Chart: Most Workers Way Behind Schedule on Retirement Planning, Saving

We’ve been periodically pulling interesting charts out of the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s (EBRI) most recent Retirement Confidence survey, and this particular graphic reveals an important reality: most workers are behind schedule on planning and saving for retirement, and very few workers are ahead of schedule.

Overall, 64 percent of workers said they were “a little” or “a lot” behind schedule.

Meanwhile, a mere 11 percent said they were ahead of schedule. The scary part? That number is actually higher than in years past, when 5 to 8 percent of workers said they were ahead of schedule.

The good news is that 25 percent of workers are “on track”, up 4 percent from 2011.

It’s interesting to compare the current numbers to the numbers from 2005, when the economy was at its height. That year, 37 percent of workers were “on track”. But most workers were still behind schedule; 55 percent of workers said they were “a little” or “a lot” behind schedule in 2005.

The moral of the story? Planning and saving for retirement is hard, even in the good times.

Source: 2015 Retirement Confidence survey

Photo by www.SeniorLiving.Org