The Wells Fargo/Gallup Investor and Retirement Optimism Index continued to hold steady in the second quarter of 2015, tracking at a seven-year high for investors' faith in the markets and their ability to save enough for retirement.
Of the 1,000 investors surveyed in May, confidence remained equally high among retirees, whose median age was 68, and non-retirees, whose median age was 45.
Confidence in the "American Dream" remained solid, as 84 percent of investors say it remains achievable for them. The vast majority—96 percent—says living comfortably in retirement is central to that dream.
That benchmark is moving more non-retirees to formalize a retirement strategy. About seven in 10 say they have a specific plan to reach retirement and investment goals, but only half of them, or 36 percent of non-retirees, have formalized that strategy in writing. Most of those that have a plan in writing created it with the help of an investment advisor.
Retirees report being a bit more diligent: 73 percent say they have a strategic plan, and 43 percent have memorialized it in writing.
That discipline is up from the dark days of the last recession, but not where it should be, according to Mary Mack, president of Wells Fargo Advisors.
