Retirement Survey & Insights Report 2024
Planning: The Missing Link to Retirement Security
As saving for retirement has become increasingly complex, individuals are now faced with balancing multiple financial priorities, including increased daily expenses, the rising cost of caregiving, student loans and much more. The retirement industry continues to develop innovative solutions to support a wide range of financial needs, and plan sponsors are eager to provide great support to help employees navigate these challenges that are unique to each person’s circumstances.
In our annual Retirement Survey & Insights Report, we are pleased to present findings that underscore the benefits planning and financial advice may have for retirement savers. From streamlining the savings process, to effectively managing competing priorities and ultimately improving the likelihood of achieving retirement preparedness, our respondents reported significant positive impacts from having a personalized plan. As a leader and innovator in retirement solutions, central to our mission at Goldman Sachs Asset Management is supporting the next generation of savers to help them realize their retirement savings potential.
Having a peronalized plan for retirement was the second most important factor (behind education level) tied to higher retirement savings among behavioral and demographic factors we analyzed
Working and retired individuals who prepared for retirement with a personalized plan report less stress managing savings, less likelihood of delaying retirement, less stress entering retirement, less likelihood of supplementing savings with part-time work, and much more
Working individuals report a small decline in the impact of competing financial priorities on their ability to save for retirement, but over 60% of individuals still believe they will need to delay their retirement due to these competing demands
Retirement investing and advice are the most desired advice services from employers, consistently valued across all investor types
Working and retired respondents who had a personalized plan when preparing for retirement experienced a variety of positive impacts compared to those who did not have a personalized plan.
We asked whether working respondents expect to delay retirement due to competing financial priorities. Over 60% reported that they expect to delay.
We asked working respondents what financial goals they are currently saving for. The majority (63%) reported that they are saving for goals other than retirement.
Saving more for retirement may not always be the appropriate next step for employees, particularly when they are experiencing financial instability (e.g. a lack of emergency savings or difficulty paying off credit card debt).
Methodology & Respondents
Our findings are from 4,874 individuals surveyed in July 2024 and provide insights from a diverse set of perspectives, including (i) working individuals (3,280 working individuals across generations), and (ii) retired individuals (1,594 retired individuals age 45–75). To better understand how people make retirement savings and advice decisions in the face of many competing priorities, we engaged behavioral economics firm Behave Technologies (formerly Syntoniq, Inc.). Behave Technologies developed key questions in our survey to analyze four behavioral characteristics discussed throughout this report—optimism, future orientation, risk-reward focus, and financial literacy (described further in the appendix of the report). Behave Technologies’ analysis helped provide deeper insights into retirement planning behaviors.
