Although employees are still taking a proactive stance on retirement, market rebounds have done little to repair their confidence, research from Financial Finesse found.
Just 14% of employees who called the financial education provider's helpline in the first quarter reported being confident in their ability to retire, down from 15% a year ago. Overall, employees continue to focus on long-term planning issues, a trend that began in the third quarter of 2009. Ninety-two percent of employees say they participate in their employer's retirement plan.
Employees still "have a long way to go," the report noted, in reaching their retirement goals. Not saving enough for retirement is the top vulnerability for employees who participate in financial wellness programs, Financial Finesse found. Saving overall is an area where employees need help. The second vulnerability, according to the report, is not saving enough to cover emergencies.
Although the stock market had its best first-quarter performance since 1998, with the S&P 500 up 12.6%, employees are still concerned about their portfolios. Just one-third of employees with investments said they are confident they're allocated properly, relatively unchanged since the first quarter of 2011. Fewer employees have taken a risk assessment and are aware of where they fall on the risk spectrum: conservative, moderate or aggressive.
