The Chicken or the Egg?
It is a question that has puzzled philosophers and scientists for centuries: which came first – the chicken or the egg? Similarly, an updated version of a classic survey of retirement confidence finds some interesting attributes among those who are more confident about their prospects – but are those attributes a result of that confidence, or is it the confidence that preceded them? The 28th annual Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS) from the non-partisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and Greenwald Associates found that Americans are feeling a bit better about their retirement prospects. However, the RCS also found – as it has in previous years – that certain factors are tied to higher confidence, specifically if they have access to a defined contribution plan, are relatively free from debt, are already retired – or, in a new finding from this year’s RCS – that they are healthy. Now, the connection between access to a retirement plan and saving...