Employees pessimistic about retiring before age 65

Thirty-seven percent of workers expect to work past age 70, an increase from 30% two years ago. Willis Towers Watson’s latest Global Benefits Attitudes Survey, released at the end of March, found that only 26% of workers believe they will be able to retire before age 65, down from 29% in 2015.

Struggling employees—the 30% of employees most worried about their short- and long-term finances—are feeling the greatest pressure to retire later. Two-thirds of struggling employees age 50 or older today don’t expect to be able to retire before age 70.

Among other findings from the Global Benefits Attitudes Survey:

• 74% of workers believe their generation is likely to be much worse off in retirement than their parents were
• About two-thirds believe Social Security (68%) and government medical benefits will be much less when they retire than they are now
• 50% of workers plan to retire from their main job but will keep working for some time before fully retiring.

Download the full Willis Towers Watson survey, which also covers worker attitudes about health insurance and other employer-provided benefits, at www.willistowerswatson.com/en/insights/2017/11/2017-global-benefits-attitudes-survey.