Curb your enthusiasm

America’s young adults are pretty optimistic — maybe a little too optimistic — when it comes to imagining what retirement will cost.

About 19% of adults between 18 and 34 believe that they will be able to save enough to withdraw just 1% to 2% of their savings each year during retirement, according to an Edward Jones-sponsored poll of 1,011 people conducted by Opinion Research Corp. in September.

“They see a lot of time ahead of them for saving,” said Scott Thoma, a member of the investment policy committee of Edward Jones, which has 11,645 U.S. advisers. “The best asset they have at this point is time.”

In comparison, the survey found that about 33% of Americans 35 to 44 expect to withdraw more than 10% of their savings each year during retirement, and about 44% expect to draw down less than 10% a year.

Financial advisers generally recommend withdrawals of about 4% a year during post-working years.

“The factors to consider when building a retirement plan are how much income the client will need from the portfolio, when they want to retire and how much the client will rely on that portfolio income versus other sources like Social Security,” Mr. Thoma said.

Household income also affects thinking on retirement spending expectations, with 50% of Americans earning more than $100,000 expecting to spend less than 10% of their retirement savings each year, according to the survey.

About 33% of households with income of $35,000 to $50,000 expect to spend more than 10% a year, according to the survey.

About a third of American adults, 34%, said they don’t have a clue as to how much they’ll need to withdraw from savings during retirement, the survey found. Women were especially uncertain, with 38% saying they don’t know what their financial needs will be for retirement, compared with 30% of men.