75% of Americans Plan on Working as Long as They Can

October 6, 2009 8:00 AM EDT

NEW YORK, Oct. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- A new study released by Bankrate, Inc. shows that the vast majority of working Americans plan to work as long as they can during retirement age, showing a redefinition of how Americans view traditional retirement plans. The poll, conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International, is included in the new Bankrate Financial Literacy series on Retirement Income, which can be seen here: http://www.bankrate.com/finance/financial-literacy/retirement-income-planning.aspx.

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Among the findings:

    --  75 percent of Americans plan to work as long as they can during
        retirement age.  39 percent plan to work because they enjoy work while
        almost one-third plan to work because they'll need the money;
    --  Although so many Americans plan on working through retirement age, only
        15 percent of retirees polled are currently employed compared to 84
        percent who are not;
    --  55 percent of retirees worry about money and wish they had saved more
        compared to only 38 percent who think they have enough money to retire
        without worry;
    --  The financial crisis has affected many people's plans to retire with
        only 31 percent expecting to retire on time as planned while 40 percent
        plan on postponing their retirement plans;
    --  53 percent of Americans made no changes to their investments due to the
        financial crisis compared to 14 percent who went with a more
        conservative investment approach;
    --  Almost 40 percent of Americans are investing for retirement on their own
        with 16 percent using an asset allocation plan, 15 percent picking
        mutual funds based upon performance, and eight percent with a target
        date fund. 27 percent use a financial adviser for decisions while 18
        percent don't invest in a retirement plan and 9 percent don't utilize
        any strategies;

    --  Due to a lack of pension plans like today's workforce, 26 percent of
        retirees polled are relying solely on Social Security for their income.

"This poll offers an interesting insight into Americans' views of employment and retirement," said Julie Bandy, editor in chief at Bankrate.com. "Seventy-five percent of today's generation plan to work as long as possible, a far cry from that of previous generations. Falling home values and losses in retirement accounts are forcing many Americans to re-evaluate their retirement needs. "

This national random-digit-dialed phone study of 1,003 adults 18 or older, including 509 who are currently employed, was conducted for Bankrate by Princeton Survey Research Associates International. The sample was weighted by demographic factors including age, gender, race, education and census region to ensure reliable and accurate representation of adults in U.S. households. The overall margin of error for the survey is +/- 4 percentage points based on the total sample, +/- 6 percentage points for retired adults, and +/- 5 percentage points for non-retirees.

About Bankrate, Inc.

The Bankrate network of companies includes Bankrate.com, Interest.com, Mortgage-calc.com, Nationwide Card Services, Savingforcollege.com, Fee Disclosure, InsureMe CreditCardGuide.com and Bankaholic. Each of these businesses helps consumers to make informed decisions about their personal finance matters. The company's flagship brand, Bankrate.com is a destination site of personal finance channels, including banking, investing, taxes, debt management and college finance. Bankrate.com is the leading aggregator of rates and other information on more than 300 financial products, including mortgages, credit cards, new and used auto loans, money market accounts and CDs, checking and ATM fees, home equity loans and online banking fees. Bankrate.com reviews more than 4,800 financial institutions in 575 markets in 50 states. In 2008, Bankrate.com had nearly 72 million unique visitors. Bankrate.com provides financial applications and information to a network of more than 75 partners, including Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO), America Online (NYSE: TWX), The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times (NYSE: NYT). Bankrate.com's information is also distributed through more than 500 newspapers. Bankrate, Inc. was acquired by Apax Partners, one of the world's leading private equity investment group, in September 2009. Apax operates across the United States, Europe and Asia and has more than 30 years of investing experience. For more information on Apax, visit: www.Apax.com.

    For more information contact:

    Chris Spagnuolo
    Public Relations Manager
    cspagnuolo@bankrate.com
    (917) 368-8671

SOURCE Bankrate, Inc.

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