America’s Commitment to Retirement Security Investor Attitudes and Actions

America’s Commitment to Retirement Security Investor Attitudes and Actions January 2012 The Investment Company Institute (ICI) is the national association of U.S. investment companies. ICI seeks to encourage adherence to high ethical standards, promote public understanding, and otherwise advance the interests of funds, their shareholders, directors, and advisers. Suggested citation: Holden, Sarah, and Steven Bass. 2012. America’s Commitment to Retirement Security: Investor Attitudes and Actions. Washington, DC: Investment Company Institute (January). Contents Executive Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Household Survey Results from November 2011 to December 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Views on Defined Contribution Plan Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Confidence in Retirement Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Views on National Commitment to Retirement Savings Incentives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 ICI Survey of Defined Contribution Plan Recordkeepers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Views of Defined Contribution Plan Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Views on Defined Contribution Plan Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Households’ Evaluation of Features of Defined Contribution Plan Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Views of Proposed Changes to Defined Contribution Plan Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Households’ Confidence in Defined Contribution Plan Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Households’ Views on National Commitment to Retirement Savings Incentives . . . . . . . 20 Defined Contribution Plan Participant Activity in the First Three Quarters of 2011 . . . . . . . 21 Appendix I: Characteristics of the GfK OmniTel Survey Sample and Additional Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 GfK OmniTel Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Characteristics of the Survey Sample . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Views on Suggested Changes to Defined Contribution Plan Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Confidence in Retirement Plan Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 National Commitment to Retirement Saving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Appendix II: ICI’s Survey Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 i Figures FIGURE 1 FIGURE 2 FIGURE 3 FIGURE 4 FIGURE 5 FIGURE 6 FIGURE 7 FIGURE 8 FIGURE 9 FIGURE 10 FIGURE 11 FIGURE A1 FIGURE A2 FIGURE A3 FIGURE A4 FIGURE A5 FIGURE A6 FIGURE A7 FIGURE A8 U.S. Retirement Assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Domestic Stock Market Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Households’ Willingness to Take Investment Risk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Opinions of 401(k) and Similar Retirement Plan Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 What Shapes Opinions of Retirement Plan Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 Defined Contribution Account–Owning Households’ Views on the Defined Contribution Savings Vehicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Households’ Opinions of Suggested Changes to Retirement Accounts . . . . . . . . . . 17 Confidence That Retirement Plan Accounts Can Help Individuals Meet Retirement Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 A Majority of Households Agree That Incentives for Retirement Savings Should Be a National Priority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Defined Contribution Plan Participant Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 401(k) Loan Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Age Composition of U.S. Households in the Opinion Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Income Composition of U.S. Households in the Opinion Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Employment Composition of U.S. Households in the Opinion Survey . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Households’ Willingness to Take Investment Risk Varies with Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Households’ Opinions of Suggested Changes to Retirement Accounts Vary Somewhat with Age and Income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Confidence in 2011 That Retirement Plan Accounts Can Help Individuals Meet Retirement Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Households’ Opinions by Age That Incentives for Retirement Savings Should Be a National Priority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Households’ Opinions by Household Income That Incentives for Retirement Savings Should Be a National Priority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 America’s Commitment to Retirement Security Investor Attitudes and Actions Sarah Holden, ICI Senior Director of Retirement and Investor Research, and Steven Bass, ICI Assistant Economist, prepared this report. Executive Summary With millions of U.S. households personally directing their retirement savings, the Investment Company Institute (ICI) has sought to track retirement savers’ actions and sentiment over time. This report, our fourth annual update, summarizes results from two surveys covering 2011 data— a survey of U.S. households and a survey of defined contribution (DC) plan recordkeepers. The household survey results reflect households’ responses collected in the last two months of 2011. The recordkeeper survey results cover the first nine months of 2011. Both sets of results update surveys fielded in 2008, 2009, and 2010.1 Household Survey Results from November 2011 to December 2011 The household survey polled respondents about their views on DC retirement plan saving and their confidence in 401(k) and other DC plan accounts. Survey responses indicated that households value the discipline and investment opportunity that 401(k) plans represent and that households were largely opposed to changing the tax preferences or investment control in those accounts. In addition, a vast majority of households agree that continuing retirement savings incentives should be a national priority. AMERICA’S COMMITMENT TO RETIREMENT SECURITY: INVESTOR ATTITUDES AND ACTIONS 1 ... - tailieumienphi.vn