Retirees Are Less Satisfied

RECENTLY, I wrote about the results of the Retirement Confidence Survey, conducted annually by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (see "Living in Retirement," Dec.). EBRI followed up with a deeper dive into spending trends among retirees with its 2024 Spending in Retirement Survey. I spoke with Bridget Bearden, research and development strategist with EBRI and author of the study, about its conclusions.

- LIVING IN RETIREMENT BY JANET BODNAR

Your survey uncovered several "concerning trends." What were they? We asked retirees how their current life aligns with their pre-retirement expectations and how satisfied they are with life in retirement. In each case, their responses were lower than in 2020 and 2022. At the same time, 31% of retirees said their spending was higher than they could afford in 2024, up from 17% in 2020 and 27% in 2022.

What is behind the trends? Three factors: lack of sufficient savings, inflationary pressures and rising credit card debt. Half of respondents said they had saved less than what was needed for retirement. When we asked an open-ended question about why they rated their satisfaction with retired life as they did, inflation was a major reason. Some typical responses: "Inflation is killing me," and "Inflation has caused me to tighten up and forgo the things I wanted to do."