Report: More than 70% of workers worry Social Security won’t be there for them when it’s time to retire

Catherine Collinson, Transamerica Institute: “Millions of U.S. workers are at risk of not achieving a financially secure retirement."

By Ramona Schindelheim

June 25, 2024

As the population ages and future funding to Social Security and Medicare is uncertain, workers want a strong retirement system to be a priority, according to the Transamerica Center for Retirement Savings (TCRS) in collaboration with the Transamerica Institute.

A new report from the Transamerica Institute finds 73% of workers in the United States either strongly agree (33%) or somewhat agree (40%) with the statement that when they are “ready to retire, Social Security will not be there for them.”

Among baby boomers, that number is 61%, according to The Multigenerational Workforce: Life, Work and Retirement.

“Millions of U.S. workers are at risk of not achieving a financially secure retirement. The situation is intensifying with Social Security’s and Medicare’s projected funding shortfalls, population aging, skyrocketing costs of long-term care, and workers’ obstacles in saving and investing,” according to Catherine Collinson, CEO and president of the Transamerica Institute and TCRS.

As workers look ahead to their retirement years, only 1 in 5 of them say they are very confident that they will be able to live comfortably when they fully retire. And just over a quarter of workers (26%) feel strongly that they are building a large enough retirement nest egg.

While the vast majority (81%) of workers say they are saving for retirement through work plans such as 401(k)s, the report notes a “concerning percentage of workers are tapping into their retirement savings before they retire.”

It finds that 35% of workers have taken a loan, early withdrawal, or hardship withdrawal. A financial emergency is cited as the most frequent reason.

Against this backdrop, a majority of workers, 58% say a top priority for the President and Congress is to address Social Security’s funding shortfalls. Among baby boomers that number jumps to 78%.

You can read the full report here: The Multigenerational Workforce: Life, Work and Retirement

American Opportunity Index 2024 ranks companies that are providing opportunity for advancement for workers

Report: Which of the nation’s top employers are advancing the careers of their workers?

Report: The City of Los Angeles steps up efforts to be more inclusive of the older worker

Report: The role community colleges can play in growing U.S. apprenticeships

Report: Rural America at risk of losing another generation of young workers

Get the latest from WorkingNation

Our Mission

Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.