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NEW POLL: Lack of Access to Savings Tools Threatens Millennials’ Retirement Prospects

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 17, 2016

Contact: Nina Smith, nina.smith@younginvincibles.org, 202.734.6529

Lack of Access to Savings Tools Threatens Millennials’ Retirement Prospects

Less Than Half of Low-Income Millennial Workers Have Access to an Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plan

[WASHINGTON]–In part thanks to the Great Recession, more Millennials are finding work in industries that offer lower wages and fewer benefits. But we know less about how this is affecting Millennials ability to save and what tools they use to maximize their nest egg for retirement. Today, Young Invincibles is releasing a new scientific opinion poll of 800 Millennial voters (ages 18 to 34 and with an oversample of African-Americans and Latinos) that provides insight into Millennials’ access to retirement plans through work, savings behaviors, and how the generation would spend additional earnings.

Here are some of the poll’s key findings:

  • Millennial workers with an employer-sponsored retirement account are 77 percent more likely to save consistently than those without an employer-sponsored plan.
  • Less than half of low-income working Millennials have access to an employer-sponsored retirement account.
  • More millennials would put a 10 percent increase in income towards saving than spending or debt service.
  • Eighty-five percent of Millennials support state-facilitated retirement accounts — transcending political and ideological affiliation.

Please find the full polling memo here.