Met Life recently issued a retirement readiness report for Americans. The findings largely mirror the results from similar studies done by other groups, but the major findings are still worth noting.
The Met Life study measured retirement readiness in 5 areas:
- Income and benefits
- Work
- Leisure
- Relationships
- Overall planning for retirement
Here are some of the reports conclusions:
- About half of Americans are still planning to retire at the same time as when they were planning to retire a few years ago; the other half say they plan to work longer.
- Among existing retirees, 64% say they retired earlier than planned, 33% retired when they expected and only 3% said they retired later than planned. Observation: start planning for retirement earlier than you want.
- About 50% of American say they feel prepared to retire, 20% say they’re not ready. Among those who say they’re ready to retire, the task that stands out is those are the people who have set clear goals and looked at whether their plans have considered personal, social and financial changes.
- Speaking of finances, half of Americans say they’re behind on their retirement savings with 25% saying they’re significantly behind. Observation: the housing and investment market busts that we’re still recovering from have hit people hard financially and emotionally.
Summary: Retirement is not an event, it lasts for a lifetime and it’s not something you start planning for a couple of years before you want to retire. The most successful retirements occur because a person or couple started planning early and looked at all the aspects of retirement — not just the money side of it.