In 2020, the pandemic and the economic shutdown prompted many Americans to pay attention to the need to build up emergency savings. Now in 2021, they’re thinking about their future and whether they’ll have enough saved for retirement.
“Now more than ever, people are curious about how they are going to save for their future now that their immediate needs have been met,” says Andrew Meadows, Senior Vice President at Ubiquity Retirement + Savings. “What people are looking at right now, when they’re looking for a new job, is not just ‘how is this going to support my family now’ but ‘how is my employer going to take care of my family and me in the future?’ It means creating opportunities to grow participants’ retirement savings.”
In the past, when it came to discussing retirement saving with participants, there was “a lot of uncertainty, guilt, even shame around retirement saving,” says Chuck Hammond, AIF, PPC, CMFC, cofounder of The 401k Study Group. “So having a guaranteed income in retirement, for a lot of folks, would make them feel comfortable. We don’t want to see more stress, more guilt, more shame.”
Listen to Andrew Meadows and Chuck Hammond and BenefitsPRO’s retirement advisor editor Caroline Marwitz discuss what plan sponsors need to know about participants’ retirement income needs, including myths and misconceptions about retirement income solutions and strategies, and how they can help participants move closer to a secure and comfortable retirement.