Pull yourself away from all the doom and gloom talk surrounding U.S. workers’ financial situations for a second, and enjoy this breath of fresh air:
Employees’ confidence in their ability to retire comfortably appears to be on the mend, according to a new survey of more than 9,200 U.S. workers by Towers Watson.
Some of the good news:
- 68% of respondents said they were “very” or “somewhat confident” about having sufficient resources to live comfortably through the first 15 years of retirement (up from 63% in 2010 and 61% in 2009), and
- 47% said they were “very” or “somewhat confident” about having the resources to live comfortably through the first 25 years of retirement (up from 40% in 2010 and 39% in 2009).
There were two other positives to come out of the survey.
The first is that fewer employees are experiencing significant declines in their retirement savings and pensions. In 2011, 47% of employees said they had experienced a significant decline in those areas, versus 55% in 2010 and 60% in 2009.
The second is that employee satisfaction with their finances is improving. In 2011, 41% said they were satisfied with their finances, compared to just 33% in 2010.
Of course, the downside to that last figure is that 59% remain unsatisfied with their financial situation.
