For one-in-five working Americans, issues with personal finances have become a distraction at work, particularly for Gen X and Gen Y employees.
A full 37% say they spend three hours or more thinking about or dealing with issues related to their personal finances while at work.
Weighing heaviest on workers’ minds: having enough emergency savings for unexpected expenses (51%) and being able to retire when they want (40%), according to PwC US’s 2015 Employee Financial Wellness Survey. Gen Y employees appear more concerned about current expenses (61%), while Baby Boomers (53%) cite retiring as their top financial concern.
Employee financial stress is again down slightly this year, although nearly half of all employees (45%) find dealing with their financial situation stressful (48% in 2014, 52% in 2013, and 61% in 2012). A third (35%) report that their stress level related to financial issues increased over the last 12 months, though that was down from 38% in 2014, 45% in 2013, and 56% in 2012.
By generation: The percentage of Baby Boomers and Gen X employees who find dealing with their financial situation stressful remained relatively consistent with last year. However, the percentage of stressed Gen Y employees decreased and is now consistent with Gen X.
Health ‘Cares’
Health care continues to fuel anxiety as nearly one-in-three employees (32%) consider health care costs in retirement as contributing to their worries about exiting the workforce. Indeed, the need to keep current health care coverage ranked among survey respondents as the third most popular reason to delay retirement (19%).
Among other reasons for delaying retirement, 51% say they haven’t saved enough to retire, compared with 60% in 2012. The next most common response, cited by 28%, was that they didn’t want to retire yet. That was the case for just 13% in the 2012 survey, when “my retirement investments have declined in value (34%) was the second most common response. By generation, Baby Boomers (84%), Gen X (77%), and Gen Y (66%) are currently saving for retirement.
While retirement confidence has increased over the past few years (up 16 percentage points, to 43%, since 2012) most workers still are not confident in their ability to retire when they want. Of course, one in five (21%) aren’t saving for retirement at all. Of the 53% of Baby Boomers who plan to retire within the next five years, just half of them — 55% — know how much income they will need in retirement.
While survey respondents have good intentions (only 21% say they would contribute less to their retirement plan if they could only access the money at retirement), the survey found that more than one-third (35%) of working adults are likely to withdraw money from their retirement funds to pay for non-retirement expenses. That said, 7 in 10 acknowledge they should be primarily responsible, as opposed to their employer or the government for assuring their retirement.
Asked what would help them achieve their future financial goals, Baby Boomers were inclined to cite a rising stock market (27%) and lower health care costs (22%), while Millennials were primarily focused on better job security (27%) and lower inflation (16%).
Among the other findings of the survey:
- 58% believe their employer’s benefit plans are competitive with those offered by other organizations (60% in 2014 and 56% in 2013).
- 65% of Baby Boomers, 58% of Gen X and 49% of Gen Y believe their employer’s benefit plans are competitive with those offered by other organizations.
- 72% say they have a good understanding of their employer benefit and savings plans and the role they play in their overall financial wellbeing (roughly the same as the 73% in 2014 and 72% in 2013).
- 84% of Baby Boomers and 72% of Gen X — but just 57% of Gen Y — say they have a good understanding of their employer benefit and savings plans and the role they play in their overall financial wellbeing.
- 78% of Baby Boomers and 72% of Gen X — but just 58% of Gen Y — say they review their benefit elections every year and make changes if needed.
- 30% say their employer offers services to assist them with their personal finances (34% in both 2014 and 2013), and half (49%) say they’ve used the services (52% in 2014 and 49% in 2013).
- 53% of Baby Boomers, 47% of Gen X and 47% of Gen Y say they’ve used the services their employer provides to assist them with their personal finances.
