Pandemic fuels retirement fears, study finds

Workers whose employment has been negatively impacted by COVID-19 are pessimistic about retirement, with 70% worried about running out of money and 61% more afraid of life in retirement.

Those are the key findings of a study conducted in August for Wells Fargo by the Harris Poll, which found that 58% of workers who were affected by the pandemic say they now don’t know whether they have enough saved to retire.

The study found that while working men and women reported median retirement savings of $120,000 and $60,000, respectively, those whose work was affected by the pandemic reported median retirement savings of $60,000 and $21,000, respectively.

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“With individual investors now largely responsible for saving and funding their own retirement, disruptive events and economic downturns can have an outsized impact on their outlook,” said Nate Miles, head of retirement at Wells Fargo Asset Management. “Our study shows that even for the most disciplined savers, working Americans are not saving enough for retirement.”

Despite the paucity of savings, most working Americans are optimistic, with 69% of workers and 73% of retirees saying they feel in control or happy about their financial situation.

In addition, while 71% of all workers, 81% of those negatively impacted by Covid-19, and 85% of retirees say that the pandemic has reinforced how important Social Security and Medicare will be or are for their retirement, most worry about its future. Almost three-quarters (72%) of workers are afraid that Social Security won’t be available when they retire.

[More: How secure is Social Security?]