Affluent anxious about retirement, too, Wells Fargo finds

They may have more wealth, but affluent investors are just as anxious about having enough money to retire as everyone else, according to a study by Wells Fargo & Co. Four in ten of those surveyed said that their biggest fear about retirement is that they “will do all the right things and it still won’t be enough for tomorrow,” said Karen Wimbish, the bank’s director of retail retirement. Twenty-three percent of those surveyed said they are not confident that they will have saved enough for retirement, and women are much less confident than men, with 18% of women and 9% of men saying they will have to work until they are 80 to have enough to retire. Some 21% between 60 and 75 said they don’t know when they will be able to retire. Aware of the importance of controlling spending, 37% of those surveyed said they must significantly cut back while they are still working. The study, conducted over the phone in August and September by Harris Interactive, surveyed 801 Americans 25 to 75 having at least $100,000 in investible assets. The group was split evenly between those with $100,000 to $250,000 in assets and those with more than $250,000. While 54% of those surveyed said they have a written retirement plan, the plans are not very comprehensive, Ms. Wimbish said. “For the most part, the plans didn’t include a budget or a savings goal,” she said. “And the average withdrawal rate among those who had a plan was 8%.” Overall, the retirement picture among the affluent investors surveyed “does not add up,” Ms. Wimbish said. “While there is a whole group of people saying that maybe things are not OK for the future, somehow they think that by working longer or some other way they’ll make it,” she said.