More than a third of retirement plan participants admitted that they either “guessed” or “made up” their estimates for how much income they would need in retirement, according to a new survey, while only 30% said they consulted with a professional for help in setting their goals.
The survey, by retirement plan administrator Diversified, found that 69% of the 3,370 defined contribution plan participants polled admitted that their DC plan at work was their only or primary retirement account. Despite the fact that the vast majority surveyed were at least middle-aged (68 percent said they were 46 years old or older) with a reasonable income (64% made at least $75,000 annually), more than half (54%) said they had less than $100,000 saved for retirement. What’s worse, 37% had less than $50,000 saved. Only 3% said they had saved $1 million or more.
