Vacation plans trump retirement readiness

People put more effort into planning a one-week vacation than they do into preparing for a decades-long retirement.

That’s the conclusion one can draw from the latest two-minute installment of Axa Equitable Life Insurance Co.’s “Retirement Reality Show,” in which representatives of the company ask the man on the street about retirement expectations.

In the latest two-minute segment, “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Financial Freedom,” Axa interviewed visitors at the Statue of Liberty.

“I put a little bit away from every paycheck into my deferred comp and retirement thing at work, but other than that … “ said one woman, who added that she spent about a year planning her trip to New York.

“I wouldn’t say I spent very much time planning at all for retirement, because when you’re younger, you think you have your whole life,” said one elderly woman, who said she planned her honeymoon for about a year and a half.

While honest about their retirement-planning deficiencies, interviewees sang the praises of National Retirement Planning Week, which ran from April 11 to 15, as a way of drawing awareness to the public’s shortcomings in preparing for retirement.

“I think having a week like this to bring it to people’s minds is a very good thing because of the way the world is now,” the elderly woman said.

Axa, along with other insurers, was a sponsor of the weeklong effort.