It's one thing to talk about looming retirement planning challenges, but what can consumers, firms and financial professionals do about them?
A new report presented at a press conference here offered lots of suggestions.
Example: Regarding the problem of consumers saving too little for retirement, consumers should consider contributing at least up to the maximum employer matchable amount in the company 401(k), says the report, Public Misperceptions About Retirement Security: Closing the Gaps (2007).
Employers, meanwhile, can make a retirement savings plan available, "even if you do not think your company can afford to make matching contributions."
And financial professionals can "work with clients over age 50 to make sure they are on track to reach their retirement savings goals."
The report includes recommendations for financial services companies, too–and even for the government. It has several suggestions per each problem covered.
Published jointly by LIMRA International, Windsor, Conn., the Society of Actuaries, Schaumburg, Ill., and Mathew Greenwald & Associates, Washington, D.C., the report is a follow-up to a report the group released in 2005, said Eric Sondergeld, corporate vice president and director-retirement research at LIMRA.
The earlier report identified 10 retirement areas about which the public is most poorly informed, but it did not offer solutions, he indicated. Problem areas included "saving too little," "not knowing when retirement will occur" and "living longer than planned."
Taken together, the 10 areas represent quite a burden for consumers to bear, he said. "It is a societal issue as well."
This is what spurred the authors to go to ahead and develop some suggestions for addressing the problems, he said.
