are willing to make sacrifices to save for retirement.Peak Performer (27%). Consumers in this group are not as concerned about their retirement savings and appear to be on the right track. They tend to consider themselves experienced investors and are willing to make sacrifices to save for the future. They are less likely to feel the need to work during retirement.In terms of demographics, women were more likely than men to feel concerned about retirement planning and saving. Households with children were less likely to be doing as much to prepare for retirement and appeared to be more financially stretched.
Consumers considered in this study to be financially fit for retirement generally are willing to make sacrifices to save and invest for the future. They tend to make higher contributions to retirement plans such as 401(k) plans and IRAs, have retirement savings strategies and know how much they will need at retirement and work with professional advisors.
The Wachovia Retirement Fitness study was conducted in fall 2004 by Richard Day Research, Inc. (RDR) in Evanston, Ill. The results are based on online interviews with 2,100 consumers nationwide, ages 35-64, with household income or household investable assets greater than $75,000.
The consumer survey is part of Charlotte-based Wachovia Corporation's ongoing, companywide focus on the retirement planning market for individuals and businesses. Wachovia has introduced a number of retirement initiatives, including the Envision SM innovative financial planning process; new small business OnePlan and Emerging Markets 401(k) plans; easy, convenient Rapid Rollover process for rolling over defined contribution plans into Wachovia IRAs; and national retirement planning advertising.
Wachovia Corporation (NYSE:WB) is one of the largest providers of retirement and financial services to retail, brokerage and corporate customers, with retail operations from Connecticut to Florida and west to Texas, and retail brokerage operations nationwide. Wachovia had assets of $493.3 billion, market capitalization of $83.5 billion and stockholders' equity of $47.3 billion at December 31, 2004. Its four core businesses, the General Bank, Capital Management, Wealth Management, and the Corporate and Investment Bank, serve customers primarily in 15 states and Washington, D.C. Its full-service retail brokerage firm, Wachovia Securities, LLC, serves clients in 49 states and five Latin American countries, and is a separate, non-bank affiliate of Wachovia Corporation. Online banking and brokerage products and services also are available through Wachovia.com.
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