Americans’ Top Retirement Fear – Outliving Income

WASHINGTON, July 19, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Research released today uncovers Americans' top retirement fears, with 50 percent being most afraid of outliving their income or the inability to maintain their current lifestyle, and nearly 20 percent worried about having enough money to cover health care expenses.

The new survey, released by the Indexed Annuity Leadership Council (IALC), also found that despite these very real fears, Americans are failing to take action to address them. For example, a quarter of Baby Boomers have less than $5k saved for retirement and nearly one in five Americans don't even have a clue how much they've saved for retirement.

These findings indicate that when it comes to retirement, Americans are most afraid of the unknown. While they can budget for things such as leisure and travel, healthcare expenses and life expectancy are entirely unpredictable.

"As Americans are living longer, it's no surprise that the number one retirement fear is that their savings will run out leaving them broke in their final years," Jim Poolman, Executive Director of IALC said. "The uncertainty of knowing if your retirement funds are enough to cover your entire life can be crippling. However, there are steps to create peace of mind, including establishing balance in your portfolio and paying yourself first by looking into retirement products, like Fixed Indexed Annuities, that offer a stream of guaranteed lifetime income."

Other top findings from the IALC survey include:

• 45 percent of Americans are interested in retirement products, like Fixed Indexed Annuities (FIAs), that protect your principal, even if the stock market goes down,
• More than half of millennials (54 percent) have less than $5k saved for retirement, and
• 37 percent of millennials have absolutely nothing saved for retirement.

The IALC survey, conducted using GfK's KnowledgePanel, was sent to a nationally representative sample of 6,490 Americans between April and May of 2016. To view full findings, click here.

For more information about FIAs, visit IALC's educational website or follow on Twitter @IALCouncil.

About the Indexed Annuity Leadership Council
The Indexed Annuity Leadership Council (IALC) brings together a consortium of life insurance companies with a commitment to providing consumers, the media, regulators and industry professionals complete and factual information about the use of fixed indexed annuities. Namely, that these products provide a source of guaranteed income, principal protection, and interest rate stability in retirement as well as balance to any long-term financial plan. To date, IALC member companies have more than 1.3 million policies in force with more than $84 billion in assets.

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SOURCE Indexed Annuity Leadership Council (IALC)