Catherwood LibraryILR School

The 2014 Retirement Confidence Survey conducted by the Employee Benefits Research Institute finds that 18% of U.S. workers are confident that they will be able to retire, up from 13% in 2013. Of those workers, the gains were concentrated in employees with formal retirement plans. Of those with a retirement plan, about a third had more than $100,000, but about 75% of those without a retirement plan had less than $1,000 saved. The survey emphasizes that workers with a retirement plan, like an IRA, Roth IRA, 401(k), 403(b), or 457 are much better off and are more likely to be able to retire with more confidence than Americans without. Budgeting was another major barrier to saving enough for retirement, as the study found that 58% of those surveyed had issues with debt. The EBRI has found that using a retirement calculator can lead to rates of saving and other actions beneficial to retiring on-time 40% higher than with workers who do not use a retirement calculator of some kind.