Retirement Confidence Improves, But Is Still Weak - How Can We Solve This?

The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) has released its annual Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS). While there has been somewhat of an uptick over recent results, the overriding message is that most Americans are either not confident or are uncertain about having enough savings for a secure retirement. The 18% who are very confident about having a secure retirement is an improvement over last year's 13% figure. Another 24% indicated that they were not at all confident. Clearly, there is a lot of uncertainty out there. Other key points from the RCS:

• Higher confidence correlates with higher household income and household participation in a retirement plan.
• Retiree, as distinguished from current worker, confidence, jumped up 10 percentage points to 28% who are very confident.
• Confidence in the ability to afford retirement expenses also has rebounded slightly but the overall figures are still on the low side (29% very confident).
• Debt is on the mind of many workers. According to the RCS, 58% of workers and 44% of retirees are having debt-related challenges. What's more, 24% of workers and 17% of retirees report higher levels than from 5 years ago. 
• Many have minimal or no retirement savings, with 60% of those surveyed reporting $25,000 or less, including 36% with less than $1,000 saved.
• More than half (53%) of workers say that the cost of living and day-to-day expenses are the primary reasons for not saving enough for retirement.

How do we solve the confidence problem? While the RCS points out that there are some signs of improvement, I think that the bigger picture is that there is still a very long way to go for people to feel generally more optimistic. Debt and everyday expenses are on the minds of many. How can we talk to people about saving for the future when the present is its own challenge? Telling people that they need to save more for retirement is all well and good, but it doesn't get at more immediate needs. Creative ideas that will resolve both current and future challenges is what is needed.