By any measure, Social Security is a critical component of America’s retirement income equation. But a recent survey suggests that Americans are underinformed about how the program works and their eligibility for benefits — even on a true/false basis.
The survey, sponsored by MassMutual, found that only 28% of some 1,500 individuals surveyed received a passing grade when asked basic questions about Social Security retirement benefits. That lack of knowledge could be critical when it comes to making adequate preparations for retirement.
According to the MassMutual survey, more than three out of five people surveyed (63%) believe Social Security will be available to them when they retire, with a quarter of those surveyed strongly holding that belief. However, fewer than half (45%) think the program will have sufficient funding when they retire.
This may be why only 39% expect to rely more on Social Security than their personal savings or income in retirement, with just 15% expecting to rely solely on Social Security — echoing the results of the 2015 Retirement Confidence Survey published by the non-partisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), which found that today’s workers are twice as likely to expect that Social Security will not be a major source of income in retirement as they are to report that it will be (63% versus 31%).
The RCS also found that confidence that Social Security will continue to provide benefits that are at least equal to today’s value is higher among workers ages 45 and older than among younger workers.
You can take the MassMutual quiz — and see how you score — here.
The MassMutual research was conducted by KRC Research on behalf of MassMutual from Feb. 26 to March 2, 2015, via an online survey among 1,513 Americans (1,000 non-Hispanic age 25 to 65; 513 Hispanic age 18+).
