People want to live to 100. Can they afford to?

Employees are hoping to make the most of their time after leaving the workforce. Being able to fund decades without income is a different matter. 

According to a survey by Corebridge Financial, 54% of individuals hope to live until 100. Yet long lives equate to a sizable amount of savings needed to sustain an individual's health, as well as their long-term living expenses. However, less than a quarter of people believe they have enough retirement savings to last as long as they need it, and 66% actually fear running out of money more than they fear dying. 

"Living a long life should be a cause for celebration — not for anxiety and fear," says Terri Fiedler, president of retirement services at Corebridge Financial. "This is an area where employers can play an important role by providing education programs and resources that focus on total financial wellness leading up to and through retirement." 

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When respondents do think about their retirement, they're focused on spending their time building good relationships with their family members and enjoying new experiences, like travel. Fifty-eight percent are also looking forward to decades of leisure time after their career ends, the survey found. 

To set proper expectations around the money needed to fund these experiences, Fiedler points to the benefits of working one-on-one with a financial professional to establish those goals. Corebridge's research found that 40% of employees who worked with a financial planner improved their financial readiness from three years before, and 53% felt more confident in their ability to plan and prepare for the future. 

"Financial professionals can help employees take their retirement dream from something abstract to something specific, and help them take action to afford the future they envision," Fiedler says. "They can also help employees understand some of the different financial scenarios and challenges they may face in retirement, such as the cost of living, the implications of taxes or the risk of outliving their money." 

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In addition to personalized financial advice, lifetime income options are also becoming a must-have for the majority of employees, as 92% of respondents say this is a high priority for them, Corebridge found. Employers should embrace these options in their plans, and explore new opportunities to incorporate long-term financial wellness tools emerging on the market. 

"Employers and retirement plan participants are realizing they need more than just an asset accumulation strategy — they also need spending and lifetime income strategies to make their money and lifestyle last," Fiedler says. "With momentum building, and solutions starting to emerge, continued awareness, education and collaboration are critical to propelling widespread implementation, engagement, adoption and utilization." 

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Employers should continue to understand that each individual saver will have different plans in retirement, and will therefore need help setting up goals to help them get there. As employers juggle a multi-generational workforce, providing the widest variety of solutions is good business practice. 

"Everyone's situation is different, which brings a different scope of financial planning needs," Fiedler says. "By using data to guide engagement efforts and target communication to employees, employers can better ensure the right message gets to the right person, at the right time, to encourage the right action."