A new survey claims that college faculty and staff are at least somewhat better prepared for retirement than the general population – and they’re more likely to have met with a financial advisor.
In addition to saving in their employer-sponsored retirement plans, 42% of higher education employees have saved in an IRA, compared with 34% of American employees overall, according to a recent TIAA-CREF survey. More than a third (36%) of college faculty and staff say they have met with a financial advisor, compared with just 22% of the general population.
A separate study from the TIAA-CREF Institute found that 83% of tenured and tenure-track faculty felt very or somewhat confident they will have enough money to live comfortably throughout their retirement years, compared with 55% of workers overall.
They may feel better prepared, but the survey also found that almost two-thirds (64%) of higher education faculty and staff plan to retire at age 65 or older — a percentage that nearly exactly matched the percentage (63%) who felt that way a decade ago.
Moreover, college and university employees are more likely than Americans overall to say they will work part-time (37% vs. 31%) or do more volunteer work (37% vs. 21%) during retirement.
Nearly three-fourths (73%) of higher education employees say their employers offer a matching incentive for retirement plan contributions. Forty-three percent get a 5-8% salary match, compared with 34% of the general population.
The survey also found that only 16% of the higher education group say they have taken a loan from their plan, compared with 29% of the general population — while 54% of the former say their contribution rate did not change while they repaid their loan, versus 43% of Americans overall.
These findings come from TIAA-CREF’s Higher Education Survey, which was conducted by an independent research firm and polled a random sample of 727 higher education professionals nationwide currently contributing to an employer-sponsored retirement plan. Statistics about the general population of adults come from a TIAA-CREF survey, also conducted by KRC Research, which polled a random sample of 1,000 adults nationwide with an employer-sponsored retirement plan.
