Most in a new Axios|SurveyMonkey poll say they are hopeful about their own prospects for retirement, but that hopefulness is closely tied to financial stability.
Overall, 58% of people say they feel more hopeful than fearful when thinking about their own retirement. By a more than two-to-one margin, adults with household incomes in the six figures say they are more hopeful than fearful (69% vs. 29%). Those with incomes under $50,000 are evenly split, with 49% saying they are more hopeful and 48% more fearful.
Financial concerns are top of mind when workers look ahead to retirement:
- 55% of those age 35 to 44 and 53% of those age 45 to 54 saying they expect to outlive their retirement savings.
- A large majority of people (83%) expect to continue doing some work for pay even after they retire. More workers say they expect to continue working past full retirement age out of financial necessity (52%) rather than simply out of professional enjoyment (38%) or for some other reason (nine percent).
- Relatively few people expect to retire early; 44% of people say they will likely retire after age 65, and 15% say they expect to retire exactly at the current full retirement age of 65. Another 20% expect to retire between ages 60 and 64, 12% expect to retire between the ages of 55 and 59, and just nine percent expect to retire before reaching age 55.
Read more about our polling methodology here.
Click through all the results in the interactive toplines below:
Question text:
Do you feel more hopeful or more fearful when thinking about your own retirement?
At what age do you expect to retire?
Thinking about your retirement savings, do you think it’s most likely that you will outlive your savings, your savings will outlive you, or your savings will be just about right to cover your needs throughout your retirement?
How likely is it that you will do any work for pay during your retirement?
If you end up working past the full retirement age, do you think it will be more because of:
Have you ever done any work for pay during your retirement?
*employees
