Retirement and Health Care Costs Weighing Heavy on Americans' Minds

Nearly half of Americans living paycheck to paycheck

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Nov 05, 2012, 05:00 ET

NEW YORK, Nov. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Anyone paying attention to the current presidential election knows that health care and retirement have been major topics in the campaign, and with good reason: Americans are gravely concerned about these issues. Nearly three-fourths of those Americans who are not retired agree that they worry about having enough money to do so (74%) and about being able to pay for health care costs in retirement (73%). These fears appear to be tied at least in part to concerns regarding social security, with only two-in-five (41%) of non-retired Americans agreeing with the statement, "I have faith in social security being there when I retire."

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Additionally, seven in ten Americans – retired and not retired alike – agree that they worry about being able to afford unexpected health care costs (71%).

These are some of the results of The Harris Poll of 2,307 adults surveyed online between August 13 and 20, 2012 by Harris Interactive.

For the nearly two-thirds of Americans (63%) that are putting money toward savings, the top goals are rainy day funds for unexpected costs (62%) and retirement (53%).

Not surprisingly, priorities change considerably in households with children; college savings show an exponential increase in importance among respondents with children in their households (44% among those with children in their households, 10% without), and this focus on college savings comes largely at the expense of rainy day (55% with, 65% without) and retirement (42% with, 57% without) savings.

The results show glimmers of hope for two industries, as one-fourth (26%) of adults 18-35 indicate they are saving to purchase a car, and 27% of all Americans are putting money away for vacation.

Worried about the future while also living on the edge
Forty-seven percent (47%) of Americans agree that they are living paycheck to paycheck and thus cannot afford to put money in savings, thereby providing no relief to their future worries.

As might be expected, living paycheck to paycheck is more common among younger Americans (53% ages 18-47 vs. 28% ages 67+) and those with children in their households (55% with, 43% without). And debt is not helping: the majority of Americans (59%) would prioritize paying off debt if they came into unexpected funds.

So what?
"There is clear anxiety on the part of the American public regarding their day-to-day finances and those related to their futures," says David Krane, SVP Harris Interactive. "Yet rather than creating products and services that could alleviate these concerns, bringing peace of mind to their customers, the financial services industry continues to focus its marketing on products and services related to spending and further debt accumulation. Companies that figure out how to take advantage of this missed opportunity are likely to be those that will rebound from the trust disadvantage that the industry now faces and grow their businesses."

TABLE 1a
AGREEMENT WITH STATEMENTS ABOUT FINANCIAL CONCERNS
"How much do you agree or disagree with the following statements?"

Base: Varies

	AGREE [NET]	Strongly agree	Somewhat agree	DISAGREE [NET]	Somewhat disagree	Strongly disagree
	%	%	%	%	%	%
²I worry about having enough money to retire	74	38	36	26	17	9
²I worry about being able to pay for my health care costs when I retire	73	37	37	27	16	10
¹I worry about being able to afford unexpected health care costs	71	34	37	29	19	10
²Planning for my retirement is a key priority to me	69	27	42	31	22	9
¹I feel I need guidance on how to best invest my savings	52	12	39	48	30	18
²I live paycheck to paycheck, so I can't afford to put money in savings	47	22	25	53	28	25
²I have faith in social security being there when I retire	41	11	29	59	28	32

Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding
¹Base: All U.S. adults
²Base: U.S. adults who are not retired

TABLE 1b
AGREEMENT WITH STATEMENTS ABOUT FINANCIAL CONCERNS – BY GENERATION, GENDER & CHILDREN IN HH
"How much do you agree or disagree with the following statements?"
Summary of "Agree" [NET] Ratings

Base: Varies

	Total	Generation				Gender		Children <18 in HH
	Total	Echo Boomers (18-35)	Gen Xers (36-47)	Baby Boomers (48-66)	Matures (67+)	Males	Females	Yes	No
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
²I worry about having enough money to retire	74	68	84	76	56	71	77	74	74
²I worry about being able to pay for my health care costs when I retire	73	63	80	80	69	69	77	70	75
¹I worry about being able to afford unexpected health care costs	71	66	77	76	59	67	74	70	71
²Planning for my retirement is a key priority to me	69	60	68	78	66	71	67	66	70
¹I feel I need guidance on how to best invest my savings	52	58	52	49	46	51	52	54	51
²I live paycheck to paycheck, so I can't afford to put money in savings	47	53	54	40	28	42	52	55	43
²I have faith in social security being there when I retire	41	34	33	47	70	43	38	35	43

Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding
¹Base: All U.S. adults
²Base: U.S. adults who are not retired

TABLE 2
CURRENTLY PUTTING MONEY TOWARD SAVINGS – BY GENERATION, GENDER & CHILDREN IN HH
"Are you currently putting any money toward any 'savings?'"

Base: All U.S. adults

	Total	Generation				Gender		Children <18 in HH
	Total	Echo Boomers (18-35)	Gen Xers (36-47)	Baby Boomers (48-66)	Matures (67+)	Males	Females	Yes	No
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Yes	63	59	61	68	63	65	62	60	65
No	37	41	39	32	37	35	38	40	35

Note: Responses may not add up to 100% due to rounding

TABLE 3
CURRENT SAVINGS GOALS – BY GENERATION, GENDER & CHILDREN IN HH
"What are you currently saving for?"

Base: U.S. adults who are currently putting money toward savings

	Total	Generation				Gender		Children <18 in HH
	Total	Echo Boomers (18-35)	Gen Xers (36-47)	Baby Boomers (48-66)	Matures (67+)	Males	Females	Yes	No
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Rainy day fund / unexpected expenses	62	55	69	60	69	59	65	55	65
Retirement	53	29	48	77	45	54	52	42	57
Vacation	27	23	31	29	27	28	27	29	27
College [NET]	19	39	23	9	2	22	17	44	10
College costs for my kids	11	11	22	8	2	11	10	30	4
College costs for myself	10	32	2	1	*	12	8	17	7
Car purchase	17	26	18	11	12	18	16	23	15
Home purchase	11	22	11	5	4	10	11	12	11
Marriage	3	8	2	*	1	3	3	3	3
Birth of a child	2	5	5	*	-	2	3	4	2
Other	14	19	19	9	15	12	17	14	15

Note: Responses may not add up to 100% due to rounding
* signifies less than 1%
- signifies 0%

TABLE 4
$100,000 WINDFALL SPENDING – BY GENERATION, GENDER & CHILDREN IN HH
"If you won the lottery or received an inheritance of $100,000 today, what would you be most likely to do with that money?"

Base: All U.S. adults

	Total	Generation				Gender		Children <18 in HH
	Total	Echo Boomers (18-35)	Gen Xers (36-47)	Baby Boomers (48-66)	Matures (67+)	Males	Females	Yes	No
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Pay off any existing debt/loans	59	55	73	60	44	57	60	63	57
Save for a rainy day fund / unexpected expenses	42	36	37	45	51	37	46	34	45
Invest toward my retirement	33	20	32	46	32	37	30	23	37
Go on vacation	19	19	17	19	22	16	22	20	19
Donate to charity	18	14	12	19	32	19	17	16	19
Buy a car	17	22	14	14	16	18	16	20	16
Treat myself to something that I would not normally spend money on	15	17	12	12	21	16	14	9	16
Buy a house	13	19	17	10	4	10	16	19	11
Pay for my kids' college	10	8	18	10	4	8	12	24	5
Go back to school	6	15	5	2	*	7	6	10	5
Other	10	10	8	9	17	9	11	6	12

Note: Responses may not add up to 100% due to rounding
* signifies less than 1%

Methodology
This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between August 13 and 20, 2012 among 2,307 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

The results of this Harris Poll may not be used in advertising, marketing or promotion without the prior written permission of Harris Interactive.

The Harris Poll^® #61, November 5, 2012
By: Larry Shannon-Missal, Harris Poll Research Manager

About Harris Interactive
Harris Interactive is one of the world's leading market research firms, leveraging research, technology, and business acumen to transform relevant insight into actionable foresight. Known widely for the Harris Poll® and for pioneering innovative research methodologies, Harris offers proprietary solutions in the areas of market and customer insight, corporate brand and reputation strategy, and marketing, advertising, public relations and communications research. Harris possesses expertise in a wide range of industries including health care, technology, public affairs, energy, telecommunications, financial services, insurance, media, retail, restaurant, and consumer package goods. Additionally, Harris has a portfolio of multi-client offerings that complement our custom solutions while maximizing our client's research investment. Serving clients in more than 196 countries and territories through our North American and European offices, Harris specializes in delivering research solutions that help us - and our clients—stay ahead of what's next. For more information, please visit www.harrisinteractive.com.

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SOURCE Harris Interactive