Perspectives on Retirement An overview

The following is partially based on a report called Perspectives on Retirement the 15th Annual Transamerica Retirement Survey, published in 2016.

In Canada and the United States, our retirement system has been referred to as a three-legged stool. In the United States:  the three legs are, Social Security, employer-sponsored retirement plans, and personal savings and in Canada, the three legs consist of, Old Age Security Income, Canada Pension, Registered Retirement Savings Programs. Over the last few years, critics have attacked the concepts of Old Age Security Income in Canada as well as the Canada Pension Plan.

In the United States critics have questioned if the Social Security fund is sustainable. The attacks by the critics have led seventy-seven percent of workers to be concerned that Social Security will not be there for them when they are ready to retire. In both countries, there has been a gradual disappearance of traditional pension plans provided by employers. As a result, many of us are not sure if the stool will be standing when we retire at worst, at best many of us consider that the stool has become wobbly.

Sixty-one percent of workers have not fully recovered from the recession of 2008-2009. This includes 41 percent who have somewhat recovered, 13 percent who have not yet begun to recover, and seven percent who may never recover. Because many of us never did recover there is a mistrust of government and a widespread lack of confidence in the idea that the government will help us in our retirement

Canadian and American workers are taking matters into our own hands and we are adding a fourth leg to the stool, continued work part time or full time, when we move into retirement. Sixty-five percent of workers believe that they could work until age 65 and not save enough to meet their needs. Only 51 percent of workers agree that they are building a large enough retirement nest egg.

The 17th Annual Transamerica Retirement Survey of Workers released by the non-profit Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies® finds that 40% of Baby Boomers are expecting a decrease in their standard of living when they retire, 83% of Generation X workers believe that their generation will have a harder time achieving financial security than their parents’ generation, and just 18% of Millennials are very confident about their future retirement. Approximately half of the workers across all three generations plan to work at least part-time during their retirement.