Prudential Investments: Retirement remains
Americans’ top priority; most still unprepared
NEWARK, N.J. – Nov. 29, 2016 – Eighty percent of Americans say preparing for
retirement is their top priority, according to a recent Prudential Investments survey
measuring retirement readiness.i But when it comes to actually being prepared to
retire, Americans, on average, grade themselves a “C”—and 12 percent even give
themselves a failing grade.
Prudential Investments, the retail distribution business of PGIM, the global
investment management businesses of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU),
remains among the industry’s fastest organically growing fund families, ranking
among the top five between 2008 and Q3 2016.ii As of October 31, 2016, the firm
manages $82 billion in assets under management.iii
“Understanding the hurdles keeping people from a secure financial future is critical
to helping them meet their goals,” said Stuart Parker, president of Prudential
Investments. “This research reinforces the need for people to seek advice and the
need for the investment community to give advisors the best tools and solutions
available.”
Highlights from the full survey can be viewed at Prudential Investments’ website.
Among the key findings of the survey:

Individuals find investment products complex and are unsure about what they
are invested in:
 Sixty-three percent of Americans find investing complex and confusing.
Sixty-six percent say it’s harder to invest now than during their parents’
generation and 64 percent say they’re overwhelmed by the number of
available choices.
 Forty-two percent of investors are not knowledgeable on how their assets are
allocated within a portfolio, and 43 percent are not knowledgeable of which
types of products they’ve invested.
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
Pre-retirees need a plan, but are frozen by inertia:
 Seventy-four percent of pre-retirees said they should be doing more while
40 percent simply don’t know what to do to prepare for retirement.
 While the savings estimate for retirement is more realistic for some preretirees, 24 percent estimating retirement needs of one million or greater,
there is still a large gap—54 percent of pre-retirees have less than $150k
saved in their employer-sponsored plans.

Each generation is finding it harder to save:
 Seventy-five percent of retirees believe the generations following them will
have a more difficult time saving for retirement. Younger generations
agree: 20 percent of pre-retirees don’t believe they’ll ever be able to retire.
Overall, 35 percent of pre-retirees say they’ll never be able to save enough,
so it doesn’t matter when they start saving.
 Across generations, 57 percent of Americans say they would use savings to
cover a financial emergency. Millennials often buck that trend—with 32
percent opting to borrow money from family and friends or 18 percent
reporting that they would take out a bank loan.

Many retirees retired earlier than planned, and fear certain factors could
negatively affect their savings:
 Fifty-one percent of retirees retired earlier than planned. Of those who
retired earlier, 50 percent retired five or more years earlier than expected.
 Only 2 percent of the population retired earlier than planned because they
either wanted to retire or were tired of working. For those who retired
earlier than expected:
o Fifty-two percent retired early for health problems or to take care of a
loved one.
o Thirty percent were laid off from their jobs or offered an early
retirement incentive package.
 Among the greatest fears that retirees believe could negatively affect
savings, the following rise to the top:
o Fifty-seven percent reported healthcare costs.
o Fifty-seven percent stated changes to Social Security.
o Forty-five percent reported illness or disability.

Individuals recognize the value of live advice, but less than half use an
advisor:
 The top source cited to learn about investing is a professional financial
advisor, with 37 percent of Americans reporting this. However, only 44
percent reported using one.
 The second most cited source for information used is financial
institutional websites, with 34 percent of Americans citing this.
 Interestingly, 17 percent rely on their employer and 14 percent of
Americans don’t use any resources at all.
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About the survey
The Retirement Preparedness Study was conducted using an online survey among 1,568
adults living in the United States (including 438 retirees) who met the following criteria:



Age 21 and up
Primary or shared responsibility in making household financial/investment decisions
Employed full-time or part-time, self-employed, stay-at-home parent, or retired
The survey was conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of Prudential between July 20 and
August 9, 2016. Results were weighted where necessary by age, gender, race/ethnicity,
region, education, income, size of household, marital status, employment status (for nonretirees) and propensity to be online to bring them in line with their actual proportions in
the population.
About PGIM and Prudential Financial
With 13 consecutive years of positive third-party institutional net flows, PGIM, the global
asset management businesses of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), ranks among the
top 10 largest asset managers in the world with more than $1 trillion in assets under
management as of September 30, 2016. PGIM’s businesses offer a range of investment
solutions for retail and institutional investors around the world across a broad range of asset
classes, including fundamental equity, quantitative equity, public fixed income, private
fixed income, real estate and commercial mortgages. Its businesses have offices in 16
countries across five continents. Prudential’s other businesses also offer a variety of
products and services, including life insurance, annuities and retirement-related services.
For more information about PGIM, please visit https://www.pgim.com. For more information
about Prudential, please visit www.news.prudential.com.
MEDIA CONTACT: Judith Flynn
973-802-9939
[email protected]
i
This is the net of a few responses: saving for retirement (58% Pre-retirees, 10% Retirees); having enough money to maintain my
lifestyle throughout retirement (41% Pre-retirees, 68% Retirees); not running out of money in retirement (31% Pre-retirees, 59%
Retirees); not becoming a financial burden to my loved ones in retirement (14% Pre-retirees, 41% Retirees).
ii
Source: Simfund, as of September 30, 2016, among top 50 U.S. mutual fund competitors between 2008 and 3Q2016.
iii
Source: PGIM, Inc. (PGIM) as of October 31, 2016. Prudential Investments’ AUM includes the open-end and closed-end funds, but
excludes money market AUM.
Investing involves risks. Some investments have more risk than others. The investment return and principal value will fluctuate and
the investment, when sold, may be worth more or less than the original cost and it is possible to lose money.
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