Retirement plan participants are becoming more confident that they will meet their retirement goals, said a survey from State Street Global Advisors, TRC Market Research and Rice Warner.
Of the in-plan participants surveyed in Australia, Ireland, the U.K. and U.S., those in the U.S. have the most confidence, with 51% responding they feel “extremely confident” or “very confident” they will meet their retirement goals.
“Confidence levels are higher across the board, very broadly across each cohort, genders (and across) different income brackets, so we continue to see confidence post-financial crisis is moving up,” Fredrik Axsater, global head of defined contribution for SSgA, said in a telephone interview.
The U.K. comes in second, with 43% of participants saying they are extremely or very confident, followed by Australia at 32% and Ireland at 27%.
The survey’s definition of “in-plan” participants are retirement savers in single-employer or multiemployer defined contribution plans.
Both the U.S. and U.K. show a marked increase in confidence this year. In 2013, only 21% of U.S. respondents expressed a high level of confidence, and only 12% of U.K. respondents expressed that level of confidence. In 2014, U.S. and U.K. respondents had 36% and 24% of high confidence, respectively.
This is the first year participants in Australia have responded, and this is the second year Ireland has been represented; in 2014, only 17% of respondents in Ireland expressed a high level of confidence.
More than 3,650 retirement savers between the ages of 22 and 81 were surveyed in May.
