Nevin's Data "Points"

It seems that having kids can be good for your retirement confidence. At least that’s the headline regarding a new survey from Allianz Life that finds that Americans without children are significantly less confident in their ability to meet their retirement savings goal — 54%, compared with 72% of those with children. Now I’m sure that result is supposed to be counter-intuitive because — let’s face it — kids are expensive. There’s food, clothing, childcare, education, healthcare and, in some cases, financial support long after they have theoretically “left” the nest. So, it would seem logical that Americans without children would have more money available for retirement — and greater confidence about their prospects. [i] ad space Parental Planning? Well, as it turns out, it may not be children that account for the confidence — at least not directly. Rather, Allianz suggests that parenthood may provide a catalyst for financial planning. According to the survey, 62% of Americans without...

   If you read only the headlines from the latest Employee Benefit Research Institute Retirement Confidence Survey, the takeaway feels familiar: confidence is slipping, worries are rising, and concern about retirement readiness is once again in focus. Seriously? Look, once you move past the year-over-year decline [i] and look at the levels themselves, the picture changes shape. Yes, confidence is down from recent highs. But retirees, in particular, remain broadly confident in their ability to live comfortably in retirement despite all the “noise” about inflation, Social Security, and volatile markets. Roughly three-quarters still say they feel secure about their financial footing in retirement. That is not a fragile number. It is a resilient one. ad space What stands out even more is how consistently the survey shows a gap between expectations and actual experience. Workers — still on the near side of retirement — are meaningfully less confident than those already in it. That...

  So, what kinds of things get your blood “boiling?” Some of you will recall that back in 1976 there was a movie called “Network” with a big cast that got nominated for a bunch of academy awards including best picture and director (didn’t win), as well as best actress and actor (won both, as well as best supporting actress and several others). The underlying premise of the movie was one of corporate greed, more specifically the extremes to which TV networks would go to garner ratings. The most extreme was allowing an aging network anchor named Howard Beale to remain on camera after he said he was going to blow his brains out on national TV. Well, he didn’t — but he did wind up being positioned as a kind of “mad prophet” ranting about the ills of society, leading up to an evening where he encouraged similarly frustrated viewers to go to their respective windows and shout “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!” While that frustrated call to action likely didn’t actua...

  A recent survey “revealed” a big disconnect between participants and plan sponsors — or did it? The  survey , conducted from mid-January to mid-February earlier this year by Voya, found that while 91% of sponsors thought participants were either very or somewhat prepared for retirement, “just” 69% of participants felt that way. A finding that I think it’s fair to say surprised — well, probably no one.  Indeed, I’m sure there are any number of advisors out there who saw this as an opportunity to tell plan sponsors that while they may THINK the participants they serve and support are in good shape, their reality may be different. Particularly since this survey also found that advisors’ perspective was pretty much aligned with that of the participants surveyed.   But could plan sponsors’ “read” of participant readiness really be so strong as to be so out of touch with participants’ perception? The authors of the report opined that the bull market might explain the lev...

   Life is full of annoyances – all the better to appreciate the blessings that surround us. That said, there are things about the retirement industry that really bug me.  I recently had the privilege of being part of the Leafhouse National Retirement Symposium. The theme was unfiltered – the unvarnished truth.  And it seemed an appropriate forum to share some of the things about the retirement industry that really bug me.  Here’s the list: Using the average or median retirement balance as a proxy for retirement readiness. Generally speaking, retirement plans are comprised of a myriad of individual circumstances – participants of ages that run from late teens to beyond traditional retirement, savings behaviors based on income – and age – and company match… Not to mention that this might be only a half dozen years of a worker’s accumulation, with the rest on some other recordkeeping platform… Why any rational person would think that combining those disparate elem...