Dreams of living well in retirement dim for Americans

By Suzanne Woolley

Confidence about being able to save enough to ensure “a desirable standard of living” dropped this year, according to a new report. The worry was particularly strong among women.
Some 52 percent of individuals surveyed view their retirement prospects negatively, down 3 percentage points from last year. Only 47 percent of women said they were saving enough for their golden years, compared with 57 percent of men.
That gender gap is one of many differences in savings behavior found in the ninth annual America Saves Week survey, released by the Consumer Federation of America. The poll, a representative sample of more than 1,000 nonretired Americans, found gender gaps in 12 areas.
A big one: Some 74 percent of men surveyed said they’d made progress in savings, compared with 67 percent of women. The percentage of men reporting good or excellent progress in saving for retirement was also higher, at 44 percent to women’s 36 percent. (To be fair, 10 percent of men and 17 percent of women said they were guessing about how much they’d need to live comfortably in retirement.)
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