The survey inquired which activity the respondents spend more time thinking about from among a number options: switching careers, planning for retirement, consolidating their present investments, planning for higher education and making a big purchase such as buying a new house or buying a new automobile.
“We are not particularly surprised that individuals are more inclined to spend more time thinking about vacations rather than tackling more important matters, especially during this period when we are approaching the end of the year and its associated celebrations” said Josef Neidhardt, Senior Development and Strategy Manager at Ephraim Global. “Most of the times individuals do not place importance on the aspects of investing and saving for the long-term due to the fact that retirement is decades away, and this can prove to be very detrimental considering that the balance and returns of an investment account decrease as one is nearing the age of retirement. It is therefore a wiser idea to set aside smaller funds over a longer period of time rather than trying to meet one’s savings goals at the last minute”.
From an age-based stand point, the results of the research prove unsurprisingly that the time spent on planning for retirement increased proportionally as individuals advanced towards the retirement stage of their lives. The percentage of respondents between the ages of 20 to 35 that identified retirement planning as a top concern is only 10% compared to 33% (ages 36 to 45), 38% (ages 46 to 55) and 42% (above the age of 55). Conversely, the time spent on planning for higher education decreased with age, with younger respondents identifying it as a top priority (35%) while older age groups (35 to 45 and 46 to 55) do not give it much thought.
Much like planning for retirement, the percentage of individuals that consider planning a vacation as a priority increased with age, with respondents over the age of 45 being more inclined to place greater importance on it.
In terms of features which affect planning for retirement and higher education, the number of children within a household was identified as the most impactful, with individuals that have offspring considering that planning for their children’s education is more significant than planning for retirement (30% compared to 21%).
“The results prove that when it comes to planning and saving there is a considerable discrepancy between established short-term goals and thoroughly organizing comprehensive long-term objectives. It is vital to prioritize one’s aims and to consider each goal’s importance rather than saving up for one and delaying the other; thus, by understanding how objectives interact with one another it is easier to manage them as a whole than to plan for each individual one” concluded Mr. Neidhardt.
