Old-world worry

Worried about retirement? Join the club. A pessimistic outlook toward retirement is spreading from America to entitlement-rich Europe.

According to Dutch insurer AEGON NV, which operates in the U.S. as Transamerica, 71% of 9,000 survey respondents from the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary, Poland and Sweden believe they will be worse off financially in retirement than current retirees.

Pessimism, which is roughly equal on both sides of the pond, is focused on finances rather than health or social life.

Residents of Eastern European countries, such as Poland and Hungary, are more pessimistic, according to the AEGON Retirement Readiness Index. Unsurprisingly, they are the least prepared for retirement. Germans are the most prepared, followed by Americans.

“People in general are enjoying longer, healthier lives, and yet their readiness for a longer retirement is considerably less than that of previous generations of retirees,” AEGON chief executive Alex Wynaendts said. “The good news is that people accept their responsibility in creating the conditions that will provide for a secure and satisfying retirement.”

Indeed, more than two-thirds of the respondents acknowledged that their own actions will determine whether they achieve retirement security, though only 15% are confident that they could achieve it.

Most survey respondents support increased taxes and/or reduced benefits so that the government could continue sponsoring pension systems. At the same time, almost half of those surveyed do not support raising the retirement age, though many said they expect to work past the retirement age anyway.

“If current pension systems are not adapted to the new realities of longer life spans, and declining government and employer funding, the burdens placed on society will be a source of even greater economic and societal turmoil in the future,” Mr. Wynaendts said.