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December 08, 2011 at 09:43 AM
Recent retirees say they might start with cutting their travel budgets to make ends meet in retirement; pre-retirees are more likely to say they would move into a lower-priced home.
A team from Hartford Financial Services Group Inc., Hartford (NYSE:HIG), and the AgeLab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) presented those findings earlier this week at a press conference in New York.
The team commissioned a survey of topics such as Americans’ attitudes about aging, their expectations for retirement and their thoughts about caregiving. A polling firm collected responses from 655 pre-retirees ages 45 and older who expect to retire in 2 to 10 years and 658 retirees ages 45 and older who have retired within the past 2 to 10 years
Hartford sells annuities, and it also sells a rider that can help life insurance policyholders pay for long-term care (LTC) costs, but it sells no stand-alone long-term care insurance (LTCI) products. The survey team focused mainly on topics of interest to pre-retirees and recent retirees who are still in good health, not on LTC issues.
But the team did ask a question that might be of interest to insurers, producers and others who want to know what potential LTCI prospects might be willing to give up to come up with the cash to pay for LTCI coverage.
The team found that retired and working survey participants held similar views about most of the suggested strategies for cutting spending.
About 17% of the participants in both groups said they might save money by shopping less, and about 10% said they might dine out less. Only about 9% said they would reduce spending on recreational activities, such as expenses associated with playing golf or tennis.
