85 Percent of Workers Unsure They Can Grow Retirement Savings

A new international study released by AEGON, an international life insurance, pensions and asset management company, suggests that the vast majority of workers have some concern about whether or not they can grow their retirement savings.

According to the website Gobankingrates.com, In response to those concerns, many workers plan on staying in the job market longer than they had initially planned to be able to pay for life after work.

The struggling global economy, cutbacks in government and private retirement plans, and longer life expectancies are all contributing factors to the concerns. Many workers are willing to compensate for these factors as they pertain to government programs by paying more taxes or accepting some reduction in benefits, but nearly half of those surveyed opposed to increasing the retirement age, even if it means accumulating more retirement savings.

U.S. News reports that the Great Recession of the American economy was particularly hard on retirement accounts. Pension plans and individual 401(k) accounts suffered, and Social Security faces an uncertain future.

In response, there has been a shift from employer-based retirement planning to less traditional options, such as Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA). Others, despite the housing slump, have invested in real estate.

Another less traditional method growing steam is annuities, investments that pay a yearly dividend and focus on retirement savings. Brokerage companies like Fidelity and Vanguard are among those with annuity plans.

“All of these companies are coming up with fixed-income options that were never used before,” Dave Vick, president of Vick & Associates, told U.S. News. “The annuity voice is getting louder because investors are seeing that it actually works … People are no longer sure what’s going to happen to their retirement funds. That drives them to look at creating their own guaranteed-income strategies.”